Page 101 of The Manor of Dreams

One of the doors upstairs opened. Madeline drifted into Lucille’s periphery.

“And what have you found?” Elaine tilted her head in mock interest. “Anything besides the security footage?”

How did Elaine find out? If it was out in the open, so be it. “That’s sufficient.” Lucille’s voice rose. She wanted to claw that deranged smile off Elaine’s face. “You were here in this house on the day she died.”

Elaine didn’t even flinch. “Your mother invited me. We had a conversation.”

“About what?”

“She told me she was giving me the house.”

“Why?”

Elaine hesitated. Just then there were footsteps in the foyer below. Nora looked up at them from the foot of the stairs.

Lucille stepped toward Elaine. “Stop lying. Ma was drugged. That’s what the toxicology report said. You were the last person to see her alive.”

“I hadnothingto do with that.”

“Is that what a jury is going to think?”

Elaine’s eyes widened. Finally, she was rattled. “Youpromised—”

“Let’s settle, then.” Lucille said. “You get half the monetary inheritance. We keep the home. And we never take this to court.”

The clock ticked.

“I would think very carefully about this. This is the first and last offer I’ll make. The evidence is not on your side.”

Elaine’s bloodshot eyes darted around the hallway. Nora ascended a few more stairs, inching closer to Lucille. “I’ll get my own lawyer. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Lucille narrowed her eyes. Elaine should have settled—shewould have, in this case. It was the smart thing to do. But Elaine didn’t look rational right now. “We’ll see you prove it in court, then.”

“Do it. Spend your mother’s precious inheritance on this case. You can drive yourself into the ground over this, just because you can’t accept that your mother gave it to me. In the end, it will still be mine.”

“You don’t deserve it!” Lucille roared.

Nora startled. Elaine’s cheeks flushed with color. Even Rennie had emerged from her room.

“You’ve always leeched off us, haven’t you?” A vicious charge ran through her. “That’s all you have ever done. Your whole family. A bunch of freeloaders, living in our house. Taking advantage of Ma’s generosity.”

Elaine trembled with rage. “Fuck you.”

“She let you be raised here. Because we’re all Chinese, right? And now look at you. You’re lying about this house. You’re lying about everything. Even in Ma’s death you’re still sucking her dry.”

“Generous,” Elaine seethed. “You think your mother was so virtuous, don’t you? You don’t even know half the truth.” She moved toward Lucille. “She was selfish, manipulative, calculating—”

“Don’tsay that about her.” Rennie came forward, her eyes sparking with fury.

Elaine looked between them. “You two are so desperate to defend her. You don’t even know what she did, do you?”

Neither sister spoke.

“Your father and sister died because of her. Don’t you know that?”

Lucille heard her daughter’s sharp intake of breath. Nora gaped at her mother in shock.

Madeline whispered, “What?”

---