Chapter 7 - Maine
The original investigation into Jonathan Blackwood's death had been brief.
Weather.
Mechanical failure.
No evidence of foul play.
Jonathan took a small motorboat out before sunrise.
It was found damaged against rocks hours later.
His body recovered the next day.
Adrian remembered almost nothing after the phone call.
Charles handled everything.
Authorities.
Insurance.
Transportation.
Funeral.
Company transition.
Trust administration.
Everything.
He had been indispensable.
Now Adrian wondered whether that had been the point.
Nadia reopened the archived file through investigators.
The boat's fuel line had shown signs of deterioration.
Not sabotage.
At least not documented.
Weather was rough.
Jonathan had consumed no alcohol.
Cause of death:
Drowning following boating accident.
Simple.
Except Charles had lied about being in Maine.
When confronted through counsel, he provided an explanation.
He had flown in for a private meeting.
Left that evening.
No connection to Jonathan's boat trip.
Why lie?
“Family disagreement.”
Adrian laughed when Nadia read the statement.
“What disagreement?”
“Charles says Jonathan was considering removing him from the trust.”
“That's not an explanation for lying.”
“No.”
“Where did Charles stay?”
“A private guesthouse on the property.”
“Witnesses?”
“Former caretaker confirms seeing him.”
Adrian knew the caretaker.
George Fenn.
Now eighty-two.
Investigators interviewed him.
George remembered the brothers arguing.
Loudly.
Jonathan accused Charles of using trust money to cover losses.
Charles accused Jonathan of treating him like an employee.
Then George heard a sentence.
Charles:
“If you take this away from me, you leave me with nothing.”
Jonathan:
“It was never yours.”
The phrase echoed Adrian's current nightmare.
Ownership.
Again.
Charles left the main house around 10:30 p.m.
George thought he returned to the guesthouse.
Did anyone confirm?
No.
Jonathan took the boat around 5:15 a.m.
Charles's plane departed at 6:05.
Too close.
But suspicion wasn't proof.
Then Marcus found something else.
Jonathan's boat mechanic had died four years earlier.
His business records survived with his daughter.
One invoice from the week after the accident showed:
Emergency replacement – fuel coupling – ordered by C. Blackwood office.
Why would Charles's office order a replacement part after the boat was already destroyed?
The daughter explained:
“My father said someone wanted a matching part.”
“For what?”
“I don't know.”
A matching fuel coupling.
Potentially to replace evidence?
Investigators became interested.
Adrian became furious.
Nadia restrained him.
“Do not turn theory into fact.”
“He was there.”
“Yes.”
“He lied.”
“Yes.”
“He had motive.”
“Yes.”
“That isn't enough.”
“No.”
Adrian hated law.
Mostly because it refused to move at the speed of grief.
Meanwhile, Celeste requested a meeting.
Her attorney offered cooperation.
Against Charles.
In exchange for consideration on the financial-conspiracy charges.
The pool assault remained serious.
She could not negotiate that away easily.
Adrian did not want to see her.
Eleanor surprised him.
“Go.”
“Why?”
“Because she will lie differently when you are in the room.”
He almost smiled.
“You sound like Dad.”
“Poor you.”
The meeting occurred through glass in a detention facility.
Celeste looked smaller.
No makeup.
No designer clothes.
No practiced elegance.
Adrian sat.
She reached for the phone.
“Thank you for coming.”
“Don't.”
She closed her eyes.
“I deserve that.”
“What does Charles know about Maine?”
Her face changed.
No soft beginning.
No romantic history.
Good.
“I don't know everything.”
“Tell me what you know.”
“He hated Jonathan.”
“That's not enough.”
“He said your father stole his life.”
“How?”
“By taking the company.”
“They inherited different roles.”
“Charles didn't see it that way.”
“Did he kill him?”
Celeste went pale.
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“You know something.”
She stared at the table.
“Charles keeps a watch.”
“What?”
“Jonathan's watch.”
Adrian froze.
His father's watch had never been recovered after the accident.
A stainless steel Patek Philippe.
Jonathan wore it every day.
Search teams assumed it was lost in the water.
“Where?”
“Charles's private apartment.”
Adrian couldn't breathe.
“How do you know?”
“I saw it.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“What did he say?”
“That Jonathan gave it to him.”
“He didn't.”
“How can you know?”
“Because Dad was wearing it in photographs taken the night before he died.”
Celeste started crying.
“I asked Charles why he never told you.”
“And?”
“He said some inheritance is personal.”
Adrian's voice became cold.
“Where exactly?”
She gave an address.
A Manhattan apartment Charles owned through an LLC.
Not listed among family-office properties.
Investigators obtained a search warrant based on financial evidence.
They found the watch.
Inside a locked drawer.
Along with three old photographs from Maine.
One showed Charles standing on the dock beside Jonathan's boat.
Timestamp:
4:48 a.m.
Twenty-seven minutes before Jonathan left.
May you like
Charles had not merely been in Maine.
He had been beside the boat minutes before the fatal trip.
