Chapter 5 - Owen's Father
Owen Price did not move.
"My father died ten years ago."
Alexander held out the letter.
"Julia wrote that Thomas Price helped move money through three shell companies tied to Ethan's trust."
Owen read the line twice.
"That's impossible."
"Is it?"
"My father ran security. He didn't touch finance."
Maria looked at her. "You beat a six-year-old with a riding crop. You don't get to use accounting fraud as character reference."
Vanessa's eyes flashed.
Alexander turned back to the ledger.
The entries went back twelve years.
One appeared over and over.
M. Sterling.
Vanessa went still.
Alexander looked up. "Your father."
"My father has done business with half of Chicago."
"He also handled my family's estate planning."
"Years ago."
"Exactly."
Owen pulled out his phone. "I'm calling our outside counsel."
"No," Maria said.
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed to Julia's letter.
"If she believed the problem was inside the company, you don't know which lawyers were safe."
Alexander studied Maria. "You keep saying things like someone who knows more than a nanny should."
Maria's stomach tightened.
She had hoped for more time.
Vanessa smiled. "Finally. Ask her who she really is."
Alexander stepped closer.
"Maria?"
She looked at Ethan.
"My full name is Maria Alvarez Reyes," she said.
Alexander waited.
"My older sister, Elena Reyes, worked for Julia."
Mrs. Bell covered her mouth.
Alexander's face changed.
"Elena was Julia's assistant."
"Yes."
"She disappeared after Julia died."
Maria nodded.
"She didn't disappear. She ran."
"From what?"
Maria looked directly at Vanessa.
"From the person who tried to kill her two nights after Julia's funeral."
Vanessa's expression did not change.
That was the problem.
Maria reached into her pocket and set a tiny brass key on the desk.
"Elena mailed me this three years ago."
Alexander picked it up.
May you like
"What does it open?"
Maria answered, "The place where Julia kept the evidence she didn't trust this house to hold."
