Chapter 6
We found Graydon Estate Services by morning.
Legitimate company.
No idea what they were carrying.
Their driver had been instructed to deliver the green boxes to a private storage facility outside Providence.
Not cemetery.
Not country estate.
Storage.
The ashes were in one of twelve sealed containers.
Still unopened, according to inventory.
Good.
I wanted them returned immediately.
But I stopped.
My instinct said take everything.
Lock it down.
Control.
Then I remembered Milo.
Evelyn.
Verena.
All of this had begun because too many people treated possession as permission.
So I asked the storage manager to secure everything exactly as found.
No opening.
No moving.
Until I understood what actually belonged to whom.
Harlan looked surprised.
So did I.
Growth is irritating.
Then Rowena called me.
Not Verena.
Me.
She knew we had traced the shipment.
“Alden Kestrel.”
Her voice was older.
Steady.
“You should have left it alone.”
I almost laughed.
“You took my wife’s ashes.”
“No.”
Interesting.
“I asked Verena to remove them.”
Technical distinction.
“Why?”
“Because I needed the boxes moved without you inspecting them.”
At least honest.
“Which box?”
Silence.
“The music box?”
Nothing.
“The notebook?”
Still nothing.
Then she said:
“Evelyn promised me something before she died.”
My chest tightened.
“What?”
“The truth.”
About the old charitable trust.
Evelyn had apparently contacted Rowena during her illness.
Not to apologize.
To tell her she finally found proof Rowena had been framed.
“By whom?”
Rowena answered:
“Her mother.”
That stunned me.
Not another employee.
Not cousin.
Her own mother had redirected charity money.
Why?
To cover private debts belonging to Evelyn’s younger brother.
Family protection.
Again.
Evelyn’s mother blamed Rowena because admitting the truth would disgrace her son.
Old structure.
Familiar poison.
“And Evelyn found proof?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Only that she had hidden copies among “things no one respects.”
Ugly music box.
Unused recipe notebook.
Maybe more.
Rowena spent years believing Evelyn had died before sending them.
Then saw photographs of our house after the engagement announcement.
Recognized objects still there.
She panicked.
Why now?
Because Verena had begun talking publicly about clearing the old rooms after marriage.
Rowena feared the proof would be discarded.
So she manipulated her.
That part she admitted without shame.
“I needed access.”
“You used my fiancée.”
“She was already jealous.”
Cold.
True.
Not justification.
Then she added:
“And you were never going to let a stranger search your dead wife’s belongings.”
Also true.
May you like
But she never asked.
Everyone kept deciding my answer before giving me the question.
