Elaine was sitting beside a hospital window when I entered.
She looked smaller than I remembered.
Her hands rested in her lap.
No lawyer.
No investigator.
No family member.
Just Elaine.
When she saw me, she stood.
“I knew you'd come.”
I closed the door.
“Why did you ask for me?”
She looked toward the empty chair.
“Because I owe you the truth.”
“You owe me more than that.”
“I know.”
I sat.
She remained standing.
“Did you change Richard's medication?”
Her eyes filled immediately.
“Yes.”
The answer struck harder because there was no hesitation.
Thomas moved beside me.
“Explain.”
Elaine sat down.
“I didn't poison him.”
“That's a strange distinction.”
“I changed one prescription because I believed the original dosage was making him worse.”
“Did you have medical authority?”
“No.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“Because his doctor wasn't listening.”
“That's not your decision.”
“I know.”
“What happened?”
Elaine rubbed her palms together.
“Richard had been suffering from severe side effects. He was confused. He was falling. He couldn't sleep.”
I remembered those months.
Richard had insisted he was fine.
I had believed him.
Elaine continued.
“I called his doctor repeatedly.”
“Did you tell Richard?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He told me to wait.”
“Why?”
“He was afraid the doctor would stop treating him.”
I frowned.
“Why would he think that?”
“Because he had another problem.”
“What problem?”
Elaine looked at Thomas.
“The medication was interacting with something else.”
“What?”
“A drug Richard had started privately.”
My heart tightened.
“What drug?”
She gave the name.
Thomas immediately wrote it down.
“Who prescribed it?”
Elaine hesitated.
“Another doctor.”
“Why privately?”
“Richard didn't want you to know.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because he was trying to manage his anxiety.”
That sounded like Richard.
He had always believed problems became smaller if he could solve them without worrying anyone else.
“What did you change?”
“I stopped one medication temporarily.”
“Without authorization.”
“Yes.”
“Did Richard know?”
“Yes.”
“Did he approve?”
“He agreed.”
Thomas asked, “Do you have proof?”
Elaine nodded.
She opened a folder.
There were messages between her and Richard.
One read:
I trust you. Just make sure Maggie doesn't find out until we know what's happening.
I felt tears burn my eyes.
Not because Elaine had been innocent.
She hadn't.
She had crossed a line.
But Richard had known.
And I had spent days wondering whether someone had secretly altered his treatment.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Elaine looked at me.
“Because Richard asked me not to.”
“What about the financial transfers?”
Her face changed.
“That was different.”
“How?”
“I moved money.”
“Whose money?”
“Richard's.”
“Why?”
“To protect it.”
“From whom?”
“David.”
I stared at her.
“David?”
“He was pressuring Richard.”
Elaine explained that years earlier, David had begun making claims against Richard's businesses.
He insisted he had been cheated.
He demanded money.
Richard refused.
David began threatening lawsuits.
Elaine helped move some funds into accounts David couldn't reach.
“Then why did money go through your account?”
“Because Richard didn't want his name attached.”
Thomas looked skeptical.
“Why?”
“Because he was negotiating privately.”
“With whom?”
“Pierce.”
My heart sank.
“Richard was negotiating with Pierce?”
“Not to sell the property.”
“Then what?”
“To expose David.”
Elaine opened another document.
Richard had been secretly purchasing information about the development company.
He believed Pierce and David were using shell companies to acquire land below market value.
The property wasn't simply an opportunity.
It was evidence.
“They wanted the land because it would expose the entire network,” Elaine said.
I looked at Thomas.
“That changes everything.”
“Yes.”
Elaine nodded.
“Richard knew Michael was being used.”
“Then why didn't he stop him?”
“He tried.”
“Michael didn't listen.”
“No.”
Elaine lowered her eyes.
“He was angry with his father.”
I closed my eyes.
That was the part that hurt.
My children hadn't been forced.
They had been persuaded.
They had chosen.
But someone had built the conditions around those choices.
“Did Richard know about the forged signature?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three weeks before he died.”
“Why didn't he destroy it?”
