Chapter 5 - Victor’s VersionVictor denied being on the property.
His attorney issued a statement before detectives even reached him.
Gideon read it twice.
“Fast.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Too fast.”
Traffic cameras near the service road captured a dark SUV resembling Victor’s.
Not enough to prove he was driving.
But enough to justify more questions.
Victor agreed to another meeting.
This time at Rebecca’s office.
“I’m beginning to think you actually believe this nonsense,” he told Gideon.
Gideon placed Elise’s letter on the table.
Victor’s face changed.
“She kept that?”
“You knew about it?”
“I knew she wrote accusations.”
“She found altered trust records.”
“She misunderstood complicated financing.”
“She found payments to Mrs. Dalton.”
Victor smiled.
“So now you believe the woman who buried your child?”
“No.”
Gideon leaned forward.
“I believe documents.”
Victor’s smile faded.
“Good. Then read all of them.”
He opened a folder.
Bank statements.
Transfers.
Cancelled checks.
Mrs. Dalton had received money repeatedly over seven years.
Not only the $42,000 Elise discovered.
More than $180,000.
Some after Elise died.
Gideon stared.
“What are these?”
“Payments she stole.”
“From where?”
“Household and trust accounts.”
“Why didn’t you report it?”
Victor leaned back.
“Because your father made me promise to protect the family from scandal.”
“My father has been dead eleven years.”
“And the theft continued.”
“Then why keep paying?”
Victor smiled.
“We didn’t pay her.”
Gideon looked at the statements again.
Rebecca examined routing information.
Several originated from a property-management account Victor supervised.
“You controlled the account,” she said.
“I supervised it. I didn’t initiate every transaction.”
“Who did?”
“Dalton had access.”
Gideon stared.
Victor continued.
“Elise discovered theft. Dalton knew she was getting close. Your wife became sick. After Elise died, Dalton realized nobody else was watching.”
Gideon felt anger rising.
It was plausible.
That was what made it dangerous.
Victor slid another document forward.
“Look at the Orchard Ridge loan.”
Gideon did.
His own signature appeared on a consent resolution.
He did not remember signing it.
“You approved the restructuring six years ago.”
“I approved a line of credit.”
“You approved broader authority than you understood.”
Rebecca looked at Gideon.
“Is that true?”
Gideon searched his memory.
Six years ago.
Elise had been in treatment.
Piper was six.
His life had been hospital appointments and work.
Victor brought papers to the mansion one evening.
Gideon had signed them at the kitchen counter.
He had barely read them.
His stomach turned.
Victor saw it.
“Yes.”
The triumph in his voice was quiet.
“You signed.”
Gideon looked at him.
“That doesn’t explain altered ownership.”
“No. But it explains why Elise’s conspiracy theory looked convincing.”
Rebecca examined the document.
“This authorizes refinancing of Orchard Ridge Holdings. It does not authorize using Piper’s trust.”
Victor shrugged.
“Different lawyers may disagree.”
“They won’t.”
Victor stood.
“I came here because this family is already bleeding publicly.”
He looked at Gideon.
“Your daughter was victimized by a criminal employee. That is horrific. But don’t let grief turn it into something larger because Elise left you a mystery.”
Gideon’s voice hardened.
“Why did you ask if Piper found anything?”
Victor paused.
“I knew Dalton had been searching Elise’s old files.”
“How?”
Victor said nothing.
“Because you were talking to her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she had threatened to expose private family records unless I gave her money.”
Gideon stared.
“Blackmail?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have messages?”
Victor hesitated.
“My attorney does.”
“Show them.”
“No.”
Rebecca almost laughed.
Victor turned toward the door.
“I’m not letting a family panic become a fishing expedition.”
After he left, Gideon stared at his old signature.
Rebecca said nothing for several seconds.
Then:
“He’s right about one thing.”
Gideon looked up.
“You signed something without understanding it.”
“Yes.”
“That may matter.”
“I know.”
“You can’t build a case by assuming every document you dislike is forged.”
“I know.”
Gideon hated the words.
But he needed them.
If he wanted truth, he had to accept evidence even when it made him look negligent.
That evening he told Piper.
Not details.
Just enough.
“I made mistakes with family money years ago.”
Piper looked confused.
“Did you steal?”
“No.”
“Did you lie?”
“No.”
“I signed something without reading it carefully.”
Piper frowned.
“That’s what teachers tell us not to do.”
Gideon almost laughed.
“Yes.”
“So you were bad at homework.”
“Basically.”
Piper smiled for the first time in two days.
Then her face changed.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Mrs. Dalton said something in the shed.”
Gideon leaned closer.
“What?”
“She said, ‘Victor said today was the last chance.’”
“Last chance for what?”
“I don’t know.”
Piper squeezed the blanket.
“Then she asked if Mom left me anything else.”
Gideon’s heart sank.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“Anything else you remember?”
Piper nodded slowly.
“She kept saying, ‘He’ll take the house. He’ll take everything.’”
Gideon froze.
“Who?”
“I thought she meant you.”
“Why?”
“Because she said, ‘Your father doesn’t know what Victor owns.’”
Gideon stood.
The mansion had belonged to his parents.
After his father died, ownership supposedly transferred through the family trust.
Gideon had never questioned it.
He called Rebecca.
“Pull the deed history.”
“Tonight?”
“Now.”
An hour later Rebecca called back.
Her voice was different.
“Gideon.”
“What?”
“The deed is clean.”
He exhaled.
Then she continued.
“But the land underneath the west half of the estate is held by a separate entity.”
Gideon frowned.
“What entity?”
“Rowland Land Management.”
Victor’s surname.
Gideon sat down.
“That’s impossible.”
“Maybe.”
“Who owns it?”
Rebecca paused.
“On paper?”
“Yes.”
“Victor.”
Gideon looked toward the garden.
The flowers.
The buried suitcase.
Elise’s warning.
Victor had not merely been manipulating family accounts.
May you like
He had somehow acquired legal control over nearly half the land beneath Gideon’s home.
And Gideon had never known.
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