The Family Gathering, Before
Chapter 06 - The Family Gathering, Before
Sophie's memory of the hours leading up to the push had grown clearer over the following days, details surfacing slowly the way trauma sometimes released information in careful, delayed fragments rather than all at once.
She remembered mentioning the discovery to Vanessa directly that morning, over coffee in the mansion's sunroom, a conversation she'd intended as friendly and collaborative rather than confrontational.
"I found something in your father's old bank box," Sophie had said. "Something about the will. I think we should all sit down together before the gathering tonight and discuss it properly."
Vanessa's expression, in Sophie's memory now replayed carefully, had shifted almost imperceptibly, a flicker of something controlled and calculating beneath her immediate, practiced concern.
"What kind of something," Vanessa had asked.
"A different will," Sophie said. "Dated after the one that got filed. I want to make sure we handle this the right way, formally, with Harold present."
Vanessa had smiled, thin and careful. "Of course. Let's absolutely make sure everything's handled properly."
Sophie hadn't thought anything of the conversation at the time, hadn't registered the specific stiffness in Vanessa's posture as she'd excused herself moments later, hadn't understood until now, days later, exactly how much danger that single conversation had put her in.
"She had the entire afternoon to decide what to do," Ethan said, when Sophie recounted the conversation in full detail. "Six hours between that coffee and the atrium. That's enough time to plan something, if you're desperate enough and think you have no other option left."
"I keep replaying it," Sophie said. "Wondering if there was a version of that conversation where I said it differently, and none of this happened."
"Don't do that," Ethan said. "You didn't push yourself off a balcony. You had a normal conversation about a document you were entirely right to bring forward. The only person responsible for what happened next is whoever decided murder was an acceptable response to being caught."
Sophie nodded, though the specific guilt of having unknowingly triggered the attempt lingered regardless of the logic of Ethan's reassurance.
That evening, reviewing the gathering's guest list with fresh eyes, Ethan noted that Vanessa had arrived nearly an hour before the other guests, ostensibly to help with setup, giving her ample opportunity to position herself near the upper balcony without anyone questioning her presence there.
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"It's circumstantial," Ethan said, "but it fits. Every piece of it fits."
"We need more than fits," Sophie said. "We need something that actually proves it was her, not just something that makes sense given what we already suspect."
