Chapter 11 - Come Before Dark
Simon Kreel called Ruth at three seventeen on Sunday. She answered only because Moreno was sitting beside us and asked her to put the phone on speaker.
"Mrs. Price, I have a folder you want back," a man's smooth voice said. "Come to Rosebridge. We can correct this misunderstanding."
"You went into my studio without permission."
"Your daughter authorized access."
"My daughter doesn't own the property."
His pleasant tone thinned. "Your daughter owes money. She made promises. People suffer when promises aren't kept."
Ruth's fingers trembled around the phone, but her voice didn't. "You're threatening my family because I won't sell you my house."
"I'm offering a business solution. Come alone before dark."
"No."
The line went quiet. Simon hadn't expected a simple refusal. Then he said, "Ask Walter whether he can watch every door forever."
Moreno preserved the message as evidence. She promised investigation, not an instant arrest.
Beth was brought into the meeting room after Simon disconnected. She looked at her mother with an expression I remembered from school report cards.
"I told him I could persuade you," she said. "When I couldn't, he said he'd make you sign. I kept pretending it wasn't real."
"You staged an assault," Ruth replied. "You tried to have Walter taken away from this house and this family. You put Winnie on a list."
Beth began to speak, then stopped.
I was glad. We had heard enough excuses for one lifetime. Ruth needed the space to say what she knew.
May you like
Moreno's radio crackled. An officer was requesting backup near the rear entrance. A dark SUV had rolled past the office three times, slowing at the turn.
Micah was outside loading Winnie's bags into the car.
