Chapter 7: The Man Without a Van
Cole had a patrol car outside the house within twelve minutes.
She arrived herself twenty minutes after that, and by then I had Lily in the kitchen with Ruth, the back door locked, and every curtain on the ground floor closed.
"Description?" Cole said, standing in the hallway.
"Ruth said medium height, dark jacket, maybe fifty.
No markings on his clothing.
No vehicle she could see."
Cole relayed it into her radio.
Then she turned back to me.
"Gerald Fitch called.
We have the amendment documents.
We're running the identification Renata submitted."
"It'll be fake," I said.
"Probably," Cole said.
"But it gives us a paper trail.
And it gives us the forgery charge on top of everything else." She paused.
"She's still talking about a deal."
"Is she giving you V?"
"She's circling it.
She gave us one thing this morning." Cole looked at me carefully.
"V is not a person."
I waited.
"It's a name.
A family name.
Voss." She watched my face.
"Does that mean anything to you?"
I thought.
Turned it over.
"No."
"Elena never mentioned it?"
"Not that I remember."
"Hargrove and Voss," Cole said.
"We're pulling everything we can find on the connection.
But Renata told us one more thing before she stopped talking." Cole's voice stayed even.
"She said V — the Voss family — has been trying to recover Elena's inheritance for eleven years.
That Elena's mother remarried into money, and when she d*ed, the estate was structured in a way the Voss side believed was fraudulent.
They've been building a case to reclaim it through Lily."
"Through Lily," I said.
"If Lily d*es before eighteen with Renata named as beneficiary, the trust dissolves into Renata's estate.
The Voss family then has a claim through Renata." Cole said it plainly, the way you say a thing that is too ugly to dress up.
"Lily is the obstacle between them and a significant amount of money."
From the kitchen, I heard Lily laugh at something Ruth said.
"How significant?" I asked.
"Elena's mother's estate was valued at approximately four million dollars at the time of her death," Cole said.
"With eleven years of interest and property appreciation — "
"More," I said.
"Considerably more."
I looked at the closed curtains.
At the locked front door.
At the patrol car visible through the narrow gap in the fabric.
"The man at the door this morning," I said.
"That was them checking whether the plan was still on track."
"That's my read," Cole said.
"Which means they don't know yet that Renata is in custody."
"How long before they find out?"
"Could be hours.
Could be less." She looked at me directly.
"I want to move you and Lily to a safe location today.
Not a request."
I nodded once.
"There's one more thing," Cole said.
She reached into her jacket and produced a photograph.
Printed, not a screen.
A man in his sixties, silver-haired, standing outside what looked like a courthouse.
"Renata identified him this morning.
His name is Werner Voss.
He's the one who has been directing this from the beginning."
I looked at the photograph.
"He's been doing this for eleven years," I said.
"Yes."
"For money."
"For what he believes is his family's money," Cole said.
"In his mind, Elena stole it.
And Lily is the last lock on the door."
May you like
I set the photograph face-down on the hallway table.
"Find him," I said.
