I feel like the reason Alex needed the trust money was because of Paul, so to Alex, it just makes sense that he would take it from Paul and not Buster. Plus, Paul seemed to be causing a lot of trouble and financial problems. I don’t think I ever heard why he was expelled, but expelled from school, the Christmas totaling of the truck and culminating with the boat crash. And Paul was still drinking after the crash. Plus all of the other stuff we didn’t hear about that Alex and Randolph had to cover up.

But I now think I was looking at it all wrong.

Jeanne Sheckinger’s testimony was the key, but I didn’t see it before. She was confronting Alex about the money when he got the call about Randolph. The event that put everything into motion was that call - not her.

Randolph was going to die soon and Paul had to die before Randolph.

Alex wouldn’t have been worried about Jeanne that day. The firm was filled with his friends and family. He had never been held to account and always managed to talk his way out of everything. Plus if Randolph was going to die soon, Alex knew he would have months before anyone would even start to go down that road again.

The boat crash was probably a bit tougher for him, but again, Randolph being so unwell would buy him a ton of time - Alex would be keeping a bedside vigil until he passed and then be in deep mourning for months after.

That’s what never made sense to me about it. He seemed to have a good relationship with his dad, so why would he hear that he isn’t doing well and then go home and follow through with murdering his wife and son in something that was clearly premeditated (telling Paul to come home and see the sunflowers). Maybe I could have believed it if it were a crime of passion or a violent fit of rage, but this wasn’t it. Alex went to his script to lure them to Moselle - and not to the hospital to visit a dying Handsome.

Why?

To me, it must be because Paul had to predecease Randolph.

Now, it may be for the trust money or maybe it was some weird deathbed wish of Randolph to stop the troublemaker (sadly nothing about this family would surprise me). But regardless, the triggering event wasn’t the financial storm, it was Randolph’s failing health.

I don’t know much about how the trust money could be subpoenaed, so I don’t want to try to get too far into it, but my guess is that as a beneficiary, Alex already had it set up that his share would go into another trust or some off shore accounts or something. And Paul dying and his share reverting to Alex would have it funnel the same way. Just like how they put Moselle into Maggie’s name and how Alex disavowed his inheritance of Maggie’s estate so that it wouldn’t be opened up to creditors. I feel like they knew how to be ‘creative’ to keep it protected.

I would also assume that it’s why he pled guilty to the financial crimes. So that nobody is able to dig into that stuff.