Chapter 5 - MY SISTER-IN-LAW'S PERFECT LIE
Brooke requested a private meeting.
Rebecca advised me not to attend without counsel, and Detective Hale asked whether Brooke had made any contact with me outside the proposed meeting.
She had not.
We arranged to meet in Rebecca's office with the detective's knowledge.
Brooke arrived wearing a black dress and oversized sunglasses. She removed the sunglasses, revealing red-rimmed eyes.
“I didn't know about the finger,” she said before sitting down.
I studied her.
“You knew about the camera?”
“No.”
“The microphone?”
“No.”
“The tracker?”
“No.”
“Then why did you buy the toy through a company connected to Grant's financial records?”
Her face changed.
“What?”
Rebecca slid a document across the table.
Brooke read it twice.
“I didn't know the company was connected to anything.”
“Who asked you to make the purchase?” Detective Hale asked.
“My mother.”
“Why?”
“She said she wanted to surprise Ethan.”
“Did she provide the money?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see the toy before it was delivered?”
“No. It was shipped directly to Natalie's house.”
The detective wrote something down.
I leaned forward.
“Brooke, I want to believe you. But I need you to tell me the truth.”
She began to cry.
“Mom said it would help us get Ethan.”
The room went silent.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“She said if the toy frightened you badly enough, you'd lose control. She said you'd call the police and start accusing everybody. Then she'd use it to prove you were unstable.”
My stomach turned.
“Did she tell you there would be something hidden inside?”
“No.”
“Did she know about the ring?”
Brooke shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“Why did you agree to help her?”
She wiped her face.
“Because I thought she was right about you.”
The words hurt more than I expected.
Brooke explained that Vivian had spent months telling relatives I was mentally unfit to raise Ethan. She had described me as selfish, unstable, and obsessed with controlling Grant's estate.
Brooke had believed her.
She had also been frightened of losing her mother's approval.
“So you helped her try to take my son?”
Brooke looked down.
“Yes.”
I sat back.
For years, I had believed Brooke was simply spoiled and cruel. She had mocked my clothes, criticized my parenting, and treated Ethan like a possession belonging to the Mercer family.
Now I understood that she had also been willing to participate in a plan designed to make me look dangerous.
But understanding did not erase responsibility.
“Why are you telling us this now?” Detective Hale asked.
Brooke hesitated.
“Because I found something.”
She took a small envelope from her handbag.
Inside was a printed email from Vivian to Leonard Shaw.
The message discussed the guardianship petition, the birthday gift, and a plan to create a record of my supposed instability.
It did not explicitly mention the artificial finger or the concealed electronics.
But it showed that Vivian had discussed the toy as a means of provoking me.
The email also referred to an upcoming transfer of funds from a company account.
“Where did you get this?” the detective asked.
“Mom's computer. I copied it before she changed the password.”
“Why?”
“Because I started thinking about what would happen if Ethan really lost his mother.”
She looked at me.
“I don't expect you to forgive me.”
“No,” I said. “You shouldn't.”
Brooke flinched.
“But if you're telling the truth, then cooperating with the investigation is the right thing to do.”
She nodded.
Detective Hale took the email and asked Brooke to provide a formal statement.
Before she left, I asked her one final question.
“Did Grant know what your mother was planning?”
Brooke's eyes filled with tears.
“I don't know. But I heard them arguing before he disappeared.”
“What did they say?”
She closed her eyes.
“Mom said he couldn't take the money away from the family. Grant told her the money didn't belong to the family anymore. It belonged to the people who had been cheated.”
I felt a chill.
“Did he say anything else?”
Brooke nodded.
“He said if anything happened to him, the truth would come out.”
The same warning he had given me.
After Brooke left, Detective Hale said the email would need authentication and corroboration. It was not enough by itself to establish every allegation.
But it gave the investigators a clearer picture of Vivian's motives.
The guardianship petition was not simply about protecting Ethan.
It appeared to be part of a strategy to gain control of his inheritance.
And the birthday gift had been intended to help that strategy succeed.
I looked at the empty chair where Brooke had been sitting.
I did not forgive her.
Not yet.
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But I understood that the truth might emerge from people who had once helped conceal it.
And I knew Vivian would not surrender without a fight.
