“He knew we weren’t speaking,” she said. “That made me useful.”
“What did he want?”
“Access.”
“To Mom’s money?”
“At first, information.”
Caroline looked ashamed.
“He said Margaret was becoming confused.”
“She wasn’t.”
“I know that now.”
“He said that?”
“Yes.”
My hands curled into fists.
“He said you were financially irresponsible,” Caroline continued. “That if Margaret died, you’d burn through everything and Lucas would get nothing.”
I almost laughed.
Ethan had used the same lie in reverse.
To me, Mom thought I was impulsive.
To Caroline, Ethan was protecting me from myself.
“What did you do?”
“I gave him names. Account contacts. Old structures.”
Rachel asked,
“Did you receive money?”
Caroline looked down.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
I shut my eyes.
“From my mother’s trust?”
“I didn’t know at first.”
“But later?”
“Yes.”
“And you kept it?”
“Yes.”
I wanted to hate her.
Maybe part of me did.
“Why tell Mom?”
“Because Ethan wanted more.”
“How much?”
“He planned to move most of the liquid assets.”
“Where?”
“Northstar.”
David leaned forward.
“What was Northstar?”
Caroline laughed without humor.
“A shell.”
“Controlled by Ethan?”
“Ethan and someone else.”
The room changed.
Rachel asked,
“Who?”
Caroline looked at me.
“I assumed Sophia.”
“She says she wasn’t involved.”
“She wasn’t.”
“Then who?”
Caroline hesitated.
Detective Hale said,
“Ms. Bennett.”
She exhaled.
“Ethan’s father.”
I stared at her.
“Thomas Caldwell?”
“Yes.”
That made no sense.
Thomas Caldwell had died six years earlier.
Or so I believed.
“What are you talking about?”
Caroline’s expression changed.
“Oh, Laura.”
“What?”
“Thomas wasn’t the other partner.”
“Then why did you say Ethan’s father?”
She leaned back.
“Because Thomas Caldwell wasn’t Ethan’s biological father.”
The room went silent.
I felt suddenly cold.
“Who was?”
Caroline looked directly at me.
Then said a name I had not heard since childhood.
“Your grandfather.”
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then I laughed.
“No.”
Caroline said nothing.
“No.”
I stood.
“That’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking.”
“My grandfather was sixty when Ethan was born.”
“Fifty-eight.”
“That doesn’t make Ethan his son.”
“No.”
Caroline looked toward the table.
