Chapter 6
The Sister Who Died Twice
Lydia entered the barn alone because armed security would have made the scene look like captivity.
"Mara fell," she said. "A tragedy. Everything after that protected the family."
Mira held her mother's portrait between them. "You buried Mara under my name."
"The trust required two living daughters until succession. Your father wrote a sentimental defect into a billion-dollar instrument."
Elias began recording openly. Lydia smiled at him.
"Counsel cannot record a client without consequence."
"You stopped being my client when you forged a patient."
Tomas moved toward the side door. Lydia raised her phone and showed him the warrant issued for his daughter that morning. He stopped.
Mira understood how Lydia ruled: never one locked door when a person would lock it for her.
She handed the portrait to Nessa. "Take Dr. Shaw out the rear loading bay."
"No," Lydia said.
For the first time, Nessa did not look at her. She moved.
Mira's old mailbox chimed in Elias's pocket. Owen's twelve-second rehearsal video arrived with a message: If you are alive, tell me what we buried under the greenhouse step.
Only Mira and Owen knew the answer. At ten, they had buried Mara's broken music box after Lydia forbade them to repair it.
Mira typed: The brass bird. Mara took it back the next morning.
Three dots appeared, vanished, then returned.
I believe you. I have the swing vote.
Lydia read the reflected message in the glass covering the portrait.
Her expression did not change.
"Then Owen will lose his vote before the gala," she said.