Chapter 9: Petition

Jasper was waiting in his convertible when I got back to the lake at one in the morning.

The top was down and he had a thermos of coffee.

"Get in," he said. "You'll want to hear this away from the house."

I got in.

He passed me the thermos and a folded copy of the petition.

It was four pages, stamped that afternoon.

Odette Beauregard, aunt of the minor child, asked to be named co-trustee of the trust held for Posy.

Her grounds were that the father was "emotionally incapacitated by grief."

She also wrote that the child had been "entrusted to an unvetted nanny engaged in an improper relationship with the father's brother."

I read the last line twice.

"Unvetted," I said.

"Her word."

"I have three references."

"She didn't call any of them." Jasper tipped his head back against the seat. "The trust is forty million dollars, Carys.

"Posy's grandfather left it for her. Odette has wanted the key to that vault since the day her sister died."

"She wants Posy's money."

"She wants Posy's money, Posy's house and Conrad's head on a plate. And you just handed her the proof she needed."

"I didn't hand her anything."

"You were seen."

"By her."

"By a camera," he said gently. "Which is worse."

I put my head in my hands.

"I'll leave," I said. "If I'm the reason..."

"You're not leaving."

"Jasper."

"If you leave, Posy loses the only person who has made her speak. Conrad knows that.

"He's just too proud to tell you." He looked at me sideways. "And I like you. Do not tell my brothers."

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