Michael was waiting in the office when we returned.
He stood as soon as he saw my face.
“What happened?”
I placed Richard's letter on the table.
“Your father believed someone he had already forgiven betrayed him.”
Michael stared at the paper.
“What does that mean?”
“You tell me.”
He looked genuinely confused.
“I don't know.”
“You met Susan.”
“Yes.”
“You gave David copies of your father's documents.”
“Yes.”
“You knew your father was investigating Pierce.”
“I knew he was worried about them.”
“You didn't tell me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
Michael lowered his eyes.
“That he'd blame me.”
“Why would he blame you?”
“Because I gave David access.”
I studied him.
“Did you know David was using those documents to pressure your father?”
“Not at first.”
“When did you find out?”
Michael was silent.
“Michael.”
“After Dad confronted me.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked why I had been meeting David.”
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
The word was barely audible.
Michael admitted that he had been struggling financially. David had offered him a way to recover his losses through a property investment.
Michael thought the opportunity was legitimate.
Then David began asking questions about Richard's estate.
“Did David ask you to forge my signature?”
“No.”
“Did he ask you for your father's passwords?”
“No.”
“Did he ask you to help him access the accounts?”
Michael hesitated.
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
“Did you?”
“I gave him information.”
“What information?”
“Old account numbers.”
“Anything else?”
“Copies of Dad's identification documents.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“He told me he needed them to prove ownership of a property.”
“And you believed him?”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
Michael looked toward the window.
“Dad called me.”
“When?”
“The night before he died.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me I had been used.”
I waited.
“He said David wasn't trying to help me.”
“What else?”
“He told me someone had been watching him.”
“Who?”
“He didn't know.”
“Did he mention Susan?”
“Yes.”
“Robert?”
“Yes.”
“Frank?”
“Yes.”
“Thomas?”
Michael hesitated.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You're lying.”
His eyes filled.
“I didn't want to involve Thomas.”
“Why?”
“Because Dad told me not to.”
I felt the same exhaustion return.
“Everyone says that.”
Michael sat down.
“Mom, Dad was trying to protect you.”
“And all of you thought lying to me was protection.”
No one answered.
Frank stood near the door.
“Michael didn't know about the money.”
I turned toward him.
“You're defending him?”
“He was manipulated.”
“So was I.”
Frank looked away.
I opened the envelope again.
“The person who warned Pierce about Richard's investigation was someone Richard had already forgiven.”
Michael read the line.
Then he went pale.
“I know who he meant.”
My heart stopped.
“Who?”
Michael looked at Thomas.
Thomas's expression changed.
“No.”
Michael whispered, “It was Dad's attorney before you.”
I frowned.
“Martin?”
“Yes.”
Martin had handled Richard's legal affairs before Thomas took over.
He had retired two years earlier.
I remembered Richard saying he trusted Martin completely.
“Why would Martin warn Pierce?”
Michael shook his head.
“I don't know.”
The recording was still in the safe.
We played it.
Richard's voice filled the room.
“This is the last conversation I'm going to have about this.”
Another voice answered.
Older.
Male.
Calm.
Martin.
“You should let it go.”
Richard replied, “You stole from me.”
“I protected myself.”
“You sold information.”
“I sold information that kept your company alive.”
“That isn't protection.”
“You don't understand what Pierce has.”
Richard's voice became sharper.
“What do they have?”
Silence.
Then Martin said:
“They have evidence about your brother.”
I looked at Michael.
Richard's brother had died years earlier.
“What evidence?”
We listened.
Martin explained that Pierce had discovered an old corporate fraud involving Richard's brother. If exposed, it could implicate Richard because his company had absorbed assets connected to the scheme.
Richard demanded proof.
Martin said the evidence had been destroyed.
Richard didn't believe him.
Then Martin said something that changed everything.
“Your family will lose everything if you expose this.”
Richard answered:
“Then I will lose it.”
The recording ended.
I sat motionless.
Thomas replayed it.
Martin had been protecting himself.
But he wasn't the final answer.
The investigators traced the payment from Pierce to Robert.
The money had been used to purchase information from Martin.
But who had authorized the payment?
A signature appeared on the transfer.
Richard's.
Forged.
Again.
The same handwriting pattern appeared across the documents.
The investigators compared the signatures.
They found something unexpected.
The person forging them wasn't Michael.
It wasn't Frank.
It wasn't Susan.
It wasn't Robert.
It was someone trained to reproduce legal signatures.
Someone who had worked around Richard's documents for years.
Martin.
But Martin was dead.
He had died six months earlier.
So someone had learned the technique from him.
The investigators traced his former assistant.
Her name was Caroline.
She had worked for Martin for nine years.
And she had been hired by Richard after Martin retired.
I remembered her.
She had brought documents to our house.
She had attended several meetings.
She had been present at Richard's funeral.
I felt cold.
“Where is Caroline?”
Thomas checked.
“She's missing.”
“When?”
“Two days ago.”
I looked at the recording.
Richard had said the person behind everything knew what he was going to do before he did it.
That meant someone had access to his private plans.
Someone who knew his appointments.
Someone who knew his legal arrangements.
Someone who knew the investigation.
Someone who knew the inheritance.
Someone who had been close enough to see every document.
Susan had that access.
Thomas had that access.
Elaine had that access.
Robert had that access.
But Caroline had something none of them had.
She had learned from Martin how to manipulate legal documents.
“Find her,” I said.
The investigators were already working.
Then Frank spoke.
“There is something else.”
I looked at him.
“Susan told me Caroline was afraid.”
“Afraid of whom?”
“She said Caroline wasn't the person in control.”
“Then who was?”
Frank swallowed.
“She said Caroline took orders from someone inside your family.”
My heart stopped.
“Who?”
Frank looked at Michael.
Michael shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Jennifer entered the room.
She had been listening from the hallway.
“Mom.”
I turned.
She was crying.
“I know.”
“What?”
“Who Caroline worked for.”
I waited.
Jennifer wiped her cheek.
“It was me.”
The room went silent.
“You?”
Jennifer nodded.
“I didn't know what she was doing.”
“Then why did she work for you?”
“Because I hired her.”
“Why?”
Jennifer looked at Michael.
“Because David told me to.”
Michael stared at her.
“You never told me.”
“I was ashamed.”
I felt something inside me crack.
“How long?”
“Almost a year.”
“What did she do?”
“She organized paperwork.”
“Which paperwork?”
Jennifer looked at me.
“Dad's.”
I couldn't speak.
Then she said the words that changed the direction of the entire investigation.
“But I never gave her the documents.”
“Who did?”
Jennifer closed her eyes.
“Someone else did.”
“Who?”
“She said the documents came from Thomas.”
Thomas went completely still.
I turned toward him.
He didn't deny it.
Instead, he reached into his briefcase and removed another envelope.
“I was going to tell you tonight.”
My voice was barely audible.
“Tell me what?”
Thomas placed the envelope on the table.
“Richard asked me to create a second will.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 19: The Second Will Was Designed to Trap Whoever Wanted the Estate, but Richard’s Final Instructions Revealed Why He Had Trusted Me With Nothing
The Night I Realized My Children Had Stopped Seeing Me as Their Mother and Started Seeing Me as Someone They Would Eventually Inherit From
Part 18 of 20
