Chapter 4 - The Man Edmund TrustedGraham Pike did not answer Edmund’s call.
That told Edmund more than an answer would have.
Police reached him first.
Graham’s attorney immediately instructed him not to speak.
Northstar Asset Strategies closed its office for the day.
Employees were sent home.
By evening, investigators had obtained records connecting Patricia Wren to more than a dozen notarizations for Hale-related documents.
Lydia sat across from Edmund in the mansion library.
“How long have you known Graham?”
“Twenty-three years.”
“You hired him nineteen years ago.”
“He advised me before that.”
“Did Celeste know him independently?”
Edmund thought.
“Yes.”
“How well?”
“He helped with her investment company.”
Lydia’s expression sharpened.
“You never mentioned that.”
“I didn’t think it mattered.”
“When?”
“About four years ago.”
Celeste had launched a luxury residential investment business with two partners.
She raised money to renovate expensive properties.
For eighteen months the company looked successful.
Then two projects collapsed.
Investors pulled out.
Celeste blamed interest rates.
Contractors.
Her partners.
Everyone except herself.
Graham had arranged financing.
Edmund suddenly understood.
“They failed together.”
Lydia nodded.
“And may have decided you were the easiest source of recovery.”
The next morning Tyler returned from the hospital.
He did not want to go back to the mansion.
Edmund did not pressure him.
Instead Tyler stayed with Edmund at a guesthouse on the estate’s far side, away from the garden.
He asked one question over breakfast.
“Is Mom going to jail?”
Edmund chose his words carefully.
“I don’t know yet.”
“Are you mad at her?”
“Yes.”
“Do you hate her?”
Edmund looked at his grandson.
“No.”
Tyler frowned.
“How?”
It was a fair question.
“I can love someone and still be angry about what they did.”
“But she buried me.”
Edmund’s throat tightened.
“Yes.”
“Would you still love her if I died?”
Edmund could not answer immediately.
Tyler looked away.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
Edmund moved beside him.
“Never apologize for asking me something difficult.”
Tyler’s voice shook.
“I thought she was going to leave me there.”
Edmund held him.
“I know.”
“She said she just needed time.”
“For what?”
Tyler pulled back.
“To get something from your safe.”
Edmund froze.
“What safe?”
“The one behind the painting.”
His pulse jumped.
There was a wall safe in his study.
Only Edmund and Lydia knew its current combination.
Or so he believed.
“What did she say exactly?”
Tyler closed his eyes.
“She said, ‘Once I get the original, none of this matters.’”
Edmund returned to the mansion with police present.
The wall safe showed no obvious damage.
He entered the combination.
Opened it.
Inside were property deeds.
Insurance documents.
His late wife’s jewelry inventory.
And a red envelope.
Edmund picked it up.
It was lighter than it should have been.
He opened it.
Empty.
Lydia arrived twenty minutes later.
“What was inside?”
“The original trust certification.”
“Which version?”
“The current valid one.”
Lydia went still.
It bore original signatures and seals that could be used as templates.
More importantly, possession of it could help someone create convincing fraudulent packets.
“When did you last see it?”
“Six months ago.”
Around the time Celeste moved home.
Police processed the safe.
No useful prints beyond household members and authorized staff were immediately obvious.
Then Detective Collins found something in Celeste’s laptop.
A folder titled GARDEN.
Inside were scanned documents.
Invoices.
Trust papers.
And one spreadsheet.
Three columns.
CURRENT.
REQUIRED.
AFTER.
The CURRENT column listed Edmund’s actual estate structure.
The REQUIRED column listed documents Celeste needed.
The AFTER column described the result she wanted.
Mansion — Celeste.
Investment control — Celeste.
Foundation voting authority — Celeste.
Tyler trust — eliminated.
Edmund read that line repeatedly.
Lydia stood beside him.
“Why eliminate her own son’s trust?”
The answer came from another recovered message.
Celeste to Graham:
If Tyler has his own protected share, Dad can keep controlling me through him forever.
Graham replied:
Then Tyler’s share needs to become yours first.
Edmund felt something inside him break.
Tyler’s inheritance was not money Celeste needed.
It was money she could not control.
And that made it intolerable.
Then another message appeared.
Sent three days before the garden.
Graham:
We still need the original certification.
Celeste:
Tyler saw too much.
Graham:
Then deal with Tyler before you deal with the documents.
No one in the room spoke.
Graham had not told Celeste how to deal with her son.
But he knew Tyler had become a problem.
May you like
And Celeste had answered:
I will.
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