I walked to the sideboard and touched the empty space where family photographs once stood.
“And the lake cabin?” I asked softly.
Julian’s face changed then.
Not much. Just enough.
“That place was too expensive to maintain,” he said. “Mom agreed to sell.”
“She agreed?”
“She signed.”
“Those are different things.”
Chloe laughed again, but this time the sound cracked at the edges.
“Oh, spare us the courtroom voice. You breeze in after months away and suddenly you’re cross-examining everyone?”
“No,” I said. “Not everyone.”
A car door closed outside.
Julian heard it too. His head turned sharply.
Another door slammed. Then another.
Through the narrow window beside the front door, I saw blue and red lights ripple across the curtains.
Chloe went pale.
Julian stared at me.
“What did you do?”
I did not answer.
The doorbell rang.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then Julian lunged toward Mom.
I stepped between them.
His hand closed around my upper arm hard enough to bruise.
“Tell them she’s fine,” he hissed.
I looked down at his fingers digging into my skin, then back at his face.
“Let go of me.”
He did, but too late.
The doorbell rang again, followed by a firm knock.
“Briar County Sheriff’s Department.”
Julian’s polished mask cracked.
Chloe moved quickly, snatching papers from the coffee table and stuffing them beneath a sofa cushion.
I saw it. She saw me see it.
Her lips parted.
I walked to the door and opened it.
Two deputies stood on the porch, along with a woman in a navy coat carrying a leather folder. Behind them, a plain black sedan rolled to a stop at the curb.
Detective Mara Bell stepped out.
I had worked with Mara years earlier on an elder fraud case involving a nursing home administrator who smiled exactly like Chloe.
Mara looked at me once, then at my mother, then at Julian.
Her face hardened.
“Mrs. Vance?” she said gently to Mom. “My name is Detective Bell. We’re here to make sure you’re safe.”
Julian immediately spread his hands.
