Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN MARGARET FIREDJune Holloway answered Everett’s call on the second ring.
She did not say hello.
She said, “Are the boys safe?”
Everett closed his eyes.
That answered one question immediately.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m home.”
June exhaled.
“Thank God.”
“June, why did you leave?”
Silence.
Then:
“I didn’t.”
Everett gripped the phone.
“What?”
“She fired me.”
“Margaret said you resigned.”
“I know what Margaret said.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I tried.”
Everett looked toward the hall.
“How?”
“Your cell. Your office. I sent emails.”
“I got nothing.”
“I know.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Margaret called me.”
Everett went completely still.
“She said if I contacted you again, she would tell the police I stole jewelry from the house.”
Everett’s voice changed.
“She threatened you?”
“She had one of Isabel’s bracelets in my handbag.”
“What?”
“I found it before I left the property. I knew I hadn’t put it there.”
Everett sat down.
June continued.
“I took photographs of the bracelet in the bag and left it on the kitchen counter. Then I walked out.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“And say what? That the wealthy woman who had just fired me planted jewelry in my bag? I had no proof she put it there.”
“You had worked for us thirteen years.”
“I know.”
“I would have believed you.”
June was quiet.
“Would you?”
Everett had no answer.
Because three months earlier, if June had called and accused Margaret of framing her, Everett might have asked Margaret first.
And Margaret would have cried.
And Everett might have believed his wife.
June must have understood his silence.
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
Everett swallowed.
“What did you see?”
“A lot.”
He activated the recorder on his own phone.
“With your permission, I want to document this.”
“Do it.”
June began with small things.
Margaret had started going through Isabel’s files.
At first she claimed she was organizing the house.
Then she began asking about the Harlow Residence Trust.
Who controlled it.
Whether it could be amended.
Whether Daniel and Noah could lose their beneficial rights.
June told her she did not know.
Margaret became angry.
A week later, Malcolm Whitmore began visiting the mansion when Everett was traveling.
“Malcolm?”
“Yes.”
“How often?”
“At least five times that I saw.”
“He told me he hadn’t been here in months.”
“He lied.”
June had once found Malcolm and Margaret arguing in the study.
She could not hear everything.
Only three sentences.
Margaret had said:
“You told me this would be finished before summer.”
Malcolm replied:
“It will be if Everett signs.”
Then Margaret:
“And if he doesn’t?”
June heard Malcolm say:
“Then he won’t be the one signing for long.”
Everett’s hand tightened around the phone.
“What happened after that?”
“I started paying attention.”
June saw Preston Vale arrive several times.
She saw papers removed from Everett’s study.
She saw Margaret photograph Daniel’s signature from an old school form.
Then she saw something that terrified her enough to confront Margaret.
“What?”
“A letter.”
“What letter?”
“From the Harlow trust.”
Everett frowned.
“The trustees send annual statements.”
“This was different.”
“How?”
“It said someone had requested information about replacing you as residency guardian.”
Everett stood.
“You saw that?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“Margaret burned it.”
He thought he misheard.
“She burned the letter?”
“In the kitchen fireplace.”
The mansion had four fireplaces.
The kitchen one was rarely used.
June had walked in and seen Margaret feeding pages into the flames.
One corner remained unburned.
June picked it up later.
She still had it.
“June.”
“Yes?”
“I need that piece.”
“I know.”
“Can you bring it?”
“I’m not coming near that house while she’s there.”
Everett respected the fear in her voice.
“I’ll meet you.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because someone followed me two days after I was fired.”
Everett stopped.
“What?”
“A black SUV. Twice.”
“Did you get the plate?”
“No.”
He looked toward the window.
Across the lawn, Margaret was pushing Noah on the garden swing as though she were the most loving stepmother in America.
“June, where are you?”
“I’m staying with my sister.”
“Don’t tell me the address over this phone.”
Everett surprised himself by saying it.
Then he understood why.
If Margaret had intercepted emails and calls before, he did not know what she could access now.
June agreed to meet Lena Brooks instead.
An hour later, Lena collected the burned fragment.
Only nine lines remained readable.
The last line mattered most.
Any petition seeking removal of Everett Whitmore as residency guardian must be reviewed jointly by both surviving trust protectors.
Everett called Lena.
“Both?”
“That’s what it says.”
“I only know one.”
“So do I.”
“Who’s the second?”
“I’m trying to find out.”
Margaret apparently had the same problem.
Because that night, Everett passed the guest room and heard her whispering on the phone.
He stopped outside the door.
“I don’t care what Preston says.”
A pause.
“We need the second name.”
Another pause.
Then Margaret said:
“If that person appears before the petition is filed, everything we’ve done is worthless.”
Everett moved away before she opened the door.
For the first time, he understood something important.
Margaret was afraid.
May you like
Not of him.
Of someone he did not yet know existed.
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