Chapter 16
At the house, Daniel was waiting beneath the porch light.
He was in his early forties, with a narrow face and tired eyes. When he opened the door, his gaze moved from me to the driver waiting at the curb.
“Mrs. Vale?”
“Evelyn, please.”
He nodded.
“I’m Daniel.”
“I’m glad you called.”
“So am I.”
He stepped aside.
The house smelled of cedar, old books, and the faint lavender scent of furniture polish. Family photographs lined the hallway. Meredith appeared in nearly all of them—at a graduation, beside a lake, laughing with a younger Daniel and an older man who must have been his father.
Daniel noticed me looking.
“My father is in the den,” he said. “He wanted to speak with you, but he’s tired. We can keep this brief.”
“I don’t want to cause trouble.”
“You’re not.”
His voice held quiet conviction.
He led me into a study crowded with bookshelves. An elderly man sat in a leather chair beside the window, a blanket over his knees. He had the same kind eyes as his son.
“Mrs. Vale,” he said.
“Evelyn.”
“My wife spoke about you.”
The words startled me.
“She did?”
“Not often. Meredith was careful with confidential matters. But she said you were one of the most capable young women she had ever represented.”
I looked down.
“I didn’t know.”
“She was disappointed that you had stopped asking questions.”
The truth hurt because it was deserved.
Daniel crossed to a cabinet and removed a small wooden box.
“My mother kept this in the back of her desk. After she died, I found instructions taped beneath the drawer.”
He placed the box on the table between us.
A single envelope rested inside.
Evelyn Hart Vale.
My name looked different in Meredith’s handwriting.
I touched the paper but did not open it.
“Did she tell you what was in here?”
“She said that if you came asking about the trust, I was to give you the letter first. If you didn’t come, I was to keep it.”
“Why did the man from Dominic’s company come?”
Daniel glanced at his father.
“My father spoke with him.”
The older man shifted in his chair.
“He arrived three days after Meredith’s funeral. He said there had been an administrative error and that a file belonging to the Vale group might have been taken from the office.”
“Did he say his name?”