Chapter 7: The Last Move
Julian took the phone from her hand and called Arthur back into the room.
Arthur looked at the message and didn't hesitate.
Arthur: Forward it to me now.
And don't reply.
Julian: Who has an unknown number that would send this tonight?
Arthur: Victoria.
Eleanor is at the station — her phone was taken when she arrived.
But Victoria left with her own phone.
She's not under arrest yet.
She's just a person of interest.
Julian: Can they trace it?
Arthur: If she used her own device, yes.
If she used a burner, it takes longer.
Either way, sending a threatening message to the victim of a crjme she's currently being investigated for is not a smart move.
Julian: Victoria has never been smart.
She's been protected.
Arthur: Not anymore.
He stepped away to make a call.
Julian looked at Elena.
Julian: Are you all right?
Elena: I've been more frightened than this.
The first night I came to a family dinner here and your mother introduced me to her friends as your companion.
Not your fiancée.
Your companion.
I was frightened then that this was going to be my life.
Julian: I remember that dinner.
Elena: Do you remember what you said when I brought it up afterward?
Julian: I said she probably didn't mean anything by it.
Elena: Yes.
Julian: I was wrong.
Elena: You were wrong a lot, Julian.
I need you to understand that.
Not to punish you.
But because if we're going to be honest now, we have to be honest about all of it.
Julian: I understand.
Elena: She introduced me as your companion in front of fourteen people.
And you told me I was overreacting.
That was the moment I called my father and asked him to start looking into her.
Julian: That was eight months ago.
Elena: Yes.
Julian: You've been building this case for eight months.
Elena: Arthur has.
I've been trying to save my marriage.
Thomas came back into the room.
He looked at his daughter, then at Julian, and read the room without asking.
Thomas: Victoria?
Arthur: Most likely.
I've contacted the detective.
They'll move to bring her in tonight rather than waiting for morning.
Thomas: Good.
He sat down beside Elena.
Not across from Julian.
Beside his daughter.
Thomas: I want to say something to you.
He looked at Julian.
I did not come here tonight to destroy your family.
I came here because my daughter called me and said it was time.
I have been waiting for her to say those words for eight months.
I would have waited longer if she had asked me to.
Julian: I know.
Thomas: She loves you.
That is the only reason any of this was handled the way it was.
If she didn't love you, we would have gone to the police six months ago and let it fall where it fell.
Julian: I know that too.
Thomas: Then act like it.
From now on.
Not tomorrow.
Not when this is over.
Now.
Julian nodded.
Arthur's phone rang.
He answered it, listened, and looked at the room.
Arthur: They picked up Victoria twenty minutes ago.
She was at her apartment, still on her phone.
They have the device.
Julian exhaled slowly.
Arthur: There's something else.
When they brought her in, she asked to speak to Eleanor's attorney.
Not her own.
Eleanor's.
Julian frowned.
Julian: Why would she want Eleanor's attorney?
Arthur: She wouldn't.
Unless Eleanor's attorney is also her attorney.
Unless they've been sharing legal representation this entire time.
Elena looked at Thomas.
Elena: The same attorney prepared both of their documents?
Arthur: It's possible.
If the same legal counsel advised Eleanor on the prenuptial forgery and represented Victoria in the bracelet setup, that attorney has significant exposure.
And attorneys with significant exposure tend to cooperate very quickly.
Julian stood up again.
He walked to the window again.
Outside, the street was quiet.
A light rain had started at some point during the evening without anyone noticing.
Julian: It's all going to come out, isn't it.
Everything.
Arthur: Yes.
Julian: The housekeeper.
The catering woman.
The forged document.
The dead notary.
All of it.
Arthur: All of it.
Julian turned back to the room.
Julian: Then let it.
He looked at Elena.
Julian: Whatever comes out.
Let it all come out.
Elena held his gaze.
Then Arthur's phone buzzed one more time.
He looked at it and his expression shifted in a way that made everyone in the room stop.
Arthur: The paralegal.
The one Eleanor named.
The one who prepared the forged document.
Julian: What about him?
Arthur: He didn't leave the firm eight months ago.
He was removed.
And the reason he was removed — He paused.
— is because someone at the firm flagged an irregularity in a document he had prepared.
A document connected to the Ashford estate.
May you like
Julian: What kind of document?
Arthur: A will.
