“Counsel?”
Her eyes went to Hale.
“He’s not my counsel.”
Hale froze.
Daniel turned slowly.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa looked at her husband.
“You really thought this was about your mother’s money?”
Daniel’s face emptied.
She leaned toward him.
“You were the access point.”
He whispered, “Access to what?”
“The house.”
My heart began beating harder.
Vanessa looked at me.
For the first time, the victory I had seen in her eyes that morning was gone.
In its place was something stranger.
Desperation.
“Arthur found the ledger,” she said.
Judge Mercer stood.
“That is enough.”
The words exploded through the courtroom.
Vanessa flinched.
Hale grabbed his briefcase.
The judge pointed toward the bailiff.
“No one leaves.”
Too late.
Because the gallery doors had already opened.
Two men stepped inside.
Dark suits.
Federal badges.
Behind them came a woman I recognized immediately.
Special Agent Mara Ellison.
Twenty years earlier, she had been a junior investigator on the Bellweather pension fraud case.
Now she was staring at Judge Mercer.
Not at Daniel.
Not at Vanessa.
At the judge.
Mercer slowly sat down.
Mara walked forward.
“Eleanor.”
“Mara.”
Daniel looked between us.
“You know her?”
I ignored him.
Mara stopped beside my table.
“We received the files you sent.”
Judge Mercer’s voice sharpened.
“What files?”
Mara looked at him.
“The complete Vance archive.”
My pulse stopped for a second.
Complete?
I had not sent the complete archive.
I had only sent copies of the bank transfer, the forged property option, and Arthur’s preliminary notes.
I looked at her.
“What do you mean complete?”
Mara’s expression changed.
That was when fear finally found me.
She lowered her voice.
“Eleanor, the drive Arthur left you wasn’t the only one.”
The courtroom disappeared around me.
“What?”
“He mailed a package to our office two days before he died.”
My fingers tightened around the cane.
“What was in it?”
Mara hesitated.
“Names.
Payments.
Property records.
Guardianship orders.”
Judge Mercer suddenly shouted, “This hearing is adjourned.”
