David was waiting in a conference room at the attorney's office when I arrived.
Thomas walked beside me.
Claire Morgan was already inside, seated near the far wall with a folder open in front of her. Two investigators stood outside the door, close enough that I could see their reflections in the glass.
David sat alone at the table.
He looked older than I remembered.
His hair had gone almost completely gray, and the sharpness that used to make him seem confident had disappeared from his face. He kept both hands flat on the table as though he didn't trust himself to move them.
When I entered, he stood.
“Maggie.”
I stopped several feet away.
“You asked to see me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked at Thomas.
“I need to tell her what I should have told Richard.”
My jaw tightened.
“What did you do to my husband?”
David closed his eyes briefly.
“I didn't kill him.”
The room seemed to contract around those words.
“I didn't ask whether you killed him.”
“You were going to.”
“Yes.”
He sat again.
I remained standing.
“You knew about the property.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Michael.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the forged documents.”
“Yes.”
“You arranged the guardianship plan.”
“I helped design it.”
“You were going to take my house.”
“I was going to take the land.”
The distinction made me angrier.
“You expected me to lose my home.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
David looked at me for a long time.
“Because I believed Richard had taken everything from me.”
I almost laughed.
“You had a successful company.”
“Before Richard.”
“You had a family.”
“Before Richard.”
“You had friends.”
“Before Richard.”
“And when your business failed, Richard paid your debts.”
David's mouth tightened.
“He paid some of them.”
“He saved you.”
“He saved himself.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
David reached into his coat and removed a small envelope.
“This is why I asked you to come.”
He pushed it across the table.
I didn't touch it.
Thomas stepped forward.
“Where did you get that?”
“Richard gave it to me.”
My eyes moved to David.
“When?”
“The night before he died.”
The room went silent.
Thomas picked up the envelope and examined it before handing it to me.
The flap had already been opened.
Inside was a folded sheet of paper.
Richard's handwriting.
David had written a short note beneath it.
Maggie,
I know you will hate me for what I did. I don't blame you. But there is something you need to understand about the last forty-eight hours.
I read the next line twice.
I didn't die because of the property.
My fingers tightened around the paper.
David spoke quietly.
“Richard was already sick.”
“I know.”
“But his condition changed suddenly.”
“You're saying someone harmed him?”
“No.”
“Then say what you mean.”
David looked down.
“Richard discovered something about his medication.”
Thomas immediately stepped closer.
“What?”
David shook his head.
“I don't know the medical details.”
“Then what do you know?”
“Richard believed someone had been interfering with his treatment.”
My heart began racing.
“Who?”
“He didn't know.”
“Did he suspect David?”
“No.”
“Michael?”
“No.”
“Frank?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
David swallowed.
“Someone in his own circle.”
I thought of the sentence Richard had written.
The person behind this has access to everything because I gave him that access myself.
I had assumed it referred to the property scheme.
Maybe it didn't.
“Why didn't Richard tell me?”
“Because he was afraid you'd confront the person.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
I stared at David.
“You expect me to believe that after all these years you suddenly became honest?”
“No.”
“Then why should I believe anything you say?”
“Because I brought the evidence.”
He opened his briefcase.
There were copies of medical records, financial statements, emails, and handwritten notes.
Thomas began sorting through them.
One document stopped him.
“What is this?”
“A pharmacy record.”
Thomas read it.
“Three prescription changes.”
David nodded.
“Richard asked me to find out who authorized them.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
David hesitated.
“The changes came through the same private medical network used by several people in Richard's company.”
“That doesn't identify anyone.”
“No.”
“What does?”
David pulled out another page.
A call log.
One number appeared repeatedly.
I recognized the area code.
“That's the office.”
David nodded.
“Whose office?”
I looked at Thomas.
He was already checking the number.
“It's associated with a private care coordinator.”
“Who hired them?”
“Richard.”
“Why?”
“Because he needed someone to manage his appointments.”
I sat down.
“Who was the coordinator?”
David looked at me.
“Elaine.”
My stomach dropped.
“Elaine?”
“Yes.”
I remembered all the times Elaine had accompanied Richard to appointments.
The careful way she organized his medication.
The envelopes she carried.
The reassuring explanations she gave whenever I asked whether he was following his doctor's instructions.
“No,” I whispered.
David leaned forward.
