Daniel remained silent.
The investigator repeated himself.
“The vehicle is registered to the attorney's company, but the driver in the footage is not him.”
“Then who?”
“We don't know yet.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Why did you say he died?”
“Because that's what makes the registration interesting.”
Emily looked at him.
“What did he die from?”
The investigator answered.
“A boating accident.”
Daniel remembered.
He had attended the funeral.
The attorney had been dead for two years.
The investigator continued.
“His company remained active after his death.”
Daniel frowned.
“Who ran it?”
“That is what we're trying to determine.”
Daniel ended the call.
The room was quiet.
Rachel looked frightened.
“Could Ross have taken control of the company?”
“Possibly.”
Emily shook her head.
“If the company was being used after the attorney's death, someone had access to his records.”
Daniel nodded.
“And that person knew about the trust.”
Laura stood.
“There is something I should tell you.”
Everyone looked at her.
“When I visited your father at the hospital, he told me Ross was working with someone else.”
“Who?”
“I never learned the name.”
Daniel's frustration showed.
“What exactly did he say?”
Laura closed her eyes.
“He said, ‘Ross is the visible hand. The other person is the one who knows where every key is kept.’”
Emily looked toward the table.
“The keys.”
Daniel thought of the brass key marked 17.
“The person who had access to the family property.”
Laura nodded.
“Your father believed it was someone close to him.”
Rachel whispered, “Could it have been me?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I don't know.”
Rachel began crying.
“I don't remember everything.”
Emily studied her.
“What do you mean?”
Rachel wiped her face.
“After my father's death, I had periods where I couldn't remember certain conversations.”
Daniel frowned.
“Because you were drinking?”
“No.”
“Medication?”
“No.”
Rachel hesitated.
“I was taking something for anxiety.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“A prescription.”
Emily immediately understood that this was not a question to speculate about.
Instead, she asked, “Did you tell your doctor?”
Rachel nodded.
“It was temporary.”
The attorney interrupted through the phone.
“Daniel, I need you to focus on the evidence.”
Daniel nodded.
Rachel looked relieved.
The attorney continued.
“We traced the company account.”
“To Ross?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“A holding company.”
Daniel waited.
“It has one beneficial owner.”
The attorney gave him the name.
Daniel went completely still.
He recognized it.
Emily saw his expression.
“Who?”
Daniel looked at her.
“My father's name.”
Everyone stared.
“That isn't possible,” Rachel said.
The attorney explained that the company had been established years before Daniel's father's death.
The ownership had been transferred shortly afterward.
But the transfer paperwork was incomplete.
Daniel felt the room spinning.
“Could my father have created it?”
“Yes.”
“Could someone have transferred it after his death?”
“Also yes.”
“Then we need the original records.”
“We do.”
The attorney instructed them to meet him the following morning.
That night, Daniel barely slept.
He sat alone in the study.
Emily found him there.
“You should rest.”
“I can't.”
She sat beside him.
“What are you thinking?”
“My father.”
She waited.
“I spent years thinking he was simply secretive.”
“You're realizing he was hiding things.”
“Yes.”
“Some for good reasons.”
“And some for bad ones.”
Emily nodded.
“That can both be true.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I wish I had asked him.”
“You were his son.”
“I thought I knew him.”
“No one completely knows another person.”
Daniel looked down.
“Do you know me?”
Emily smiled.
“I know who you are when you're afraid.”
He looked at her.
“And who am I?”
“You try to control things.”
He laughed quietly.
“That obvious?”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“Now you're learning to let truth be uncomfortable without trying to make it disappear.”
Daniel took her hand.
“I don't want to lose that lesson.”
“You won't.”
The next morning, they met the attorney.
The holding company records were laid across a conference table.
The attorney pointed to the original incorporation document.
“Your father established this company.”
Daniel stared at the signature.
“What was its purpose?”
“Property management.”
“Then why did Ross use it?”
“We don't know.”
