Chapter 14 - The Night Elise Died Had Been About the Missing AmendmentConrad remembered the night Elise died in fragments.
Hospital lights.
The sound of an oxygen machine.
Wren asleep against Nina's shoulder.
Elise's hand in his.
A nurse whispering that it might be time.
Maureen had been there earlier.
She left around eight.
Elise died shortly after eleven.
Conrad stayed until almost dawn.
He never knew Maureen returned to the house.
Marisol said she did.
"Why didn't you mention it?"
"It didn't seem important."
Of course not.
A grieving mother-in-law entering a dead woman's office could mean paperwork.
Clothes.
Photographs.
Nothing suspicious until years later.
"What was in the yellow envelope?"
"I don't know."
"Could it have been the amendment?"
"Maybe."
Conrad called Henry.
"How was Dad's amendment packaged?"
"A yellow legal envelope."
His heart sank.
"Mom may have found it the night Elise died."
"If she did, why keep searching?"
"Maybe she found a copy."
"Or Elise moved the original."
Conrad returned to the documents recovered from Maureen's condo.
The yellow photocopy had a footer.
COPY 2 OF 3
Three copies.
One maybe with Everett.
One with Elise.
One intended for Henry.
The original signature document remained missing.
What did it matter now?
Two witnesses could prove execution.
A scanned copy existed.
But the original would eliminate a major litigation battle.
Maureen knew that.
So did Leonard.
Detective Sloan called that evening.
"We found Pike."
Conrad stood.
"Where?"
"Milwaukee."
"Arrested?"
"Detained for questioning. There are financial warrants being prepared."
"Did he talk?"
"Some."
"About my mother?"
"Yes."
"About Wren?"
Silence.
Conrad's stomach tightened.
"What?"
"He claims Maureen told him never to harm Wren."
Conrad laughed bitterly.
"As if that helps."
"No."
"What did he do?"
"Surveillance. Financial research. He admits helping obtain personal materials."
"DNA?"
"He says Maureen asked him to create a report."
Conrad stopped.
"Fake?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"According to Pike, she wanted Everett to believe Elise had been unfaithful."
"Why?"
"To stop Everett from removing her as trustee."
There it was.
"Did Maureen know Wren was actually mine?"
"Pike says yes."
Conrad felt rage unlike anything he'd experienced.
She knew.
All those times she called Wren a bastard.
All those questions.
All the fear.
She knew the accusation was false.
It wasn't belief.
It was strategy.
"Did he know about the amendment?"
"Yes."
"What happened to it?"
"He claims Elise hid it."
"Where?"
"He doesn't know."
"Did Maureen take a yellow envelope the night Elise died?"
Detective Sloan paused.
"Pike says Maureen called him that night."
Conrad's heartbeat changed.
"What did she say?"
"That she found the envelope."
He closed his eyes.
"Then why are we still looking?"
"Because there was no original inside."
Conrad opened his eyes.
"Only a copy?"
"According to Pike."
Elise had anticipated her.
"Anything else?"
"Pike says Maureen became furious."
"At Elise?"
"Yes."
"Elise was dead."
"I know."
The detective continued.
"Pike says Maureen searched for years because she believed Elise gave the original either to Wren or to someone outside the family."
Conrad thought of Nathan.
Marisol.
Nina.
Henry.
Then another possibility.
Elise's own family.
Her parents were dead.
One brother remained.
Miles Carter.
Conrad hadn't spoken to him in nearly a year.
Miles lived in Seattle.
They had grown distant after Elise's death.
Not hostile.
Just grief moving people apart.
Conrad called.
Miles answered on the third ring.
"Conrad?"
"Did Elise ever give you documents?"
Silence.
Conrad immediately knew.
"Miles."
"Why are you asking?"
"Because Mom has been abusing Wren trying to find something Elise hid."
Miles's voice changed.
"What?"
Conrad explained enough.
When he finished, Miles said:
"I have a package."
Conrad stood.
"From Elise?"
"Yes."
"When did she give it to you?"
"Two weeks before she died."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"She told me not to unless Maureen challenged Wren's inheritance."
Conrad almost shouted.
"That happened months ago."
"I didn't know."
"How could you not know?"
"Because nobody called me."
Painful.
True.
Conrad had let distance become normal.
"What is in the package?"
"I never opened it."
"Where is it?"
"Safe."
"Miles."
"I'll overnight it."
"No."
Conrad looked at Nina.
"I'm coming."
Miles went silent.
"Conrad, there's one thing."
"What?"
"Elise told me if you ever asked for the package, I had to make sure Maureen wasn't with you."
His throat tightened.
"Anything else?"
"Yes."
May you like
"What?"
"She said there was something inside that might make you hate her for a while."
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