Chapter 4: The Sister Who Knew Everything
Conrad's contact turned out to be his sister.
Her name was Delia.
She arrived at the house just before noon in a dusty pickup truck, wearing a canvas jacket and the expression of someone who had already decided she liked Nora before they'd exchanged a word.
"You're smaller than I expected," Delia said, shaking her hand at the door.
"People say that."
"It's a compliment.
Bradley Hill only married women he thought he could manage." She walked past Nora into the kitchen and dropped her bag on the table.
"I've been watching that man for two years."
Nora looked at Conrad.
"Delia is the one who signed me up for the program," he said.
"And I'm the one who sent you the message last night," Delia said, pulling out a chair.
"Sit down.
Both of you.
This is going to take a while."
Nora sat.
"How did you know where I was?" she asked.
"The agency posts placement confirmations in their participant portal.
I created an account eighteen months ago under a different name.
I've been waiting for the right placement to come through." Delia opened her bag and slid a manila folder across the table.
"Your husband has been using his inherited properties to shelter money that doesn't belong to him.
Not his father's money.
Other people's money.
Pension funds.
Settlement accounts.
At least four families that I've been able to document."
Nora opened the folder.
The top page was a financial summary she didn't fully understand, but the names on it she recognized.
Hill Family Holdings.
Three subsidiary companies she had heard Bradley mention at dinner parties as though they were minor administrative details.
"Conrad's father," she said.
"Was one of them.
Yes." Delia's voice didn't soften.
"There are three others.
A woman in Tucson who lost her late husband's disability settlement.
A retired teacher in Albuquerque.
A family in Scottsdale whose construction business Bradley's father bought and then dissolved."
"Why haven't you gone to the authorities?"
"I have." Delia's jaw tightened.
"Twice.
The first time, the complaint was reviewed by an investigator who used to work for Arthur Hill's legal team.
The second time, Bradley found out within forty-eight hours and his attorney sent a letter threatening a defamation suit." She tapped the folder.
"I needed more.
I needed someone on the inside who didn't know they were on the inside."
Nora looked up from the folder.
"Me."
"You have access to his home.
His files.
His calendar.
You've been managing that house for four years.
You've signed for packages, organized his paperwork, handled his correspondence." Delia leaned forward.
"You've seen things you didn't know mattered."
The room was quiet.
"I'm not going back to that house to spy for you," Nora said.
"I'm not asking you to go back." Delia held her gaze.
"I'm asking you to think.
What do you already know?
What have you already seen?
What did you touch or file or organize that you didn't understand at the time?"
Nora looked down at the folder again.
A memory surfaced.
Eighteen months ago.
Bradley had asked her to reorganize the filing cabinet in his home office while he was traveling.
He had been specific: certain folders were to go into a locked drawer, and she was to leave the key on his desk when she was done.
She had done exactly that.
She hadn't looked inside the folders because it hadn't occurred to her to.
But she remembered the labels.
"There's a locked drawer in his home office," she said.
"I organized the files that went into it.
I remember some of the names on the folders."
Delia's expression didn't change, but she reached into her bag and pulled out a notepad.
"Tell me everything you remember."
Nora talked for forty minutes.
By the time she finished, Delia had filled six pages.
Conrad had said almost nothing throughout.
When Nora finally stopped, he was looking at the table.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"That you were in that house for four years and didn't know what you were living next to."
"I knew something was wrong," Nora said.
"I just thought it was me."
Delia capped her pen.
"It was never you."
Nora's phone buzzed on the table.
She glanced at it.
Bradley again.
This time a text.
*I know Delia Vance is involved.
Tell her whatever she thinks she has isn't enough.
And come home, Nora.
I mean it.*
She turned the phone face-down on the table.
"He knows you're here," she said to Delia.
Delia didn't blink.
May you like
"Good.
That means he's scared."
