Chapter 4 - The Trial Before the TrialFor the first time in decades, Eleanor Vance heard a room full of powerful people fall silent because they believed she might be a murderer.
Julian recovered first.
He slowly returned to his chair.
“Well,” he said, almost gently, “that changes things.”
Clara took Eleanor’s hand beneath the table.
“You never touched the packet,” she whispered.
“I touched many things that evening.”
“But not that.”
Marcus called Detective Brooks. She confirmed the report.
Eleanor’s partial fingerprint had been found on the outer fold of the paper packet recovered from Isabelle’s handbag. Traces of the same substance discovered in Maria’s bowl remained inside it.
The district attorney requested Eleanor’s immediate interview.
Julian closed the succession agreement.
“For the company’s sake, we must vote now.”
“No,” Senator Wynn said. “Not until we understand the evidence.”
Julian’s eyes hardened. “The evidence shows that my mother handled poison and switched a bowl that killed a woman.”
“The evidence shows a fingerprint,” Clara replied. “Nothing more.”
“It also shows motive. Maria knew something about Mother.”
Eleanor studied him. “What did Maria know?”
Julian looked toward the directors.
“Three weeks ago, Maria contacted me. She claimed Mother had been moving company assets into a private trust. She intended to disinherit all of us.”
“That is a lie,” Clara said.
“Maria recorded their conversation.”
He placed his phone on the table and played an audio file.
Maria’s voice emerged from the speaker.
If Eleanor discovers what we did, none of you will inherit a dollar.
Then Eleanor’s voice answered.
Maria will not be a problem after the banquet.
Several directors recoiled.
Clara stared at her mother.
Eleanor recognized her own voice, but not the conversation.
“It has been altered,” she said.
Julian gave her a pitying look. “Of course you believe that.”
Police officers arrived before the vote could begin.
Eleanor agreed to accompany them voluntarily.
Outside Vance Tower, cameras flashed as she walked toward an unmarked vehicle. Reporters shouted that she had poisoned Maria. Others demanded to know whether her children were fighting over the corporation.
Eleanor did not lower her head.
At the station, Detective Brooks placed the packet photographs before her.
“You recognize it?” Brooks asked.
“No.”
“Your print is on it.”
“Then someone transferred it or arranged for me to touch it before the powder was added.”
“Who had access to your personal belongings?”
“My entire household.”
Brooks leaned forward.
“Mrs. Vance, you admitted switching the bowls.”
“I did.”
“You knowingly placed suspected poison in front of Maria Rossi.”
“I believed Maria was part of the plan.”
“Belief is not proof.”
“No. It is survival.”
The district attorney considered charging Eleanor with manslaughter. She was released pending further investigation but ordered to surrender her passport.
When Clara brought her home, Arthur was waiting in the library.
“Isabelle wants to talk,” he said.
“Has she decided which lie to tell?” Eleanor asked.
“She says she can prove who touched the packet.”
They met Isabelle in a private interview room at the county jail.
Without diamonds, makeup, or perfect lighting, Isabelle looked younger and far more frightened.
“My mother planned the banquet dose,” she said.
Eleanor remained standing.
“Then why were you holding the packet?”
“Because she handed it to me.”
“Why?”
“She said you had ruined our lives.”
“I barely knew your mother.”
“She blamed you for refusing to invest in her fund. She said your rejection caused clients to withdraw.”
“And you agreed to poison me?”
Isabelle’s eyes filled with tears.
“At first, Dr. Reeves told us it would only make you appear confused. Julian said the board needed evidence that you were no longer competent.”
Arthur struck the table with his palm. “Julian?”
“He promised to cover the debt and protect me from prosecution for the forged loans.”
“Why did you bring a syringe into her bedroom?” Arthur demanded.
“Julian ordered me to sedate her. He said someone would replace the will while she was unconscious.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Eleanor finally sat.
“What about my fingerprint?”
Isabelle looked toward the mirrored observation window.
“My mother used one of your birthday cards.”
Eleanor remembered greeting guests before dinner. Maria had approached with a cream envelope and asked Eleanor to open it personally. Eleanor had unfolded a small piece of decorative paper inside.
Maria later cut the section Eleanor touched and used it to create the packet.
“The conversation recording?” Clara asked.
“Dr. Reeves used an audio program. Julian gave him recordings from board meetings.”
Arthur turned away in disgust.
“Will you testify?” Eleanor asked.
Isabelle’s mouth trembled. “If you protect Arthur.”
“I cannot promise protection from consequences.”
“Then I want a lawyer.”
“You already have one.”
“I want one Julian isn’t paying.”
Eleanor instructed Clara to arrange independent counsel.
As they prepared to leave, Isabelle grabbed Eleanor’s sleeve.
“There’s something else.”
Eleanor looked down at her hand.
“Maria kept copies of everything. She didn’t trust Julian.”
“Where?”
“In a safe-deposit box.”
“Which bank?”
“I don’t know. But she hid the key inside the jade jewelry box she gave you.”
Eleanor’s blood chilled.
The rosewood box containing the earrings had supposedly belonged to her own mother.
Sophia had discovered it in a storage cabinet the morning of the banquet.
Someone had placed it there.
Back at the estate, Eleanor opened the box and removed the velvet lining. Beneath it was a narrow brass key stamped with the number 317.
Marcus traced it to a private bank in Providence.
Inside the box, they found payment records, recordings of Julian and Dr. Reeves, copies of the forged succession documents, and a handwritten ledger maintained by Maria.
One recording was devastating.
Julian’s voice spoke clearly.
Once my mother is declared incompetent, Arthur will sign whatever I place in front of him. Isabelle will take the blame if anything goes wrong. Maria, you will receive your money when I control the company.
Maria answered, And if Eleanor survives?
Julian paused.
Then she won’t survive the second attempt.
The recording gave the police grounds to arrest Julian.
But when they arrived at his penthouse, he was gone.
His phone had been abandoned on the kitchen counter. His passport remained in a drawer. Security footage showed him leaving through a service elevator wearing a maintenance uniform.
At the same time, the hospital reported that Sophia had vanished from her recovery room.
A nurse had found the bed empty and the window unlocked.
Twenty minutes later, Eleanor received a video call from an unknown number.
Julian appeared on the screen.
Behind him, Sophia sat tied to a chair.
Her face was bruised, but she was conscious.
Julian looked directly into the camera.
“You always said a leader must be willing to sacrifice one person to save an empire.”
Eleanor’s grip tightened around the phone.
“What do you want?”
“The evidence from Maria’s box. Every copy.”
“And then?”
“You announce that the recordings were fabricated. You resign. You name me chief executive.”
Sophia shook her head frantically.
Julian placed one hand on her shoulder.
May you like
“You have one hour, Mother.”
The screen went black.
