Chapter 7 - Laurel’s Real Name
Laurel refused to speak to investigators for forty-eight hours.
Then Vivian requested one meeting.
Against Malcolm’s advice, she went.
The interview room was cold and colorless.
Laurel entered wearing county-issued clothing, her hair pulled back, her face bare of makeup.
For years Vivian had thought beauty made Laurel seem soft.
Without the performance, she looked harder.
Older.
Angrier.
She sat across from Vivian.
“You came to celebrate?”
“No.”
“To tell me Barry abandoned me?”
“I already knew he would.”
Laurel gave a bitter smile.
“Of course you did.”
Vivian placed Miriam’s diary on the table.
Laurel’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Vivian saw it.
“You knew she kept this.”
“No.”
“You knew about Zachary’s trust.”
Laurel looked away.
“My father told me.”
“Charles.”
“He is my father.”
“Biologically.”
Laurel’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t get to decide what he is to me.”
Vivian leaned back.
“Then tell me.”
Laurel laughed.
“You really want the tragic story?”
“I want the truth.”
For several seconds, Laurel said nothing.
Then she began.
Her mother, Caroline Bennett, had worked at Crestview during its earliest years.
She had an affair with Charles.
When Laurel was born, Charles refused to acknowledge her publicly.
Caroline later married another man, who gave Laurel his name.
When Laurel was fourteen, Caroline died.
Miriam helped Laurel financially.
At seventeen, Miriam told Laurel who her biological father was.
Charles had already been disgraced and removed from Crestview.
He told Laurel Vivian had destroyed him.
“He said you stole his company.”
“He stole client funds.”
“He said it was temporary.”
Vivian almost smiled.
“He told everyone that.”
Laurel continued.
“He said Barry was weak and you manipulated him.”
“And you believed him.”
“I was seventeen.”
“What about at thirty-five?”
Laurel looked at her.
“What about when I gave you a job?”
“You gave me charity.”
“I gave you a six-figure position.”
“You made sure I knew every day that you had everything.”
Vivian stared.
“I never treated you that way.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Laurel’s voice rose.
“You had the husband. The house. The company. The son. The family name.”
“So you wanted my life.”
“I wanted what my father said should have belonged to us.”
“By poisoning me?”
Laurel’s face hardened.
“I never intended to kill you.”
“You bought poison.”
“A medication.”
“You asked how to weaken me without leaving obvious signs.”
Laurel looked away.
Vivian lowered her voice.
“You wore my mother’s bracelet while I was unconscious.”
For the first time, Laurel seemed ashamed.
Barely.
“I hated you.”
“Why?”
“Because every time you were kind to me, it reminded me that my father might have lied.”
Silence.
That answer surprised Vivian.
Laurel’s eyes filled with tears.
“If you had been cruel, it would have been easy.”
Vivian said nothing.
“But you weren’t. You recommended me for Crestview. You invited me to Christmas. You remembered my birthday.”
Laurel laughed once, brokenly.
“So I kept finding reasons to hate you.”
“And Barry?”
Laurel’s sadness hardened again.
“Barry was easy.”
Vivian felt an old wound open.
“How easy?”
“He was lonely.”
“According to him.”
“He wanted someone who treated him like the most important person in the room.”
Vivian almost smiled.
“That sounds like Barry.”
“He complained about you constantly.”
“I’m sure.”
“He said you treated him like an employee.”
Vivian looked down at her hands.
Some of that might even have been true.
Marriages rarely died because only one person made mistakes.
But mistakes were not the same as betrayal.
And disappointment was not permission to poison someone.
“Did Barry know Charles was your father?”
“Yes.”
Vivian looked up sharply.
“When?”
“Before we started sleeping together.”
Another blow.
Barry had known exactly who Laurel was.
Vivian whispered, “Why would he do that?”
“To prove he could control my father.”
Laurel shook her head.
“That was always Barry’s weakness. He needed to believe he was smarter than everyone.”
Vivian absorbed it.
“Did Charles order the fire?”
Laurel hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Did he order anyone hurt?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is Zachary in danger?”
Laurel’s face changed.
Vivian leaned forward.
“Answer me.”
“I don’t know.”
“Laurel.”
“He became obsessed with the founder shares.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever controls them controls Crestview permanently.”
“That still doesn’t explain Zachary.”
Laurel looked toward the surveillance mirror.
Then back at Vivian.
“My father doesn’t think Zachary should exist.”
Vivian’s blood turned cold.
“What?”
“He thinks Barry betrayed him twice.”
“Barry testified against him seventeen years ago.”
“And then married you.”
“He was already married to me.”
Laurel stared.
Vivian suddenly understood.
Charles had not merely lost Crestview.
He had lost Caroline too.
Laurel’s mother.
“Charles loved your mother.”
“Yes.”
“And he believes Barry—”
Laurel interrupted.
“Barry had an affair with my mother.”
Vivian went completely still.
“No.”
Laurel smiled without humor.
“Ask him.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
Vivian calculated the dates.
Crestview’s third year.
Barry traveling constantly.
Arguments she had forgotten.
Caroline suddenly leaving the company.
Charles becoming increasingly unstable.
“Oh my God.”
Laurel leaned closer.
“My father believes Barry took his company, his woman, and then spent twenty years living the life that should have belonged to him.”
Vivian stood.
“This has nothing to do with Zachary.”
“It does to Charles.”
“Why?”
Laurel’s next words were barely audible.
“Because Charles thinks Barry might be my biological father too.”
Vivian stared.
Laurel continued.
“My mother never told him.”
“No.”
“Charles had a DNA test arranged last month.”
Vivian could hardly breathe.
“What did it say?”
Laurel looked directly at her.
“I never saw the result.”
“Who did?”
“Barry.”
Vivian walked out.
Barry answered on the fourth call.
She did not greet him.
“Who is Laurel’s father?”
Silence.
Vivian’s voice became sharp.
“Answer me.”
Barry exhaled.
“Charles.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“You saw the DNA test?”
“Yes.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
Barry continued.
“Laurel is Charles’s daughter.”
Relief should not have been what Vivian felt.
But it was.
Then Barry said, “Vivian, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“The lab that performed the test also ran another sample.”
“Whose?”
Barry whispered.
“Zachary’s.”
Vivian’s heart stopped.
“Why?”
“Charles wanted to know whether the founder trust could be challenged.”
Vivian stared down the courthouse hallway.
“Challenged how?”
“He believes Zachary may not be legally entitled to those shares.”
Vivian almost laughed.
“Zachary is our son.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
Barry was silent for several seconds.
Finally he said the sentence that would change everything again.
“The trust doesn’t say the shares go to your son.”
May you like
Vivian’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“It says they go to Richard Alston’s eldest biological grandchild.”
