Page 83 of Capturing You

Plus, he wanted her to know him better, even if she didn’t realize how much of himself he was revealing.

“Aside from paying for college,” Forbes said, “Broderick gave Charles no money but plenty of encouragement. Charles started buying real estate, sometimes to flip, sometimes to rent out. By the time he moved back here with his wife and three-year-old daughter, Rosie, he was a multimillionaire.”

“I bet his father was impressed.”

“He died before they returned to Maine, but he lived long enough to see his son succeed.” Forbes wished he’d met his grandfather. If Grandmother’s opinion hadn’t been too jaded with time, the man had been kind and generous. Even when he’d refused to help Charles start his business, he’d done it not to hurt him but to help him learn that he didn’t need anyone’s help to succeed.

“What about your cousin?” Brooklynn asked.

Forbes took a sip of water, reminding himself to stay in character. Never in his life had he felt guilty for not being honest about who he really was. It was for his safety, after all. And, as Grandmother said, he didn’t owe anybody the truth about his past.

He’d never doubted her, but now, with Brooklynn across the table, with her open, expectant expression, guilt niggled his conscience.

”Forbes was ten years younger than his sister,” he explained. "I understand Grace had a couple of miscarriages between them.”

“Aw, I bet that was hard.”

Forbes assumed so, though his parents hadn’t talked about it in front of him. Grandmother had told him about the miscarriages, how his mother had called Forbes her miracle baby.

“Charles owned real estate, but you said they moved back to Maine. Where did they live before?”

“Boston area.”

“Was that where most of his real estate was?”

“Started there, but he expanded all over eastern Mass, then into New Hampshire and southern Maine. He had an office in Boston where his employees worked. He’d moved on to industrial properties by then, which required more day-to-day involvement than the residential properties. Charles moved into contracting. At the time of the murders, he had three huge construction projects underway.”

“Do you think the murders were related to one of those?”

“I’ve gone over all the books and talked to his former employees, and by all accounts, everything was aboveboard. There’d been no threats against him or his company, no lawsuits except the typical run-of-the-mill stuff, all of which were settled out of court. None of which was contentious. His manager at the time told me that Charles was well-respected among New England developers, that his employees and peers were shocked and devastated when they heard the news.”

“What about Grace?” Brooklynn asked. “Could the murders have been related to something she was doing?”

“I can’t imagine how. Grace didn’t work outside the home. She raised her kids and took care of this place. She was involved in local charities, the women’s club, that sort of thing.”

“She sounds a lot like my mother. I bet Mom would remember her. I could ask.”

The last thing Forbes wanted was for anyone to know he was looking into his family’s history. “Not without giving away where you are.”

“Oh. Right.” Brooklynn’s head tilted to the side. “Did you learn anything new today? Did the notebook I found help at all?”

He swallowed a bite of pasta. “Yes and no.”

She said nothing, but the slight lift of her eyebrows told him he hadn’t satisfied her curiosity.

“It’s a ledger written in Charles’s handwriting, but it wasn’t in his office. He went to a lot of trouble to hide it, which tells me he was doing something illegal or at the very least, immoral. But I haven’t figured out what.”

“It didn’t offer a lot of details, did it? Just dates and dollar amounts and other numbers with no explanation.”

A flash of frustration had his hands balling into fists.

“I know, I know.” She lifted her palms defensively. “I shouldn’t have looked at it. It’s not my business. Blah, blah, blah. I was just curious.”

“The word isnosy.”

“If not for my nosiness, you wouldn’t have the ledger.” She winked and added, “You’re welcome.”

“I wasn’t thanking you.”