“My medication? What did you have to do with my medication?”
“Your father filled me in on how it kept you calm and amenable. At times, a little out of it, if he put too much in your food.”
“He put it in my food while I was also taking the pills every day? Do you have any idea what that stuff does? Theo had it analyzed, and it’s horrible.”
“It made you the perfect daughter. When you took it. He didn’t have as much control when you visited your grandmother. Thus Theo. Obviously, your father never knew you’d gotten married or he wouldn’t have put that ridiculous provision in the will.”
“Frank, I still don’t understand what this is all about. You have control of the company. I let you make all the decisions. What more could you want?”
His eyes turned cold as he stood and faced her. “I want it all. To own the business, the estate, and everything that comes with it. Sure, I have a great salary, but it’s not the same. Your father made arrangements so it would all be mine.”
What was he saying? “You told me the will said I inherited everything.”
Frank took a deep breath. “Of course, I told you that. You do. Or you would have. Unless you’re married and then control of it all goes to your husband. On account of yourcondition.”
“My condition,” she yelled. “You mean the one created by my father? The same man who drugged me, so I couldn’t remember how horrid my life was, who stole my baby and told me she died? There’s nothing wrong with me!”
Frank’s mouth twisted. “I’m afraid there is, Chelsea. It all would have been beautiful if only you hadn’t taken up with that ranger. You ruined it all by marrying him and having his kid.”
“I told you I don’t want the business, Frank. I’ll sign it over to you, and you can have it all. The estate, the business. Heck, even the house on West Street. I only want to be here with Theo and Jordan. Let me go, and it’s all yours.” Would he take it? For some reason, he seemed a bit on the unstable side right now.
“You can’t do that. Don’t you see? According to the will, your husband owns it all. The business, the estate, every penny your father had in the bank. It all belongs to him. You can’t sign it away, because it isn’t yours.”
“Then, I’ll have Theo sign it over to you. Please, Frank.”
“Oh, sure. He’ll do that right after they haul me off to jail for kidnapping. No, there’s only one way for this whole thing to play out. He has to die.”
Chapter twenty-five
Theowasupandanswering the door before Aiden even knocked.
“Have you found her?’ His breath rushed out as his heart hoped for good news. His friend’s face told him it wasn’t.
“Not yet. But I do have some information.” Aiden’s outfit was wrinkled, and stubble dotted his chin. Probably how Theo looked. Sleep had not been easy to find last night. The few times he’d managed to doze off, images of Chelsea being tortured or hurt rammed into his skull, jackknifing him into wakefulness.
“Coffee? I made a pot.”
The grateful smile on Aiden’s face said yes. They moved into the kitchen where Theo poured coffee into two mugs and set them on the table. Aiden plopped the bag he’d carried in on the table.
“Katie gave me some breakfast sandwiches to bring over. Said you probably wouldn’t take the time to eat. Course she knew I hadn’t eaten either.”
“Have you had any sleep?” Theo asked. “You look like crud.”
“Have you done face time with your mirror yet, this morning, my friend?” Aiden’s eyebrow rose.
“What have you got?”
Pulling his notebook out of his pocket, Aiden flipped some pages. “There were dozens of fingerprints all over the house, so it took a while to narrow them down. We ran any we could, then we checked them against the prints we found on the hammer that was possibly used in your Precipice accident. Some of those had been partial and hard to match. This solidified things a bit.”
“What’d you find?” Theo took a bite of the breakfast sandwich, then leaned in closer.
“Your prints, Chelsea’s, and Brett’s. But we knew you’d all been there. We also found Dina Bannon’s prints. Has she been hanging around there, helping to hammer nails?” Aiden knew Dina, and his expression showed his disbelief that she’d hammer anything that wasn’t tall, dark, and handsome.
“I know she came by a while back to deliver some papers. I have a hard time believing she’d crawl under a car to cut a brake line.”
“Does she have a reason to dislike Chelsea? Or you?”
Did she? Sure. But Dina? “You know how she is. She’s after every available male between the ages of twenty-five and forty. She’s been putting the moves on me since I’ve been here. She wasn’t thrilled that I didn’t boot Chelsea out the door, but do you honestly think she’d kidnap her?”
