Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN IN THE BLUE COATVictoria had not gone to betray them.
She had gone to demand the truth.
Unfortunately, Richard had expected her.
The meeting took place at an abandoned Grayson Harbor warehouse.
When Elliot arrived with security, Victoria’s car sat outside.
Empty.
Clara had insisted on coming.
“You stay in the vehicle,” Elliot ordered.
“Stop ordering me around.”
“For once, please.”
Something in his voice changed her mind.
Elliot entered with Marcus.
They found Victoria sitting at a table.
Richard stood across from her.
No weapons were visible.
“Elliot,” Richard said calmly.
“You’re done.”
Richard almost smiled.
“If that were true, you wouldn’t be here asking questions.”
Victoria looked at her son.
“He admitted the theft.”
Richard sighed.
“I admitted financial misconduct.”
“And Maggie?”
His face hardened.
“I didn’t kill Maggie.”
“What about Aaron?”
“No.”
Elliot stepped closer.
“Your credentials disabled the yacht system.”
“Because someone used them.”
“Convenient.”
Richard looked toward the doorway.
“You’re still looking at the wrong person.”
“Then give me the right one.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“You think your father built Grayson Harbor?”
Elliot frowned.
“He did.”
“No. Your grandmother did.”
Victoria went pale.
Richard continued.
“Eleanor Grayson controlled every major decision until the day she supposedly retired.”
Elliot stared.
His grandmother was eighty-two.
Elegant.
Charitable.
Beloved throughout Charleston.
She lived quietly on the family estate.
“No.”
Richard nodded.
“That was my reaction too.”
He explained.
Years earlier, Eleanor had begun moving foundation money into private investments, believing the family fortune needed protection.
Richard discovered it.
Instead of exposing her, he helped.
Then Maggie noticed discrepancies.
“Maggie was going to destroy everything,” Richard said.
“She was going to expose theft.”
“Yes.”
“So you sabotaged her boat.”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Richard’s expression changed.
“I don't know.”
Elliot grabbed his coat.
“Wrong answer.”
“I swear.”
Then a gunshot shattered the window.
Everyone dropped.
Security moved.
A second shot struck Richard in the shoulder.
Chaos erupted.
Outside, Clara heard the shots.
She ignored Elliot’s instruction immediately.
She ran toward the building.
A dark SUV tore from behind the warehouse.
Clara saw the driver only briefly.
A woman.
Silver hair.
For one impossible second, Clara thought it was Victoria.
Then she realized Victoria was inside.
She memorized the license plate.
Inside, Richard was bleeding.
He survived.
And the partial plate led Marcus somewhere unexpected.
The SUV belonged to Eleanor Grayson’s private estate.
Elliot refused to believe it until they confronted her.
Eleanor received them in her garden room as though they had arrived for tea.
She looked fragile.
Almost amused.
“My family has become terribly dramatic.”
Elliot placed Maggie’s letter on the table.
Eleanor read it.
No reaction.
Then he placed Aaron’s evidence beside it.
Finally, the old woman sighed.
“Maggie was always too idealistic.”
Clara felt sick.
“You knew?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“You must be Mrs. Bennett.”
“Answer him.”
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“I see why Elliot likes you.”
Elliot’s voice turned cold.
“Did you kill Maggie?”
“No.”
“Did you order it?”
“No.”
“Did you steal foundation money?”
“Yes.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Eleanor continued calmly.
“I moved assets. There is a difference.”
“Not legally.”
“Families like ours have survived because somebody is willing to do what gentler people condemn.”
Elliot stared at the woman who had taught him to ride a bicycle.
Who had attended every graduation.
Who had hugged him at Maggie’s funeral.
“You knew Maggie was investigating.”
“Yes.”
“And Aaron?”
“Yes.”
“Did you have him killed?”
Eleanor’s gaze shifted.
“No.”
Elliot slammed his palm onto the table.
“Stop lying!”
For the first time, Eleanor flinched.
Then she whispered:
“I tried to frighten them.”
Silence.
“I had people watching Maggie. Aaron too. I wanted the documents.”
“The boat?”
“I ordered someone to disable the communications system so Maggie would miss the trip.”
Elliot stared.
“What?”
“She was supposed to discover the fault before departure. The boat was never supposed to leave.”
“But it did.”
“Yes.”
“And Aaron?”
“I paid him.”
Clara stiffened.
“To keep quiet?”
“To leave Charleston.”
“He refused?”
“No.”
Clara stared.
“What?”
“He accepted the money.”
She recoiled.
Eleanor continued.
“Then returned every cent two days later.”
Tears filled Clara’s eyes.
Of course.
Aaron had not been bought.
“He told me he was going to the authorities.”
“And six months later he died.”
Eleanor looked directly at Clara.
“That was not me.”
“Then who?”
“I don’t know.”
Nobody believed her.
Until she produced a folder.
Inside were private investigation reports.
Eleanor had spent three years trying to determine who turned her intimidation campaign into murder.
Maggie’s yacht had been tampered with twice.
The second sabotage occurred after Eleanor’s people left.
Someone had cut the emergency fuel line.
Aaron’s scaffolding had also been deliberately weakened.
Same method.
Same type of industrial tool.
Same supplier.
Elliot read the supplier name.
His blood turned cold.
Grayson Harbor Security Division.
He looked at Marcus.
Marcus stood near the doorway.
Still.
Too still.
Clara saw it first.
“Elliot.”
Marcus reached beneath his jacket.
Elliot moved toward Clara.
Marcus drew a gun.
“Don’t.”
Everyone froze.
Elliot stared at the man who had protected him for nine years.
“Marcus?”
Marcus’s face showed something Elliot had never seen there.
May you like
Hatred.
“You really should have left the dead alone.”
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