Chapter 11 - Catherine's Investigator
The investigator's name was Martin Shaw.
He had died seven years earlier, but his daughter still ran his small investigative firm in Dallas.
She remembered the Vance case immediately.
"My father called it the file that made him quit rich people."
Her name was Leah Shaw, and she brought Ethan a sealed archive box.
Inside were photographs of Eleanor meeting Preston Hale months before Catherine's riding accident.
Bank records showed Eleanor transferring money through a shell company tied to the stable where Catherine kept her horse.
One report contained a witness statement from a groom.
The groom had seen a man tampering with Catherine's saddle the morning of the accident.
The description was vague.
Tall.
Dark suit.
Silver watch.
Preston Hale wore the same distinctive watch in several photographs.
Ethan shut the folder.
"My whole family was built on this."
Sarah touched his arm.
"No. Your family was hurt by this. That's different."
Then Leah pulled out one last envelope.
"My father never delivered this. He said Robert refused to accept it."
Inside was a cassette tape.
Arthur found an old player in the estate library.
Catherine's voice crackled through the speaker.
Robert, if anything happens to me, do not let Eleanor near Ethan.
Ethan covered his mouth.
The recording continued.
She and Preston are moving money through the company. I think Robert is involved without understanding how deep it goes. If I confront them, I need you to know I did not imagine this.
Then Catherine said something none of them expected.
There is a second trust. Ethan doesn't know. Robert doesn't either. My father created it before I married.
Sarah looked at Ethan.
Catherine's voice finished:
It belongs to Ethan's first child. Eleanor can never touch it.
May you like
The tape clicked off.
Arthur whispered, "That's why the baby matters even more than we thought."
