Chapter 13 - What Anna PromisedMargaret placed William's letter on Daniel's desk as though it were contaminated.
"Your wife encouraged his suspicions," she said.
Daniel remained standing.
"Anna was trying to help him."
"Anna wanted influence over the trust."
"She wasn't named as trustee."
"Not directly."
Margaret opened her handbag and removed a photocopied document.
It was an unsigned draft memorandum prepared shortly before William's death.
The heading read:
Proposed Independent Oversight Committee.
Anna Whitmore was listed among three proposed members.
Daniel frowned.
"What is this?"
"Your father considered creating a committee to monitor trust expenditures and related-party transactions."
"That sounds reasonable."
Margaret laughed softly.
"Anna would have gained access to private family financial matters."
"She was my wife."
"And she was never comfortable with our family."
Daniel studied the document.
It included two other names.
One was William's longtime accountant, Margaret Ellison.
The other was a retired banking executive.
"This was an advisory committee," Daniel said. "Not a transfer of control."
Margaret looked away.
"Your father was becoming suspicious."
"Of Grant?"
"Of everyone."
Daniel placed the document down.
"Mother, did Grant receive money from Palisade Restoration?"
Margaret's face became still.
"Why would you ask that?"
"Because Dad did."
She stood.
"William was ill."
"He was sufficiently lucid to update a trust, write detailed financial notes, and consult an accountant."
"Being lucid doesn't make a man correct."
"Who owns Palisade?"
Margaret moved toward the fireplace.
"You sound just like him."
Daniel waited.
At last, she turned.
"You have always been the romantic one."
He stared.
"Excuse me?"
"You think companies survive because decent people make beautiful things. They survive because somebody is willing to make difficult decisions."
"Like stealing from them?"
Margaret's eyes flashed.
"Be careful."
Daniel stepped closer.
"What did Anna promise Dad?"
His mother looked at the letter.
"To protect Lucas."
"From whom?"
Margaret did not answer.
Daniel suddenly remembered a conversation from the year before.
William had been sitting in his wheelchair in the library.
Anna stood beside him, holding a folder.
They had stopped talking when Daniel entered.
He'd assumed they were discussing his father's medical care.
"What did they discover?" he asked.
Margaret's expression hardened.
"Your wife was never satisfied with what she had."
"Don't talk about Anna that way."
"She wanted you to turn against your brother."
"Maybe she had a reason."
Margaret moved closer.
"Do you remember what happened after she began questioning the finances?"
Daniel said nothing.
"She became exhausted. Suspicious. Accusatory. She started searching the house at night."
"Because someone was moving her documents."
"That's what she claimed."
Daniel looked at his mother.
"And you were the one who told me she was unstable."
Margaret's lips pressed together.
"She frightened Lucas."
"Did she?"
The question hung between them.
Daniel remembered the late-night security report.
Anna had been found in the west hallway near the family office.
Margaret said she had been shouting.
The report described her as disoriented.
Daniel had seen the document.
But he hadn't witnessed the incident.
"Who wrote the report?" he asked.
"Security."
"Which security officer?"
Margaret's eyes narrowed.
"Why does that matter?"
"Because I'm going to speak to him."
He retrieved the letter.
"Please leave my study."
For a moment, Margaret looked genuinely wounded.
"This house was mine before you were born."
"And now it's held in trust, Mother. You know that."
She stared at him.
Then she said something he would remember for the rest of his life.
"Love does not keep a family together, Daniel. Control does."
He opened the door.
"Then you've mistaken one for the other."
She left without another word.
Later that night, Daniel called Anna.
She answered on the second ring.
"What happened?"
"I confronted Mother about the oversight committee."
Anna was silent.
"Why didn't you tell me William considered appointing you?"
"Because I knew what you'd say."
"What would I say?"
"That I was trying to interfere in the company."
Daniel could not deny it.
Anna continued.
"Your father asked me to promise that if anything happened to him, I'd make sure Lucas's trust wasn't exploited."
"Why you?"
"Because he said you loved Grant too much to see what was happening."
The truth wounded Daniel.
"What did you find?"
"Not enough. William suspected that the company was paying inflated invoices to contractors connected to Grant."
"Did he have proof?"
"He had invoices, but he hadn't finished tracing the ownership."
"And you?"
"I found a connection between Palisade Restoration and a holding company called Calder Ridge Investments."
Daniel reached for a pen.
"Who owns Calder Ridge?"
"We couldn't establish the ultimate beneficial owners from the public records."
"And you were searching for those records the night you supposedly became unstable?"
"Yes."
Anna's voice broke.
"Daniel, someone entered our bedroom while I was sleeping and took the folder from my desk."
"How do you know?"
"Because I'd copied the documents and marked one page with a blue ink stain. The folder was gone in the morning, and your mother told me I'd imagined having it."
Daniel closed his eyes.
He had called Anna paranoid.
He had told her to rest.
He had insisted that she was creating problems.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Anna took a long breath.
"I need you to understand something."
"What?"
"I wasn't only afraid of losing the money."
"Then what?"
"I was afraid of what they would do to Lucas if they needed him to control you."
Before Daniel could answer, another call came through.
It was the head of household security.
Daniel switched lines.
"Mr. Whitmore," the man said urgently, "you need to come downstairs."
"What happened?"
"Mrs. Whitmore has ordered Miss Hart to leave the property."
May you like
Daniel stood.
"And she has already called the security team to remove her."
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