Chapter 17 - RUTH'S WARNING
Leah read Ruth's note aloud while Owen and I sat together on the couch.
Graham will offer a fast solution to every slow problem. Ask what he owns after the solution is finished.
Below that, Ruth had listed two companies Graham used for hotel contracts. One was North Quay Access, under an earlier name. Ruth had refused its bid for the rooftop renovation three years before her death.
"She saw the conflict," Owen said.
"She did," Leah answered. "And someone waited until she was gone to bring it back."
The letter wasn't a magic key that settled ownership. It was something better: a trail to old bid files, the rejected contract, and an internal memo explaining why the work had failed inspection. Investigators obtained the originals from the architect who had prepared them.
I thought of Ruth at our wedding, struggling up a step in her good blue shoes and joking that the building needed to catch up with the people in it.
"She wasn't difficult," I told Owen. "She was right."
He nodded, unable to speak.
Three weeks passed. The trust's independent examiner documented more than $1.5 million in questionable payments. Graham's attorney stopped returning calls. Serena's accounts remained under review. The hotel board removed her from financial authority pending the investigations.
My body recovered more slowly than the paperwork moved. I went to physical therapy twice a week. Some days I could cross the living room with my walker. Other days my legs shook after ten steps. I stopped apologizing for either kind of day.
Tessa found work teaching beginner swim classes at the community center again. Her brother sent me a drawing of a giant pool ladder with the words EVERYBODY GETS OUT.
I hung it beside June's crib.
On a rainy Thursday, Detective Ellis arrived at our door with a small evidence envelope and a look I couldn't read.
"A guest had one more recording," she said. "It was backed up automatically."
"Of the pool?" I asked.
May you like
Ellis nodded.
"This time, the camera was facing Serena."
