Chapter 14 - What Was Taken From Our House

Maren entered behind Evelyn wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. She moved straight toward the hallway where Dean and I kept our home office.

"Call the police," I said.

Dean already had his phone out. He told the dispatcher the women were entering our house without permission. I could hear my own voice in the background of the security feed, thin and distant, coming through the camera speaker as I told them to leave.

Evelyn stopped. She looked up at the camera.

Maren didn't. She opened the office door and disappeared inside.

Dean stayed on the line until an officer arrived. By then Maren had taken a laptop bag and a thick manila envelope from the desk. The officer stopped them on the front steps. Dean confirmed that the laptop belonged to me. It was taken into police custody as part of the investigation rather than handed to either woman.

Evelyn called him immediately.

"You had the police stop your own mother?"

"You entered our home to help Maren take Laurel's files."

"Those files contain information about our foundation."

"Then get them through an attorney."

She breathed sharply. "You don't understand what's at stake."

"I understand my daughter screamed while my wife bled on a ballroom floor."

For once, Evelyn had nothing ready to say.

Naomi arranged for Dean and me to meet with Brooks by video. The officer had found draft vendor contracts on the seized laptop, along with copies of expense reports that matched those I'd already turned over. The manila envelope contained a printout of the forged board resolution and a letter from Westvale seeking payment by four the next afternoon.

"Why risk coming into our home?" I asked.

"They may have thought the original accounting notes were there," Brooks said. "Or they wanted to know what you'd preserved."

I had one more question. "What about Evelyn?"

"We've asked her to come in for an interview."

That night, Mae came off the strongest level of breathing support. Dean and I stood beside her incubator, listening to her small, steady breaths. For three minutes I didn't think about Maren or the money.

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Then Naomi called.

"I've reviewed the Harbor House bylaws," she said. "Maren can still authorize that payment unless the board suspends her or a court intervenes. And there's something else. Evelyn has the deciding vote."