Harold remembered the brooch at once. “Your grandmother wore that at Daniel’s christening.”

“Yes.”

Linda issued a formal preservation notice instructing Daniel and Vanessa not to sell, transfer, or remove any of my property. Through an attorney, Vanessa claimed neither item had ever been in the house.

Three days later, an appraiser contacted Linda. My grandmother’s sapphire brooch had been sold through a private consignment dealer eleven months earlier.

The seller’s identification belonged to Vanessa. The gold bracelet had been sold separately. Both payments had entered an account under Vanessa’s control — an account that had funded designer clothing, hotel stays, and rent on a small downtown apartment Daniel knew nothing about.

Additional payments from Carter Heritage had reached the same account through invoices submitted by a marketing consultant named Ryan Mercer. The invoices listed strategy services.