“Because he wanted evidence.”
“Of what?”
“Who was behind it.”
I thought of the photograph.
The documents.
The guardianship petition.
The payments.
Everything Richard had gathered had been part of one investigation.
“Who was he trying to expose?”
Elaine looked at me.
“David.”
I frowned.
“Then why did Richard suspect you?”
“Because I moved the money.”
“And because you changed his medication.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know he was writing your name in his notebook?”
Elaine nodded.
“I found the notebook after he died.”
My heart stopped.
“You read it?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you give it to me?”
“Because I was terrified.”
“Of what?”
“That Richard had accused me.”
“Did he?”
“Not exactly.”
She reached into the folder.
Another page.
Richard's handwriting.
Elaine is not the thief.
I stared.
Then the next line.
She is protecting something. I don't know whether she understands how dangerous it is.
I looked up.
“What did you find?”
Elaine's voice trembled.
“A second account.”
“Whose?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how did you find it?”
“Because money was being transferred from the account I managed into another account.”
“Did you authorize those transfers?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“I don't know.”
Thomas leaned forward.
“How much?”
Elaine whispered, “Almost four million.”
The room went silent.
“Over how long?”
“Three years.”
I felt sick.
“And you covered it?”
“No.”
“You hid it.”
“I tried to trace it.”
“Why didn't you tell Richard?”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Two days before he died.”
My heart stopped.
“What happened?”
“He told me to stop investigating.”
“Why?”
“He said if I kept going, someone would know.”
“Who?”
“I asked him that.”
Elaine looked at me.
“He said, ‘The person who knows everything about us.’”
I remembered Richard's final warning.
Someone had access because he had given that person access.
Thomas looked at Elaine.
“Who had access to every account?”
She shook her head.
“Only a few people.”
“Names.”
“Me.”
“Frank.”
“Yes.”
“Richard.”
“Yes.”
“His chief financial officer.”
She stopped.
I looked at her.
“Who?”
Elaine whispered the name.
“Thomas.”
I turned toward my attorney.
He went completely still.
For a moment nobody spoke.
Elaine immediately said, “I don't know if he did anything.”
Thomas's face tightened.
“You should be careful.”
“I am.”
I looked between them.
Thomas had been beside me through everything.
He had found documents.
He had contacted investigators.
He had protected the trust.
But Richard had written that the person behind this had access because he gave him that access.
Thomas had exactly that access.
I couldn't breathe.
Thomas looked at me.
“Maggie, listen to me.”
I stepped back.
“Don't.”
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
He hesitated.
That hesitation was enough to frighten me.
“What were you doing with Richard's accounts?”
“Nothing illegal.”
“That wasn't my question.”
He closed his eyes.
“I moved money.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard instructed me.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
Elaine stood.
“That's what he told you?”
Thomas looked at her.
“What are you implying?”
“You know what I'm implying.”
I looked at both of them.
“Stop.”
They did.
I asked Thomas one question.
“Did you know about the second account?”
He said nothing.
“Thomas?”
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
“Whose account?”
“I don't know.”
“That's a lie.”
“No.”
“You knew it existed.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew money was moving into it.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Richard told me not to.”
I felt tears run down my face.
“Everyone keeps saying Richard told them not to tell me.”
Thomas's expression broke.
“He was trying to keep you alive.”
The words stopped me.
“What?”
He opened his briefcase.
He removed a photograph.
It showed Richard meeting someone in a parking garage.
The date was two days before his death.
I recognized the other person.
My breath caught.
It wasn't David.
It wasn't Frank.
It wasn't Elaine.
It wasn't any of my children.
It was someone I had never considered.
Thomas placed the photograph on the table.
“That person controls the second account.”
I stared at the face.
Then I understood why Richard had written that the person was someone I would never suspect.
Because I had trusted that person for years.
And because, until that moment, I had believed they had nothing to do with our family.
Click here to continue reading: PART 15: The Photograph Revealed the Person Richard Had Trusted With His Entire Future, and the Account He Controlled Explained Why Everyone Else Had Been Distracted
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 14 of 20
