Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Knew
My mother came home at 2:13 in the morning.
Alone.
Police had been searching for her for hours.
Arthur's SUV was found abandoned near the Fairfield plant.
No gasoline.
No Arthur.
No Catherine.
Then, after midnight, Mom walked into a twenty-four-hour pharmacy three towns away and asked the clerk to call police.
She claimed Arthur had forced her into the car.
Claimed he threatened her.
Claimed she escaped while he stopped near a gas station.
By the time police brought her home, I had stopped believing anything she said without evidence.
She entered the living room wrapped in a gray blanket.
Her mascara had run.
Her hair was tangled.
Julian immediately stood.
“Mom.”
She moved toward him.
He stepped back.
That hurt her more than anything I could have said.
Her eyes found me.
“Audrey.”
I didn't move.
Officer Daniels asked if she wanted medical attention.
She declined.
Then I placed the pharmacy receipt on the coffee table.
Mom's face collapsed.
No performance this time.
No outrage.
No denial.
Just fear.
“Where did you get that?”
“Who drugged Eleanor?”
Robert sat across from her.
Mom looked at him.
“You kept it?”
He frowned.
“I've never seen that receipt.”
“Then who sent it?”
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Daniels said.
Mom stared at the paper.
I waited.
“Who drugged her?”
She whispered, “Arthur.”
Julian sat down.
I remained standing.
“Did you know?”
Mom looked at me.
“I found the receipt years later.”
“When?”
“After you were born.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Her voice broke.
“Nineteen ninety-nine.”
Robert stood.
“You knew immediately?”
“No.”
“When?”
She wiped her face.
“Two days after the funeral.”
Julian whispered, “You knew Dad drugged Grandma?”
“I suspected.”
“Suspected?”
“I was twenty-three years old!”
“So?”
“I had nowhere to go!”
I laughed bitterly.
There it was.
The family motto.
Fear as permission.
“I had been dating Arthur for eight months,” she continued. “He said Eleanor hated him. He said she was trying to destroy his life.”
Robert shook his head.
“She was his mother.”
“She was terrified of him.”
Mom looked down.
“I didn't understand that then.”
“Where did the prescription come from?” Daniels asked.
“Arthur had injured his back. The doctor prescribed diazepam for muscle spasms.”
“And after Eleanor died?”
“I found the empty bottle in his gym bag.”
My stomach turned.
“Did you ask him?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Mom closed her eyes.
“He said she had been hysterical. That he put something in her wine to calm her.”
Robert slammed his hand against the table.
“And you married him?”
Mom flinched.
“I was pregnant.”
The room changed.
Julian looked at her.
“Audrey?”
Mom shook her head.
“No.”
My chest tightened.
“Me?”
She nodded.
I stared at her.
Dates moved through my mind.
Their anniversary.
My birthday.
The math.
“You told me I was born two years after your wedding.”
“We changed the date we celebrated.”
I almost laughed.
Of course they did.
Every family photograph could be staged.
Even an anniversary.
“You married him because you were pregnant with me.”
“Yes.”
“And you thought he might have caused his mother's death.”
“I was scared.”
“You were scared for yourself?”
“For you!”
“No.”
My voice rose.
“Don't do that.”
“Audrey—”
“Don't turn me into your excuse.”
She recoiled.
I continued.
“You had twenty-two years.”
Her face crumpled.
“You could have left when I was born. You could have told Grandpa. You could have called police. You could have told me when I turned eighteen.”
“I thought Arthur would change.”
“People keep saying that right before they explain why they let someone else get hurt.”
Mom covered her face.
Julian stared at the floor.
Officer Daniels asked, “Did you ever see Arthur threaten Eleanor?”
Mom hesitated.
“Yes.”
Robert leaned forward.
“When?”
“The night before she died.”
My skin prickled.
“What did he say?”
Mom looked at Robert.
“He told her if she exposed the account transfers, Henry would lose both a wife and a son.”
Robert went pale.
“And you never told investigators.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Arthur said I would lose my baby.”
I stared at her.
“He threatened to take me?”
“He said nobody would believe me. He said he'd tell the court I was unstable.”
There it was again.
The same weapon.
Unstable.
Unfit.
Crazy.
My father had spent decades destroying women by making everyone question their minds.
Grandma Eleanor.
My mother.
Me.
The difference was my mother eventually joined him.
I sat across from her.
“Why did you help him steal from me?”
She stared at me.
No answer.
“Why forge my signature?”
“Audrey…”
“Why?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Because he told me we were losing everything.”
Robert frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Mom looked toward Julian.
