Chapter 4

Garrett kept his finger beneath his signature.

"What did I approve?"

Ms. Morgan asked the manager to send that page.

Bennett moved toward the counter.

"You approved the estate administration."

"You said he'd died alone."

"He was driving alone-"

Elise lifted her head.

"I was in the passenger seat."

The room went still.

She touched the scar through her left eyebrow.

"Sadie was staying with a neighbor."

"Three days later, you came to the hospital."

Bennett looked toward the guests still near the tree.

"This is privileged."

"Not between you and me," Elise said.

"You said you represented Garrett."

Garrett put down the filing.

"What did he tell you?"

Elise glanced at Sadie.

The child was fitting the broken wing onto her angel.

Walter crouched beside her.

"Let's see if that needs tape."

They stayed beside the cart, within Elise's sight.

She turned back to Garrett.

"He said you'd fight me for her."

Garrett's hand closed against the countertop.

"He said you'd call me unfit."

Bennett shook his head.

"I explained potential litigation."

"You said I'd lose her."

Her voice stayed level.

"You brought papers while I still had stitches."

Ms. Morgan spoke through the phone.

"Elise, did you receive independent legal advice?"

"No."

"Did you sign a release?"

"Something for the funeral money."

"Do you have it?"

Elise lifted another document from the folder.

Walter had kept the hospital envelope with it.

Bennett pointed at the signature.

"She accepted the agreement."

Ms. Morgan asked for a photograph.

The manager sent it.

Nobody spoke while she read.

Then her voice returned.

"This doesn't erase a child's rights."

Elise stared at the phone.

"And it isn't a custody order."

Her palm moved to the ring at her throat.

Bennett looked at Garrett.

"You can't overturn an estate in a hotel lobby."

"No," Ms. Morgan said.

"We'll use a courtroom."

For several seconds, only the copier hummed.

Garrett drew a chair toward Elise.

She sat without taking off her coat.

"Why didn't you get help?" he asked.

"I tried legal aid."

"What happened?"

"They asked for the papers."

She looked at Bennett.

"He told me asking meant the deal was over."

"The room."

"The money."

"Everything."

Walter stood beside the footlocker.

"I thought Garrett knew about them."

Garrett turned.

"All this time?"

"I knew there'd been a falling-out."

"Not this."

Walter nodded toward the envelopes.

"Nathan said his dad wouldn't answer."

"Elise said your lawyer had settled it."

His hands hung at his sides.

"I should've asked you anyway."

Garrett looked back at the filing.

"So should I."

Bennett put his phone to his ear.

No one stopped him.

He stepped several feet away, still inside the lobby.

Ms. Morgan asked for the trust's name.

Garrett gave it.

"And who administers it?"

"Bennett, with the corporate trustee."

The attorney went quiet.

Then she asked about surviving descendants.

Garrett looked at the wedding picture.

"My grandchildren become beneficiaries."

"With what reporting requirements?"

"Annual accounting to their legal representatives."

Elise's eyes moved to the court filing.

Bennett lowered his phone.

"These are complicated instruments."

Ms. Morgan's answer was flat.

"Then nobody should object to an audit."

Bennett took a step toward Garrett.

"If you challenge the administration, the sale could stall."

Garrett glanced at the resort's stone fireplace.

He had come downstairs to announce that sale.

Now the staff watched him from beside the tree.

"Let it stall."

Ms. Morgan began giving instructions.

Preserve the family-office records.

Notify the corporate trustee of the disputed beneficiary.

Request a temporary hold on distributions.

Take the evidence to the sheriff's office.

She promised no instant arrest or court ruling.

Only work.

Bennett slipped his phone into his pocket.

"You'll damage eleven properties over an accusation."

Garrett looked at the birth certificate.

"Over a child you swore didn't exist."

Then Ms. Morgan asked the question nobody had asked.

"What would an heir have been entitled to inspect?"

Bennett stared at the phone.

"Every payment Bennett had approved from Nathan's trust."