The price was far below market value.
Ruby studied the page without understanding every word.
“So Grandma bought our building?”
“Not exactly,” Nathaniel said. “She and twenty-three other families were supposed to buy it together.”
Claire stared at the memorandum.
“But they didn’t.”
“No.”
“My mother spent the last two years of her life trying to prove there had been an agreement.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“I know.”
Claire looked up sharply.
“You knew?”
“Not then.”
The anger in Claire’s face did not erupt.
It settled.
That somehow made the room quieter.
“When did you know?”
“Three years after she died.”
Claire looked away.
Nathaniel continued.
“The real-estate division was shut down after an internal audit. We discovered that several property transactions had been rerouted through intermediary companies. By the time we traced Aldridge, the original management company had dissolved.”
“Who rerouted it?”
“My former chief financial officer, Malcolm Voss, and two outside partners.”
