Chapter 3 - Twenty Minutes Missing
"Give me the phone," Ortiz said.
Gideon turned it face down. "This is private business."
"A woman was kidnapped at your family wedding. Privacy can wait."
His attorney stepped forward, but Ortiz had already asked for the message to be preserved and requested a warrant for anything Gideon refused to surrender. She took statements while paramedics examined Tessa, and a deputy photographed the torn rose wall.
Adrian sat beside Tessa in the chapel's quiet library. He wanted to ask a thousand questions. Instead he gave her a cup of water.
"Yesterday your father told me the wedding would fix everything," she said.
"Fix what?"
She studied him. "I should have told you sooner."
"Tess. Tell me now."
"My mom kept records at Rowan Mill. Before she died, she told me the fire that killed your grandfather wasn't an accident."
Walter Rowan had been Alisa's father. He had died when Adrian was a baby. In the Ashcroft house, his portrait hung over the dining-room fireplace, but nobody talked about his last night.
"Why would my father know about that?"
"Because he owned the company that controlled the mill. I found a file three days ago. Thirty-one years of transfers from a community trust into companies with fake names."
Adrian pulled back. "Are you saying my dad stole money?"
"I'm saying I asked him to explain the records. He told me to forget them and enjoy my wedding." Tears filled her eyes. "This morning someone pressed a cloth against my face in the dressing room. When I woke up, I was behind roses."
Adrian shook his head. The organ still hummed in the hall.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked softly.
"Because I wanted to be certain before I broke your family apart."
He reached for her, but a knock interrupted them. Ortiz held up a tablet showing an electronic document filed at 8:12 that morning.
"Ms. Bellamy," she said, "did you approve the relocation plan for Rowan House yesterday?"
May you like
Tessa stared at her own signature.
"No," she said. "I've never even seen this paper."