“I don't know that Elaine harmed him.”
“But she had access.”
“Yes.”
Thomas looked up from the records.
“The prescription changes were authorized electronically.”
“By Elaine?”
“We need the original access logs.”
David nodded.
“I couldn't get them.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard died before he could.”
I looked at the letter.
“What else did he tell you?”
David's expression hardened.
“He said the property scheme was only the surface.”
“What was underneath?”
“Money.”
“Whose?”
“Corporate money.”
I frowned.
“Richard's companies?”
“Yes.”
“Was money being diverted?”
“For years.”
My throat tightened.
“How much?”
“Several million.”
Thomas went still.
“Where?”
“Through shell companies.”
“Whose?”
David looked at me.
“Some belonged to people connected to Pierce.”
“Some?”
“Yes.”
“And the rest?”
David hesitated.
“People connected to Richard.”
I understood then.
The property had been a way to hide a much larger problem.
Michael had been manipulated because he wanted money.
Jennifer had been tempted because she needed money.
Frank had been pressured because his brother was drowning.
But someone else had been stealing money from Richard for years.
Someone with access.
Someone patient.
Someone who had benefited from keeping everyone focused on the inheritance.
Thomas spread the documents across the table.
“There are transfers here going back six years.”
David nodded.
“Richard started tracing them a year before he died.”
“Why didn't he tell the police?”
“He wanted to identify the person responsible first.”
“Did he?”
David looked at me.
“Yes.”
I stopped breathing.
“Who?”
David shook his head.
“He didn't tell me.”
“You just said he identified them.”
“He wrote the name down.”
“Where?”
David pointed toward the folder.
I opened it.
Inside was a photocopy of a page from Richard's private notebook.
At the bottom was one name.
Elaine.
I stared at it.
Then Thomas took the page.
“This could mean anything.”
David nodded.
“That was Richard's conclusion, too.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“He wasn't certain.”
“Then why write her name?”
“Because the money passed through an account she controlled.”
I felt dizzy.
“Did she steal it?”
“We don't know.”
“Did she help someone steal it?”
“We don't know.”
David leaned back.
“But Richard was investigating her.”
That explained the secrecy.
The meetings.
The tension.
The way he had started keeping documents in locked drawers.
But it didn't explain his death.
Thomas gathered the evidence.
“We need Elaine here.”
David nodded.
“She knows you're looking.”
“How?”
“She contacted me yesterday.”
My eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Before I requested this meeting.”
“What did she say?”
David looked at me.
“She said if I talked to you, people would get hurt.”
A cold silence followed.
“Who?”
“She didn't say.”
“Did she threaten you?”
“No.”
“What exactly did she say?”
David reached for his phone.
“I recorded the call.”
Thomas listened.
Elaine's voice came through the speaker.
Calm.
Controlled.
Almost gentle.
“David, you don't understand what you're doing.”
David's recorded voice asked, “Then explain it.”
“You can't fix this by destroying everyone.”
“Who are you protecting?”
A pause.
Then Elaine said:
“I'm protecting Maggie.”
My breath caught.
The recording continued.
“You need to stop.”
David asked, “Did you change Richard's medication?”
Silence.
Then the recording ended.
I looked at David.
“Why did you stop it?”
“Because she hung up.”
Thomas checked the file.
“It hasn't been edited.”
I looked toward Claire.
“What do we do?”
“Let investigators handle it.”
I nodded.
But before we left, David stopped me.
“There is one more thing.”
I turned.
“Richard knew I was involved with Michael.”
I stared at him.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“And he still gave you that letter?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
David looked down.
“Because he believed I could help you.”
I didn't understand.
“You tried to steal from me.”
“I know.”
“You manipulated my son.”
“I know.”
“You helped create a guardianship plan.”
“I know.”
“Why would Richard trust you?”
“He didn't.”
David looked at me.
“He trusted that I hated myself enough to tell the truth when it mattered.”
I had no answer.
As we left, Thomas received a message.
He read it once.
Then again.
“What?”
He showed me his phone.
Elaine had been located.
She wasn't hiding.
She had gone to the hospital.
She had asked to speak with me.
Alone.
Click here to continue reading: PART 14: Elaine Was Waiting at the Hospital With Richard’s Medical File, and What She Admitted About His Final Night Was Worse Than I Expected
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 13 of 20
