Chapter 2 - “TAKE THE HANDCUFFS OFF HER”The police removed Elena’s handcuffs.
Immediately.
Lauren was separated from us.
Victoria started crying.
Not apologizing.
Crying.
There is a difference.
“This looks horrible.”
I stared at her.
“It is horrible.”
“You don’t understand.”
“That sentence isn’t going to work tonight.”
Elena rubbed her wrists.
My sons wrapped themselves around her again.
I crouched beside them.
“You okay?”
Caleb shook his head.
“Mom said Elena would go to jail.”
I looked at Victoria.
She closed her eyes.
Owen whispered:
“She said bad people disappear.”
That sentence landed harder than I expected.
My wife had prepared our children to watch a trusted adult be taken away.
Not only framed Elena.
Prepared the audience.
I asked Elena:
“What did you see?”
She looked toward Victoria.
Fear.
Real fear.
I said:
“You can tell me.”
Elena shook her head.
“Not here.”
Victoria snapped:
“She’s manipulating you.”
The officer turned toward her.
“Mrs. Sterling, I’d recommend you stop speaking.”
Good advice.
We moved to my study.
Elena sat across from me.
One officer present.
My attorney joined by phone.
Then Elena said:
“I saw Mrs. Sterling in your mother’s office.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Doing what?”
“Taking papers.”
“What papers?”
“She had folders from the safe.”
My stomach tightened.
My mother, Judith Sterling, lived in a separate wing of the estate.
She was seventy-four.
Still sharp.
Still controlled several family trusts.
“What else?”
Elena hesitated.
“Mrs. Sterling was not alone.”
Of course.
“Who was with her?”
She looked down.
“Ms. Lauren.”
My sister.
Again.
Then:
“And a man.”
“What man?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“Describe him.”
Late fifties.
Gray hair.
Tall.
Wore expensive suits.
Came to the estate twice before.
I knew immediately.
Gerald Pike.
My mother’s estate attorney.
Or rather, former estate attorney.
She had dismissed him eight months earlier.
Why was he meeting privately with my wife and sister?
Elena continued.
“They were talking about your mother signing something.”
My chest tightened.
“What?”
“She refused.”
“How do you know?”
“I heard Mrs. Sterling say, ‘She’ll never sign while Matthew is still trustee.’”
The room went silent.
May you like
Now we were nowhere near a jewelry theft.
We were inside a trust dispute.
