Chapter 5: What the Missing Minutes Revealed
We stopped beneath the stone archway while music began playing behind us.
“Why do you have this?” Margaret asked, closing her fingers around the bracelet.
“Vanessa threw it into a makeup bag,” Chloe said.
“She told us she would sell it after the honeymoon.”
Margaret rubbed one pearl with her thumb.
Vanessa marched toward us, lifting the front of her wedding gown out of the mud.
“Give me that bracelet.”
“It belonged to Margaret’s mother,” Chloe replied.
“It was a gift.”
“A gift you called cheap costume jewelry.”
Vanessa’s mother, Evelyn, appeared behind her.
“You told me those pearls were worth twelve thousand dollars.”
Vanessa froze.
Evelyn took the bracelet from Margaret, examined the clasp, and placed it gently back in her hand.
“My daughter lied to both of us,” she said.
“I’m sorry.”
“Mother, go inside.”
“No.” Evelyn removed the corsage from her wrist.
“You said Margaret refused to help with the wedding.
She paid eighty-four thousand dollars.”
“That was the final payment,” I said.
“We already paid thirty-six thousand in deposits.”
Evelyn’s face went pale.
“Vanessa told me Daniel paid for everything.”
Daniel came through the archway.
“What original recording does Chloe have?”
Chloe unlocked her phone.
“I was filming dress fittings when Vanessa started recording Margaret.”
She pressed play.
Vanessa’s voice came first.
“If Daniel needs money for the caterer, may he use the small wedding account?”
Margaret answered, “You may use whatever you need from my account—the wedding account, not our retirement.
I trust Daniel.
If he needs it, he should have it, provided he shows Thomas every receipt.”
The recording continued.
“And no more than twenty-five hundred dollars,” Margaret added.
Chloe stopped the video.
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
“You cut out the limit.”
“She was going to give us the money eventually.”
“You told me she approved the transfer.”
“She did until Thomas poisoned her against us.”
I stepped forward.
“You used half a sentence to take a quarter of a million dollars.”
Vanessa faced Chloe.
“Delete that video.”
“No.”
“I’ll make sure no event company hires you again.”
Chloe’s hand trembled, but she sent the file to Laura.
“There,” she said.
“Now three people have it.”
Vanessa reached for Chloe’s phone.
Evelyn stepped between them.
“You will not bully another person today.”
“Whose side are you on?” Vanessa demanded.
“The side I can still live with tomorrow.”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“What else did you lie about?”
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed.
“Careful.
Your signature is on the guardianship petition.”
Margaret looked at her son.
“You signed it?”
Daniel did not answer.
“Look at me and tell me.”
“Yes,” he whispered.
“Vanessa said it was the only way to stop Dad from changing the trust.”
I took the document from his hand.
“You accused me of controlling your mother.”
“You do control her!”
Margaret stepped between us.
Mud still covered the side of her dress.
“Thomas asked me what I wanted,” she said.
“You asked what you could take.”
Daniel’s shoulders dropped.
A black car pulled up beside the archway.
Helen Mercer, our family attorney, climbed out with a folder under her arm.
“I came as soon as Thomas called,” she said.
“The revocation is valid, but we have another problem.”
She opened the folder and showed us a county filing receipt.
“Someone used the old power of attorney to transfer the Hale residence into a private company.”
Laura looked at the company name.
“VMC Properties,” she said.
Vanessa took one slow step backward.
Helen turned the page.
“The filing was notarized yesterday.”
Margaret gripped my arm.
May you like
“We were both home yesterday,” she said.
“No notary came near us.”
