Chapter 16 - Dean's Bargain
Dean had been the quiet one, the brother who handled paperwork and stayed out of family photographs. On the witness stand, he admitted that Morrow Consulting had been created to receive money from the trust. He said Stacey designed the invoices, Caleb approved them, and he moved the funds through two accounts before sending them to pay debts and a deposit on a property in Arizona.
"Because Stacey told me she would blame everything on me. She said Caleb would back her up, and the old woman would be declared incompetent before she could testify. I realized I was the only one who would go down alone."
The recording he provided came from a call he had made to Stacey two days after my escape from the pond. In it, Stacey said, "She can't prove what happened to Robert. The old footage is gone. If Caleb stays quiet, the only story is that she fell."
Dean asked, "And if she didn't?"
Stacey replied, "Then we make sure nobody believes her."
On cross-examination, Stacey's attorney tried to show that Dean had lied to protect himself. Dean admitted he had. He also admitted he had helped create the fake consulting records. The jury had to decide how much of his testimony to believe, but the records backed up his account.
When court ended for the day, Caleb waited in a secure room with his lawyer. He had not been called to testify yet. He asked Mara if I would speak to him for five minutes.
I refused.
Not because I wanted him to suffer, but because he needed to face the consequences without using my love as a shield.
May you like
That night, Wren came to my room carrying Robert's old swim whistle. "If we ever reopen the lessons," she said, "I want this to be the first thing on the dock."
The next morning, Caleb took the stand.