The attorney opened another file.
“There were transfers.”
Daniel looked.
Several properties had been moved into the company.
One was the lake house.
Another was the storage property.
A third was a small commercial building Daniel had never heard of.
Emily asked, “Who controlled the accounts?”
“Your father initially.”
“And after his death?”
“That is the problem.”
The attorney placed another document on the table.
A power-of-attorney form.
It gave temporary authority to someone else.
Daniel read the name.
Rachel.
She gasped.
“I never signed that.”
The attorney nodded.
“We expected that.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Your signature was forged again.”
Rachel shook her head.
“Then someone was using me as a cover.”
Emily nodded.
“Exactly.”
The pattern was becoming unmistakable.
Someone had been creating documents that made Rachel appear responsible.
If the family discovered the manipulation, Rachel would be blamed.
Ross could disappear behind the paperwork.
But there was still one question.
Who had access to Rachel's signature?
Daniel thought of the people who had handled the family's documents.
The former attorney.
Ross.
His father's accountant.
Rachel herself.
Laura.
And one other person.
Emily.
Daniel looked at her.
She noticed.
“What?”
“You had access to some of these files.”
Emily frowned.
“So did everyone.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
He wasn't accusing her.
But the thought had entered the room.
Rachel looked at Emily.
For a moment, suspicion returned.
Then Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Emily looked at him.
“I trust you.”
She nodded.
The attorney cleared his throat.
“We can test the documents.”
“How?”
“Paper aging. Ink composition. Printer records.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You can tell when they were created?”
“Not perfectly.”
“But enough?”
“Enough to establish inconsistencies.”
They submitted the documents.
The results came back two days later.
The forged documents had been printed years after the dates written on them.
Daniel stared at the report.
“They were fabricated.”
“Yes.”
“And the person who made them had access to the originals.”
“Yes.”
The attorney pointed to the printer markings.
“These documents came from an office printer.”
“Which office?”
The attorney looked at Daniel.
“Your father's old law office.”
Daniel froze.
“That office was closed.”
“Not entirely.”
The attorney handed him a photograph.
The building had been renovated.
A new company occupied the space.
Daniel recognized the logo.
It belonged to a firm connected to Ross.
Emily looked at him.
“Then we know where to look.”
The investigator arrived that evening.
He had one more piece of information.
“We identified the driver.”
Daniel stood.
“Who?”
The investigator placed a photograph on the table.
It showed a man leaving the office.
Daniel stared.
He had seen him before.
At family gatherings.
At the lake house.
In photographs.
A person he had never considered part of the problem.
Daniel whispered the name.
“Ethan.”
Emily looked confused.
“Who is Ethan?”
“My cousin.”
Rachel shook her head.
“That's impossible.”
The investigator replied, “He has been using the dead attorney's company accounts.”
Daniel stared at the photograph.
Ethan had always been friendly.
Quiet.
Helpful.
He had repaired things around the lake house.
He had helped move furniture after Daniel's father's death.
He had even driven Rachel to appointments.
Daniel felt sick.
“How long?”
The investigator answered.
“Years.”
Daniel looked at Emily.
The family had spent years looking outward.
At Ross.
At Rachel.
At Laura.
They had never looked at Ethan.
The investigator placed one final photograph on the table.
It showed Ethan meeting Ross.
But the meeting wasn't the shocking part.
Ava appeared in the background.
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“When was this taken?”
“Three months ago.”
Ava looked at the photograph.
“I don't remember seeing him.”
Daniel stared at the image.
Ethan had been near his daughter.
Near his family.
Near everything.
And suddenly, the old accusation against Emily looked like only one move in a much larger game.
Click here to continue reading: PART 16: Ethan’s Hidden Role Explained the Missing Documents, but His Reason for Targeting Emily Was More Personal Than Anyone Expected
The Accusation That Turned a Family Gathering Into the Moment Emily Finally Stopped Defending Herself
Part 15 of 20