“Arthur made terrible investments.”
Julian slowly lifted his head.
“What investments?”
“The company wasn't doing as well as he claimed.”
Robert's face hardened.
“How much debt?”
“I don't know.”
“You absolutely know.”
She whispered, “Maybe eighteen million.”
Nobody spoke.
Robert sat back.
“Dear God.”
My family's beautiful house suddenly looked like a movie set.
“What happened to Grandpa's money?”
“Arthur borrowed against assets.”
“My shares?”
“He couldn't touch the principal.”
“So he took the trust.”
“Some.”
“How much?”
“I don't know.”
I stood.
“Stop saying that.”
She burst into tears.
“I don't know exact numbers!”
“How much, approximately?”
“More than five hundred thousand.”
My hands curled.
Almost everything.
The scholarship.
The trust.
Julian's trust.
Company funds.
My father had built our family image using stolen scaffolding.
Robert asked, “Who else knows?”
Mom hesitated.
“Thomas Keller.”
The notary.
“Dr. Reese?”
She nodded.
“The doctor who said I was mentally unstable?”
“He signed what Arthur gave him.”
“Why?”
“He owed your father money.”
Officer Daniels wrote everything down.
“What about the unknown texts Audrey is receiving?”
Mom looked genuinely confused.
“What texts?”
I showed her.
She read them.
Then shook her head.
“That's not Arthur.”
“How do you know?”
“He doesn't text like that.”
“Who else knows about Eleanor?”
Mom looked at Robert.
“Diane.”
My grandfather's second wife.
The woman I had always called Grandma.
I hadn't spoken to her in six years.
Dad told me she developed dementia and moved into assisted living in Arizona.
I looked at Robert.
“Is Diane alive?”
“Yes.”
Of course.
“Does she have dementia?”
“No.”
I closed my eyes.
Another lie.
“Where is she?”
“Vermont.”
“What?”
“She owns a small house outside Manchester.”
“Why did my father tell me she was in Arizona?”
Robert answered quietly.
“Probably because Diane stopped speaking to him after Henry died.”
“Why?”
“She accused him of stealing from the estate.”
I laughed without humor.
“At this point, I'd be more surprised if he hadn't.”
Mom whispered, “Diane has something.”
We all turned toward her.
“What?”
“Henry's journal.”
Robert stood.
“That was in the safe.”
“No.”
Mom shook her head.
“The one Arthur took was a copy.”
Robert stared.
“Henry made a copy?”
“No. Diane did.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Arthur spent three years trying to find the original.”
My pulse jumped.
“What does the journal contain?”
Mom looked at me.
“Proof.”
“Of the money?”
“And Eleanor.”
Before we could say another word, headlights swept across the living room.
A vehicle stopped outside.
Daniels moved toward the window.
My mother went white.
“What car does Arthur have besides the SUV?” he asked.
Mom shook her head.
“Several.”
A door slammed outside.
Then another.
Daniels ordered us away from the windows.
Someone walked up the front steps.
Slowly.
No attempt to hide.
The doorbell rang.
Once.
Twice.
The officer looked through the side window.
Then opened the door cautiously.
A man stood outside.
Tall.
Mid-fifties.
Dark suit.
Blood on his collar.
He raised both hands.
“I need to speak with Audrey Vance.”
Daniels asked, “Who are you?”
The man looked past him at me.
“My name is Malcolm Reese.”
My childhood doctor.
The man who had signed the false psychiatric affidavit.
Mom stood.
“Oh God.”
Dr. Reese stepped inside.
His left eye was swollen.
His hands shook.
“I lied about Audrey's mental health.”
I stared at him.
“We know.”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“You know part of it.”
He pulled a small flash drive from his pocket.
“Arthur kept recordings.”
“What recordings?”
“Every person he blackmailed.”
The room went silent.
Reese held out the drive.
“He made one mistake.”
“What?”
“He kept threatening people who had already lost everything.”
I took the drive.
“What is on this?”
Reese stared at Catherine.
Then at me.
“Proof your father didn't just steal money.”
His voice dropped.
“Proof he's been committing crimes for more than twenty years.”
A phone rang.
Reese looked down.
Arthur Vance.
He went pale.
Daniels gestured.
“Answer it.”
Reese put the call on speaker.
Arthur's voice filled the living room.
“Malcolm.”
Reese didn't respond.
Arthur laughed.
“You're at my house, aren't you?”
My mother started shaking.
Then my father said the words that turned everyone silent.
“Tell Audrey to enjoy her graduation.”
May you like
A pause.
“Because by sunrise, she won't have a company left to inherit.”
