Chapter 2 - Cordelia’s BagHarrison was medically cleared before midnight.
No evidence showed he had swallowed any of the unidentified pills.
Malcolm should have felt relief.
Instead he sat beside his son’s hospital bed with a different fear taking shape.
“Why did you open Cordelia’s bag?”
Harrison looked embarrassed.
“I wasn’t stealing.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“She always says touching people’s stuff is stealing.”
“Tell me what happened.”
Harrison picked at the blanket.
“I was looking for Grandpa’s watch.”
Malcolm frowned.
Arthur’s old silver pocket watch had disappeared after the funeral.
Cordelia said Arthur must have misplaced it before entering the hospital.
“Why did you think it was in her bag?”
“I saw it.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
“Where?”
“She had it in her hand.”
Malcolm sat straighter.
“Cordelia had Grandpa’s watch?”
Harrison nodded.
“I asked why.”
“What did she say?”
“That Grandpa gave it to her.”
Malcolm knew that was possible.
Arthur and Cordelia had known each other longer than Malcolm had been alive.
Still—
Arthur had promised the watch to Harrison.
Not legally.
Not formally.
But repeatedly.
“When did you open the bag?”
“After lunch.”
“What did you find?”
“The watch.”
“And the list.”
Harrison swallowed.
“There were papers too.”
“What papers?”
“I didn’t read them.”
“Good.”
Then Harrison’s eyes filled.
“She came in.”
Malcolm waited.
“She got really scared.”
“Did she yell?”
“At first.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked what I saw.”
“What did you tell her?”
“The list.”
Harrison looked ashamed.
“I told her about Grandpa.”
Malcolm felt cold.
“What happened next?”
“She said I was confused.”
“And the pills?”
Harrison’s breathing changed.
Malcolm stopped.
“You don’t have to keep going right now.”
“No.”
Harrison shook his head.
“I want you to know.”
So Malcolm listened.
Cordelia told Harrison he had worked himself into “one of his episodes.”
Harrison said he did not have episodes.
She told him Malcolm would be upset if he heard Harrison had gone through her bag.
Then she produced the unidentified pills.
“She said they’d calm me down.”
Malcolm’s jaw tightened.
“Have you ever seen them before?”
Harrison shook his head.
“Has Cordelia ever tried to give you anything without me knowing?”
“No.”
Good.
One incident.
Not an invented history.
Malcolm would not exaggerate what evidence did not show.
Harrison continued.
“I said no.”
“She said what?”
“That I was making everything worse.”
Then she restrained him.
Malcolm closed his eyes.
He had arrived seconds later.
A coincidence.
Or perhaps not.
His client meeting had ended early.
Cordelia had not expected him for another hour.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Did Grandpa really give her the watch?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Grandpa scared of her?”
The question surprised him.
“Why ask that?”
“Because of the list.”
Malcolm had no answer.
The next morning, police obtained a warrant to search Cordelia’s work bag after reviewing Harrison’s statement and the circumstances around the pills.
Malcolm was not present during the search.
His independent attorney was.
Her name was Elena Price.
She specialized in trusts and fiduciary disputes.
Malcolm hired her because his family’s longtime attorney, Nathan Crowe, suddenly felt too close to whatever was happening.
Elena arrived at the mansion carrying photocopies of the search inventory.
“The list is real.”
Malcolm stared.
“Show me.”
She slid a photograph across the table.
It was handwritten on cream paper.
Title:
STERLING FAMILY — CONTINUITY / OBJECTIONS
Malcolm’s stomach tightened.
Names ran down the page.
Arthur Sterling.
Red line.
3/23 — RESOLVED
Vivian Sterling.
Red line.
4/18 — SIGNED
Malcolm Sterling.
No line.
Beside his name:
TRAVEL / EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY
Harrison Sterling.
No line.
Beside his:
MINOR — FUTURE INTEREST
Malcolm stared.
“Vivian is my aunt.”
“I know.”
Arthur’s younger sister.
Seventy-one.
Living in Laguna Beach.
Malcolm had not spoken to her in months.
“What does signed mean?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Who wrote this?”
“No signature.”
“What else was in the bag?”
Elena showed him.
Arthur’s pocket watch.
A small safe-deposit key.
Copies of two Sterling Family Trust summaries.
A business card for Nathan Crowe.
And a folder.
H.S.
“Harrison?”
“Probably.”
Inside were school attendance records.
Photos of Harrison angry.
Copies of teacher emails.
One counseling intake form that had never been completed.
Malcolm felt sick.
“This looks like a behavioral file.”
“Yes.”
“Why does my house manager have it?”
“That is one of several questions.”
Then Elena placed one more page down.
A photocopy.
Sterling Cove Holdings.
Proposed sale.
Price:
$58 million.
Buyer:
Pacific Meridian Development.
Closing date:
Twelve days away.
Malcolm stared.
“Sterling Cove isn’t for sale.”
Apparently, someone believed it was.
Sterling Cove included waterfront commercial property, a private marina interest, and eleven acres of land Arthur had spent forty years assembling.
Under the family trust, a sale required specific approvals.
Arthur had opposed redevelopment for years.
Malcolm had too.
“Who signed this?”
Elena turned to the execution page.
Arthur Sterling.
Vivian Sterling.
Nathan Crowe as trustee.
Malcolm stared.
“My signature isn’t here.”
“No.”
“Then it can’t close.”
Elena looked at him.
“Normally.”
He hated the word.
“What does that mean?”
“There is a provision allowing the trustee to proceed if a family voting member is temporarily unable to act and an authorized executive proxy exists.”
“I’m able to act.”
“Yes.”
Elena tapped the handwritten note beside Malcolm’s name.
TRAVEL / EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY
Someone had been planning for his absence.
Then Malcolm noticed something.
Arthur’s signature on the sale approval was dated March 23.
The exact date beside his crossed-out name.
His father had supposedly approved the sale seven weeks before dying.
Malcolm whispered:
“He would never have signed this.”
Elena did not reassure him.
Instead she asked:
“Where was Arthur on March twenty-third?”
Malcolm remembered immediately.
Hoag Hospital.
His father had been admitted after collapsing at home.
Not unconscious.
Not dying.
But weak.
Disoriented for several hours.
Malcolm looked at Elena.
“My father was in the hospital.”
May you like
Her expression hardened.
“And Cordelia was with him.”
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