“That’s every person in the US under thirty,” Jack said.
“Eight-year-olds could do it,” Sara said gloomily.
“How? When?” Kate asked.
“Did you have your phone with you at dinner?” Sara asked.
“No. It was upstairs.”
They knew that last night, no one was within sight at every moment. Bathroom breaks, moving about the rooms—anyone could have sneaked upstairs.
Randal waited a moment, then said, “I have news.”
“You’re in love with Lea and you’ll probably marry her,” Sara said without interest.
“If my know-it-all sister will hold back on her condemnation of me for even three minutes, I haverealnews.”
“Sara?” Jack raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll try,” she said, and they turned to her brother.
“Last night Lea and I did some searching.” He looked at Sara, daring her to make a smart aleck quip.
She made a zippered motion across her mouth.
“Anyway, Lea and I thought that if Derek Oliver was blackmailing people, he needed tangible proof. Documents for sure. Photos. Since he never left this house during the party, where was it?”
“Stored somewhere safe,” Sara said, and they all looked at her. “Sorry. Go on with your story.”
“We found it.” Randal waited for that to sink in.
“Dad!” Kate said. “So help me if you don’t stop putting on a drama play and just tell us, I’ll—” She looked to Sara to finish that.
“Move your bed to the cottage,” Sara said. “Now spill it!”
“According to the papers Lea and I found, the owner of this house, of this entire estate, is Reid Graham.”
There was shocked silence.
“How?” Sara asked.
“His grandmother was married to the nephew of James Lachlan. His wife’s sister’s son was her husband. The papers didn’t have a lot of detail, but the nephew died before their son—Reid’s father—was born.”
“The oldest living relative is what the will says,” Jack said. “Since James’s son has never been traced, it might hold up in court.”
Kate was looking at her father. “What else did you find?”
“This is sad,” Randal said. “There was a real estate contract for one point three million dollars for this place. It was never signed.”
“It’s not worth that now,” Kate said.
“True, but at the time of the party it was. There was a buyer for the house and land and all those citrus trees,” Randal said.
“Irony.” Sara shook her head. “Poor Reid. No one knew, but he was in love with Rachel. He couldn’t marry her because he was broke.”
“And she was expected to marry money,” Kate said.
“But if Reid had known this, he could have provided for his sister and grandmother,” Jack said. “Back then, that was a truckload of money.”
