Chapter 2
Ethan did not sleep.
At 2:00 a.m., Lily remained curled beside him in the guest bedroom.
He had locked the door.
Nora had not returned.
Detective Bennett had advised him not to confront her.
Ethan obeyed.
For once.
His mind kept replaying Lily’s sentence.
The other teas.
The ones before you sign things.
Ethan ran Carter Architectural Group, a private construction and property company founded by his father.
He signed documents constantly.
Contracts.
Bank approvals.
Board resolutions.
Insurance papers.
Most were prepared by attorneys.
Many were brought home by Nora.
That had never seemed strange.
Nora had worked in corporate finance before they married.
She understood paperwork better than Ethan did.
He trusted her.
At 3:14 a.m., he opened his electronic signature history.
Nothing initially looked wrong.
Then he noticed several documents signed on days he remembered feeling ill.
Three months earlier.
Transfer authorization.
Five months earlier.
Trustee amendment.
Six months earlier.
Power-of-attorney revision.
Ethan sat upright.
He opened the trustee amendment.
CARTER FAMILY CONTINUITY TRUST.
Successor trustee in the event of Ethan Carter’s incapacity:
Nora Carter.
Ethan stared.
He remembered discussing a successor trustee.
He thought they selected the family attorney, Michael Grant.
When had Nora’s name appeared?
He searched the document history.
The file had been uploaded from Nora’s personal laptop.
His electronic signature was valid.
Timestamp:
4:43 p.m.
Ethan remembered that afternoon.
Nora made tea.
He developed a severe headache.
Then slept on the sofa until almost nine.
The next morning Nora joked:
“You really can’t handle stress anymore.”
Ethan had laughed.
Now he felt sick.
Another document.
If Ethan became incapacitated while Lily remained a minor, Nora could petition to become temporary financial guardian over Lily’s trust interests.
Lily.
That was when Ethan understood the stakes.
His late wife, Caroline, had inherited shares in a successful medical-device company from her father.
When Caroline died four years earlier, most of those shares passed into a protected trust for Lily.
Current value:
Approximately sixty-four million dollars.
Ethan managed it for his daughter.
Nora had no ownership.
Unless Ethan could no longer manage it.
He called Bennett.
She answered immediately.
“What did you find?”
He told her.
“Don’t touch anything else.”
“What?”
“We need forensic copies before accounts change.”
Ethan looked at Lily.
“Do you think Nora was trying to kill me?”
Bennett paused.
“I think we should avoid deciding intent before we have evidence.”
He appreciated the answer.
He hated it.
“What should I do?”
“Keep Lily with you.”
“That was already happening.”
“Good.”
“And Nora?”
“We’re locating her.”
Ethan frowned.
“She isn’t at the hotel?”
“No.”
His stomach tightened.
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know.”
At 6:30 a.m., Lily woke.
She looked around.
“Is Nora here?”
“No.”
Her shoulders relaxed.
Ethan noticed.
He had somehow missed how often his daughter became tense whenever Nora entered a room.
He hated himself for that.
“Lily.”
She looked at him.
“I need to ask you something.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“No.”
“For biting her?”
“No.”
Lily thought.
“Can I be a little in trouble?”
Ethan almost laughed.
“Why?”
“Because biting is bad.”
“Yes.”
“But she wouldn’t let me go.”
Ethan swallowed.
“No. You’re not in trouble.”
He sat on the carpet beside her.
“Tell me about the other teas.”
Lily began playing with the hem of her dress.
“Nora said grown-up medicine is private.”
“When?”
“When I saw her.”
“Where?”
“Kitchen.”
“What did you see?”
Lily looked worried.
Ethan immediately said:
“You don’t have to remember perfectly.”
That helped.
“She had a little bottle.”
“Did you see what was inside?”
“No.”
“What did she do?”
“Put something in your drink.”
“How many times?”
Lily held up three fingers.
Then four.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan closed his eyes briefly.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
The question came out too quickly.
Lily’s expression collapsed.
Ethan instantly regretted it.
“No. Sweetheart, I’m not angry.”
“She said you’d get mad.”
“At you?”
Lily nodded.
“And she said…”
Her voice became quieter.
“What?”
“She said Mommy told lies too.”
Ethan went still.
Caroline.
Lily’s biological mother.
Dead for four years.
“What did Nora say about Mommy?”
“That nobody believed her.”
Ethan felt cold.
Lily continued:
“She said if I made trouble, you’d send me away like Mommy.”
Ethan pulled his daughter into his arms.
“No.”
Lily started crying.
“I don’t want to go away.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
He held her.
Then looked toward the bedroom door.
Nora had not merely frightened Lily into silence.
She had used Caroline.
A dead woman.
Lily had been two when her mother died.
She barely remembered Caroline.
So how did Nora know Caroline had once accused someone of lying?
Ethan’s phone rang.
Bennett.
“We found Nora’s car.”
“Where?”
“At the airport.”
“She flew somewhere?”
“No.”
“Then where is she?”
“We don’t know yet.”
A pause.
“But we found something in the trunk.”
“What?”
“A file box.”
Ethan’s chest tightened.
“What files?”
Bennett answered:
“Yours.”
May you like
Then:
“And Caroline’s.”
