Chapter 6 - The Lawyer Who Wasn't DeadThe lawyer's name was Everett Sloan.
Maribel recognized it only after Detective Calder said it aloud.
“He worked with my father years ago.”
“How long ago?”
“Maybe fifteen years.”
Luke frowned.
“You never mentioned him.”
“Because I haven't seen him since I was in college.”
Everett Sloan had been Raymond Hale's business attorney before Raymond fired him.
Maribel remembered the argument only vaguely.
Her father shouting in his study.
Constance closing the door.
Damian telling Maribel to stay out of it.
A week later, Sloan disappeared from family life.
Apparently not far enough.
Phone records showed Constance had called him seventeen times in the month before Raymond's death.
Damian called him twice the night Raymond fell down the stairs.
Maribel stared at the records.
“Why didn't police see this?”
Calder answered,
“They were investigating an accidental fall.”
“No reason to subpoena phones.”
Luke leaned back.
“This wasn't an accident.”
Calder remained careful.
“We don't know that.”
Maribel did.
Not legally.
Not yet.
But something inside her had already shifted.
Her father had created a trust.
Warned Luke about finances.
Given Elodie a locked music box.
Constance and Damian had spent weeks searching for a blue envelope.
Sloan was secretly communicating with them.
Then Raymond died at the bottom of a staircase.
“Where is Sloan now?”
“Century City.”
“Still a lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“Can we talk to him?”
“You can.”
Calder's expression made the next part clear.
“But don't.”
Luke smiled humorlessly.
“I like her.”
Maribel did too.
Police needed evidence.
Maribel needed answers.
For once, those goals might align.
The estate firm sent documents by noon.
Maribel read every page.
Her signature appeared on a temporary administrative authorization dated eighteen months earlier.
Six months after Raymond's death.
She remembered signing something.
Damian had told her it allowed him to pay remaining estate taxes.
Instead, the document gave him authority to manage distributions from Raymond's grandchildren trust.
Amount:
$8.6 million.
Maribel stared.
Luke whispered,
“Jesus.”
The trust had grown from business assets Raymond sold before death.
Elodie and any future grandchildren were beneficiaries.
Maribel was the legal trustee.
Damian was only administrator.
Yet records showed more than $630,000 in “care-related distributions” over eighteen months.
Maribel had never received that money.
“Where did it go?”
The statements listed vendors.
Family Wellness Consulting.
Hale Residential Support.
Educational Development Partners.
Maribel recognized none.
Detective Calder did.
“Shell companies.”
“How do you know?”
“Same mailing address.”
Luke leaned closer.
A private mailbox in Glendale.
Damian's office was three blocks away.
Maribel felt numb.
“My brother stole from my children.”
“Looks like it,” Calder said.
“And Mom?”
“Could benefit indirectly.”
Maribel thought about Constance's new car.
Luxury vacations.
Expensive jewelry she claimed Damian bought her.
Maybe he had.
With Elodie's money.
With Jonah's future money.
Then one distribution stood out.
$96,000.
Purpose:
Residential safety intervention.
Date:
Three months earlier.
The week Luke left.
Maribel's eyes narrowed.
“What is that?”
Luke read.
“Maybe they charged the trust for security?”
“For what?”
Another file contained an invoice.
Family risk assessment.
Emergency domestic support.
Temporary guardian readiness.
Prepared by:
Everett Sloan, Attorney at Law.
Maribel stopped breathing.
They had used her children's trust to prepare a legal plan around her marriage.
Calder read the document.
“The assessment describes Luke as an escalating domestic risk.”
Luke laughed.
“Based on what?”
“Statements from Constance and Damian.”
Maribel felt sick.
The same people stealing from the trust had built a paper record that Luke was dangerous.
Maybe because if Maribel became “unable” to care for the children, who would step in?
She kept reading.
Emergency guardian candidate:
Constance Hale.
There it was.
Maribel whispered,
“They wanted custody.”
Luke's face went white.
Calder corrected gently.
“Control.”
The trust allowed the children's legal guardian to request distributions for housing, education, healthcare, and living expenses.
If Constance became guardian, Damian could approve payments as administrator.
They could drain the account legally enough to hide theft.
Elodie entered the room carrying the music box.
“I found something.”
Maribel turned.
“What?”
“I shook it.”
She demonstrated.
Something rattled.
Luke took it carefully.
“Probably the mechanism.”
“No.”
Elodie pointed to the bottom.
“Grandpa showed me once.”
She pressed one painted bird.
A tiny panel shifted.
Maribel stared.
Hidden compartment.
Inside—
no key.
But a folded piece of blue paper.
Elodie whispered,
“The envelope.”
Maribel's hands shook as she unfolded it.
Raymond's handwriting.
Mari, if you're reading this, Damian has already lied to you.
Maribel couldn't breathe.
The letter continued.
Do not confront him until you find the card. The music box is only the map.
At the bottom was a hand-drawn diagram.
Not of the music box.
Of Maribel's house.
A red X marked one place.
The kitchen.
May you like
More specifically—
the wall behind the security camera.
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