Chapter 10 - WHAT OWEN DIDN'T SEE
Owen found my old phone in his sister's office safe. He called Detective Ellis before touching it. I wanted to be proud of him for that. Mostly I wanted to know why Serena had kept the phone at all.
"She said she was protecting your privacy," he told me. "Her lawyer claims a hotel employee turned it in."
"And then she used it to impersonate me?"
"That's what the messages suggest."
The police took the phone and the safe's access records. Serena's key card had opened that office four times after the pool incident, including once at two in the morning. The story about a helpful employee was beginning to crumble.
Late that night Owen sat on the end of our bed. "When we were kids, Serena was the one who held things together after Dad left. She paid bills when Mom couldn't work. I made her my hero."
I waited.
"When Ruth died, I gave Serena more control because I thought it was what she deserved. Last year she asked me to approve a contractor packet without reading every page. I signed it."
"How much?"
He swallowed. "Almost a million dollars."
Anger rose so fast I had to put down my water glass. "You signed away Ruth's money because your sister asked?"
"Yes."
"And when I said the numbers didn't add up, you told me to stop looking."
He nodded. He didn't try to soften it.
"I can't repair that tonight," he said. "But I won't hide it from the investigators."
I looked at his hand resting near mine. Trust didn't come back because a person finally told the truth.
In the morning, Leah arrived with news. She'd traced North Quay Access through two layers of companies to a private account.
"It isn't Serena's," she said.
"Whose is it?" I asked.
May you like
Leah turned the page toward Owen.
"The man who financed your hotel renovation."
