My Twin Stole My Fiancée and Life novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Open House

The executor's office was above the florist on Main Street, and it smelled of lilies and old paper.

It was the morning of my thirtieth birthday.

Nobody said happy birthday. My father put his hand on my shoulder, once, and took it away.

The executor was a small bald man in a gray vest. He sat behind a desk with a green lamp, and a tall iron safe stood against the wall at his back.

"Mr. Ellingwood," he said, and rose. "Both of them. Come in."

"You know," I said.

"I've known what your grandfather wrote since the day he signed it. I have not known which of you he meant." He looked at my father. "Harold, you have something for me."

My father laid the plastic bag on the blotter.

The executor looked at the two wristbands for a long moment.

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"ELLINGWOOD, BABY BOY. Eleven forty-one." He put the glasses on again. "Thank God. I was beginning to think the only copy of the truth was a cookie tin."

"That tin's gone," I said. "Three men took it."

"They took a copy. I hold the original. It has never left that safe."

He tapped the door behind him.

Lark stood by the window in a freshly pressed uniform.

At eight that morning, the chief had called her to say two things. One was that the men from the truck had asked for a lawyer and then for a deal. The other was that she was back on duty until Monday's hearing.

"For tonight in particular," the chief had said. "Natasha Ellingwood has put in a request for an officer at fourteen Alder at six o'clock. I am sending the one who knows the case."

Lark had thanked him in a very even voice.

Now she checked her watch.

"Six o'clock is nine hours off," she said to me, quietly. "Dispatch has her in their system. Anything she calls in from that house comes to my radio first."

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