“Let me read the letter.” Amelia started to rise.
“Be silent!” George shouted toward his daughter before taking a deep breath to regain his composure. “Julia was out of her mind, which is why you didn’t put up a fight when I contested the will. You knew it wouldn’t hold up in a court of law.”
“I didn’t contest the will because, as much as I dislike you, Amelia is Julia’s daughter, and I didn’t want to be the responsible for putting you in jail. She idolizes you.”
“You warped Julia’s mind! She picked giving her wealth to you over her own daughter. No one in their right mind would do that.”
“I was the only one listening to her!” Haley momentarily lost her poise to shout back. “Julia was such a gentle, sweet soul, which you trampled all over to get what you wanted out of her. Julia loved Pierson with every beat of her heart. She was destroyed when he died, which made her easy pickings for you.”
Haley stepped closer, her hands going to the desk. Bitterness that she had swallowed down for years spilled from her lips. “I don’t know for sure if you were responsible for his death, but you did take advantage of Julia’s grief. She wanted children to ease the pain of losing Pierson, which you let her have one but refused to let her have another. When she wouldn’t stop pressuring you to have another, not only did you start poisoning her, you started poisoning Amelia against her. Even when she figured out you were slowly killing her, she didn’t care enough anymore to tell.”
George crumbled the letter in his hand and threw it into the trash can next the desk. “Prove it.”
“I will. Before I leave here, I’m going to Kent Bryant’s office. I’m going to take everything Julia left me and ask Bryant to take the original letter to the police and reopen Pierson’s case on his death, including having his body exhumed. When I’m finished making you penniless, I will take out the chunk that belongs to Julia. With Gabriel behind bars and all of his misdeeds having come to life, the close association you flaunted before will give more credence to the letter than they would have before, I think. Don’t you?”
George put a steadying hand on the arm of his chair before he sat heavily. “I can’t give any information on where they are. If I do, I will expose my own knowledge of Gabriel’s duplicity.”
“Dad! Please tell me you didn’t …”
Both George and she ignored Amelia’s cry.
“I will make certain you won’t be implicated. All I want is their location,” she promised. “If you had nothing to do with their disappearance, then you won’t fear them being found. You no longer need to be loyal to Gabriel. He’s finished.” Haley dropped her hands back to her side.
“If you know where they are … tell her.”
Glancing over her shoulder toward Amelia, she wanted to give her cousin a hug. Amelia had retrieved the letter from the trash can and was gazing at it, as if devastated by what she had read.
George picked up a note pad and began writing. Once he was done, he tore the paper from the pad and handed it to her. When she went to take it from him, he pulled it back. “The original letter first.”
“I didn’t bring it with me,” she reminded him. “Once I receive confirmation that they are there, I will have the letter sent to you.”
“Then …” George started to tear the paper up.
“I give you my word. I will also tell my lawyer that I will relinquish all claims to the inheritance Julia left me.”
George placed the paper back within her reach. It was everything she could do not to snatch the fragile paper. Tucking the paper inside her jacket pocket, Haley turned to leave.
“Why … haven’t you taken this letter to the police before? You never contested Dad overturning Julia’s will. Why?” Amelia asked shakily, still holding the letter.
“The answer is the same for both questions. Julia had the letter mailed to me after her death. It was too late to make any difference to her, and she had already given me her greatest gift.”
“Which was?” George glared at her like she had stolen the family silver without his knowledge.
Haley showed her disgust of him before turning back to Amelia. “The knowledge that happiness can’t be bought, regardless of wealth.”
Haley left them staring after her, knowing she would never again step foot in the house Julia had left to her. Tearfully blinking back tears, she got back in the rental car. Driving back to Kansas City, Haley was lucky to find a parking space in front of the building she wanted.
Entering the lone office, she took a seat and waited to be called.