Chapter 5 - What Evelyn Burned
Eli waited until Trent left before confronting his grandmother.
“Did you burn a ledger?”
Evelyn continued washing teacups.
“Grandma.”
“Yes.”
The simplicity of the answer angered him.
“You spent two days telling us there are secrets in this family, and you’re keeping one?”
“I have kept many.”
“Why?”
She dried her hands.
“Because people tell themselves secrecy is the same as protection.”
“That sounds like something you’d criticize Vanessa for.”
“It is.”
Eli leaned against the counter.
“Then tell me.”
Evelyn looked suddenly older.
“Your grandfather once falsified company expenses.”
Eli stared at her.
“For what?”
“To hide money.”
His stomach tightened.
“From taxes?”
“No.”
“From you?”
“Yes.”
That hurt her to say.
She walked toward the kitchen table.
“Samuel discovered your father was gambling.”
Eli froze.
Their father, Michael Harper, had died eleven years earlier from a heart attack at fifty-four.
Eli remembered him as loud, affectionate, unreliable, and perpetually broke.
Vanessa had worshipped him.
Trent had feared disappointing him.
Eli had spent years trying not to resemble him.
“How much?” Eli asked.
“Almost four hundred thousand dollars over six years.”
Eli stared.
“He stole from you?”
“He borrowed.”
“Without asking?”
“That is stealing.”
Evelyn’s honesty surprised him.
“Samuel moved money into reserve accounts under misleading expense categories so Michael couldn’t access it.”
“And you burned the ledger?”
“After Samuel died.”
“Why?”
“Because it proved your father had taken money.”
Eli understood.
“You were protecting Dad’s reputation.”
“And protecting the three of you from knowing.”
“Vanessa knows.”
Evelyn nodded.
“She found part of the record after Michael died.”
“Did Trent?”
“I don’t believe so.”
Eli sat down.
Everything suddenly looked connected.
Vanessa’s obsession with money.
Her insistence that Grandma had somehow deprived them.
Her belief that the family estate owed her something.
“She thinks the missing money belonged to Dad.”
“Yes.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
Evelyn’s voice became firm.
“Your father had no ownership in Harper Properties. Samuel and I helped him repeatedly, but the company remained ours.”
“Did Vanessa know that?”
“She knew what she wanted to know.”
Eli thought about the check in his jacket.
“Why give me two hundred fifty thousand dollars?”
Evelyn met his eyes.
“I need the east apartment building repaired before winter gets worse. Roof, heating system, two unsafe staircases.”
“That isn’t my property.”
“No.”
“Then why put the check in my name?”
“Because every business account is tangled in the investigation.”
“You could have paid contractors directly.”
“I could.”
“So this is a test.”
Evelyn’s silence answered him.
Eli stood.
“That’s not fair.”
“No.”
“You gave me a quarter million dollars just to see whether I’d steal it?”
“I gave you money because work must be done. What you choose to do with it tells me something.”
“About whether I deserve an inheritance?”
Her expression changed.
“This family’s problem is that every conversation eventually becomes inheritance.”
Eli looked away.
“I don’t want the orchard.”
“You may have to decide what happens to it.”
“I don’t want that either.”
“Good.”
He looked back.
She almost smiled.
“People who desperately want power are usually the ones who should not have it.”
A car moved outside.
Headlights swept across the kitchen ceiling.
Eli glanced through the window.
Black sedan.
It stopped near the barn.
A man stepped out.
Paul Denton.
Evelyn’s former attorney.
He carried a leather briefcase.
Eli’s body tightened.
“I’ll tell him to leave.”
“No.”
Evelyn stood.
“Let him in.”
“Why?”
“Because Sarah told him I revoked every authorization he holds.”
Sarah Klein.
Evelyn’s new attorney.
“And?”
“And Paul requested a meeting before he contacts Beacon Crest.”
Eli frowned.
“Why would he contact the lender?”
Evelyn walked toward the hallway.
“That is what I intend to learn.”
Paul knocked.
Three measured knocks.
Evelyn opened the door.
He smiled as if arriving for Sunday dinner.
“Evelyn.”
“Paul.”
His gaze moved to Eli.
Then the smile disappeared.
“I was hoping we could speak privately.”
Evelyn stepped aside.
“Anything you say to me can be said in front of my grandson.”
Paul entered.
Snow dusted his shoulders.
He placed the briefcase on the dining table.
“I strongly recommend reconsidering that.”
“Why?”
He opened the case.
Inside was a medical report.
Eli recognized Evelyn’s name.
Paul slid it across the table.
“Because if you continue interfering with the sale, Vanessa intends to petition the court to have you declared incapable of managing your affairs.”
Eli stared at him.
Evelyn did not.
She looked almost amused.
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Then Paul added quietly:
“And she already has a doctor willing to testify.”
