Chapter 6 - WHAT MY WIFE WAS AFRAID OF
Vanessa stared at the recorder as though Mother were sitting between us.
“You heard him hit me.”
I said nothing.
She touched her left shoulder.
For the first time, I remembered seeing a bruise there two weeks earlier on a video call.
She told me she had walked into a pantry door.
“How long has Lucas been threatening you?”
“He doesn’t threaten me.”
I almost laughed.
“You just listened to him.”
“He gets angry.”
“That sentence is doing a lot of work.”
Vanessa stood.
“Don’t turn me into a victim because it makes the story easier.”
I looked at her.
She wiped her face with both hands.
“I chose this.”
That answer stopped me.
“I chose to invest with him. I chose not to tell you. I chose to give Eleanor those pills.”
“And Lucas?”
“He chose what he chose.”
“What did he choose after you said you were telling me?”
Her mouth tightened.
“I don’t know.”
“Were you here the night Mother died?”
“Yes.”
“Was Lucas?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you lie?”
“Because he told me to.”
“That stopped being an explanation five minutes ago.”
She sat again.
“At ten thirty, Eleanor came downstairs.”
“The night she died?”
“Yes.”
“She was furious.”
“About what?”
“She had found the proxy.”
Mother had apparently pretended not to remember signing it.
Then she searched Lucas’s briefcase while he was outside.
“She told us the proxy was worthless because she’d been medicated.”
“What did Lucas say?”
“He said the board wouldn’t know.”
“And you?”
“I told him we were done.”
“Then?”
“Eleanor said she had recordings.”
I looked toward the recorder.
“Did she show it?”
“No.”
“She told us she had sent copies to someone.”
“Who?”
“She didn’t say.”
That explained Lucas’s obsession with Caleb.
“What happened next?”
“Lucas left.”
“When?”
“About eleven.”
Caleb had reached the gate around midnight and seen Lucas there.
Another lie.
“Did Mother go to bed?”
“Yes.”
“Were you with her?”
“Until midnight.”
“What happened?”
“She was shaking.”
“From what?”
“I thought anger.”
“Did you give her anything?”
“No.”
“Not even normal medication?”
“No.”
“I want the truth.”
“That is the truth.”
She looked at me.
“I was going to call you.”
“Mother emailed me at two thirteen.”
“I know.”
“You said you didn’t.”
“I didn’t know then.”
“When did you learn?”
“After she died. Lucas checked her sent folder.”
Another admission.
“Did Lucas have her passwords?”
“He had access to the house computer.”
“Where were you between midnight and one twelve?”
“In our bedroom.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hear anything?”
“At twelve forty or so, I heard something fall.”
“And?”
“I went to Eleanor’s room.”
“What did you find?”
Vanessa’s mouth trembled.
“She was on the floor.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She couldn’t speak properly.”
“Stroke symptoms.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you call 911?”
“I tried.”
“Tried?”
“Lucas came in.”
“He was still there.”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“He said moving her could kill her.”
“Lucas is not a doctor.”
“I know.”
“He told you to call Bennett.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He said Bennett knew her history.”
“And while you waited?”
Vanessa looked down.
“Lucas sat with her.”
“What did he give her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see him touch her medication?”
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“He opened the pill box.”
“What did he take?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“Did he put anything in her mouth?”
Vanessa covered her face.
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I went to call Bennett.”
“When you came back?”
“Lucas was holding a glass of water.”
I leaned against the table.
Mother might already have been having a stroke.
Or Lucas might have finished something Vanessa started weeks earlier.
There was no proof yet.
At noon, the coroner authorized a forensic autopsy because of the recording, medication concerns, unexplained bruising, and conflicting accounts surrounding the death.
The funeral home transferred Mother’s body.
Lucas’s attorney called me an hour later.
Not Lucas.
His attorney.
“Mr. Grant denies harming your mother.”
“Where is he?”
“I’m not authorized to discuss his location.”
“Tell him Caleb is alive.”
Silence.
“He knows.”
That mattered.
“How?”
“I have no idea.”
“Tell Lucas investigators will want his clothes from last night.”
The attorney’s tone changed.
“Daniel, do not threaten my client.”
“That wasn’t a threat.”
I hung up.
Hartwell’s board scheduled an emergency meeting for the following morning.
The proxy supposedly signed by Mother gave Vanessa her thirty-eight percent voting block.
My own shares represented twenty-four percent.
The rest were split among trusts and outside directors.
If the proxy held, Vanessa could join two directors sympathetic to the Pier 9 sale and derail Southampton.
Even with Mother dead, the company fight had not stopped.
It had become more urgent.
That evening, Hartwell’s general counsel emailed the signed proxy.
Mother’s signature appeared genuine.
The notarization was Marjorie’s.
But something else had been attached.
A physician certification.
ELEANOR HARTWELL POSSESSED FULL DECISIONAL CAPACITY AT TIME OF EXECUTION.
Signed:
Samuel Bennett, M.D.
I called him immediately.
He answered after three rings.
“Daniel.”
“Did you certify my mother’s capacity three weeks ago?”
Silence.
“Dr. Bennett.”
“No.”
I looked at the document again.
“Your signature is on it.”
“That is not my signature.”
At the bottom of the PDF, hidden beneath the scanned page, were document properties.
May you like
Created on Lucas Grant’s laptop.
Modified by Vanessa Hartwell.
