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Chapter 45
45
Rose Cutter can feel her heart beating in her chest.
She sits at her desk in her law office on Water Street. She’s a sole practitioner, dealing mostly in real estate. She pulls down the blinds on her storefront office and turns the sign on the door around to read closed. She’s sent her assistant home early. It’s shortly before five. She just wants to go home.
She was too ambitious, and it’s gotten her into trouble. She’s always wanted more than she had, and she’s always been jealous, even resentful, of her better-off friends and acquaintances who have family money. Starting your own practice is difficult—and expensive. Office space, equipment, insurance, law fees, an assistant’s salary—it’s been harder than she expected to make a living. She’s still renting a place to live, and she has student loans to pay.
Rose thinks about the Mertons. She knows how rich they are. After all, Catherine has given her a taste of what her life is like. And Catherine always insists on paying—whether it’s for a day’s sailing, with champagne and lobster, or for an expensive dinner—and Rose lets her, because they both know she can easily afford it and Rose can’t.
Back before Fred Merton sold his company and cut Dan loose, Rose knew Dan had to be sitting on a pile of money. She saw an opportunity. She was able to persuade Catherine to get Dan to talk to her about an investment opportunity he might be interested in.
She persuaded him to take his money out of where he had it and invest as a private lender to the owners of 22 Brecken Hill Drive, with the property as security. It offered a significantly higher rate of return than what he was getting elsewhere, for a twelve-month term, and it was risk-free. But then he lost his job and wanted to get the money back early. She couldn’t help him; she told him he’d have to wait. There was nothing she could do.
In fact, there is no mortgage on that property. She forged the documents to get Dan’s half million to invest in what was supposed to be a sure thing. She had a hot tip on a stock. She thought she’d make a killing on it and get some fast money. She was greedy, but she fully intended to return his money when it came due, with no one the wiser. But it hasn’t turned out that way. The sure thing failed. Dan doesn’t know what she’s done. But if she can’t come up with the money in the next few months, he will find out.
When she got the call a few minutes ago from a Detective Barr, Rose had swiveled her chair to turn her back to her assistant and closed her eyes. The detective asked her to come down to the police station. She hung up the phone, sent Kelly home, and sat perfectly still, wondering how much the police knew, what they might accuse her of.
Now, as she arrives at the station, she walks in with her head high and her back straight. She puts on her confident lawyer persona and greets the two detectives with a smile.
“What can I do for you?” she asks, sitting down in the interview room.
“As you probably know, we’re investigating the murders of Fred and Sheila Merton,” Detective Reyes says. “I understand you know Catherine Merton quite well.”
“That’s right. Catherine and I have been friends for years. We were at school together.”
“We understand that you were handling an investment for her brother, Dan.”
She must keep her composure. Everything depends on how she handles this. “Yes, that’s right.”
“Can you tell us about that?”
“I was looking for a private lender for a client, and Catherine mentioned to me that her brother might have some money to invest. Dan and I met, and he went ahead with the investment, taking a first mortgage on the property.”
Reyes is nodding along. Then he says, “I’m afraid I must caution you,” and proceeds to do so.
She feels her face go hot as a wave of panic rolls over her. The detectives are watching her closely. She feels as if she can’t breathe.
“Would you like some water?” Reyes asks.
She nods without answering, and Detective Barr pours her some water. She’s grateful for the interruption; she needs to think. But she can’t think. Barr hands her the water and she drinks greedily, her hand trembling.
• • •audrey, just home from the hospital, doesn’t manage to reach the phone in the kitchen before it goes to message. She freezes at the doorway to the kitchen, her heart pounding when she recognizes Catherine’s voice on the speaker. She doesn’t pick up; she doesn’t want to talk to her. The message is short. Catherine says that Fred left her and Irena each a million dollars in his will. Then she hangs up abruptly, leaving Audrey staring at the phone. She doesn’t know how to feel.
Of course she’s glad to have one million; she’d almost resigned herself to getting nothing. But Audrey had expected so much more. She has no grounds on which to challenge Fred’s will. But she’s not going to give up the fight for justice for her brother. And now she’s convinced that one of them just tried to kill her too. She’s not just curious anymore. She’s in danger.
Would Catherine call if she’d poisoned Audrey and thought she might be lying dead on the floor? Yes, she would. She would cover her tracks, leave a message fulfilling her executor duties. If she was the killer, and her poisoner, imagine her surprise if Audrey had answered the phone. Now she wishes she had.
This is all because she spoke to that reporter, Robin Fontaine.
Audrey feels a sudden need to talk to someone she can trust. She picks up the phone and calls Ellen.
• • •reyes studies rose cutter, sweating in the chair across from him and Barr. She puts the water down on the table.
“I want an attorney.”
“Fine,” Reyes says and leaves the room for her to call her lawyer. A short time later her attorney arrives and is closeted with her client. Then the lawyer opens the door and tells the detectives that they are ready. They resume their places and record the interview on tape.
Reyes says, “What you told us is all bullshit, isn’t it? There is no mortgage on Twenty-Two Brecken Hill Drive. We’ve already spoken to the owner.”
She says nothing, as if she’s frozen in fear.
Reyes asks, “What did you do with Dan Merton’s money?”
“No comment,” Rose says finally, her voice strained.
“We know that the mortgage you prepared was fraudulent and was never registered.”
“No comment.”
“All right,” Reyes says, changing direction. “Where were you the night of April twenty-first?”
“I’m sorry?” Rose says, as if she doesn’t understand the question.
“You heard me. Where were you on the night of Easter Sunday?”
“What’s this about?” Rose’s attorney asks sharply.
“Fred and Sheila Merton were murdered that night. And Ms. Cutter here is a significant beneficiary under Fred Merton’s will.” He watches Rose suck in a breath; she looks as if she might faint.
“What are you talking about?” Rose asks, her voice shrill.
“You’re Fred Merton’s illegitimate daughter. Don’t pretend you didn’t know.”
She turns to her attorney, her mouth dropping open. Then she turns back to the detectives. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Reyes says, “You are going to inherit a fortune.”
The attorney is clearly taken aback at what she’s walked into.
“You’re making this up,” Rose says. “You must be.”
Reyes studies her closely. “I assure you I’m not. So—where were you on the night of April twenty-first?”
Rose stutters, “I-I had Easter dinner at my mom’s, with my aunt Barbara. Then I went home.”
“And you were alone all night?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t be serious about these insinuations,” the attorney pipes up, finding her voice at last.
“Well, we already know she’s motivated by money,” Reyes says. Rose shoots him an angry, nervous look. “She defrauded Dan Merton out of half a million dollars. Who’s to say she’d stop short at murder?” He turns back to Rose and says, “You can go, for now. But you’ll be hearing from us about the fraud charge.”
As she stands up, he says, “You’d better go see Walter Temple in the morning. He’ll be expecting you.”
