Chapter 7 - THE DEAD MAN BEHIND THE TRUST
Thomas Bennett had died in a plane crash.
At least that was what everyone believed.
Private aircraft.
Colorado.
Winter storm.
No survivors.
Richard had never met him.
Emma’s father disappeared from her life when she was seventeen.
Years later, she received notice that he had died.
His estate eventually passed through legal channels to Emma.
Now investigators had a recent DNA sample labeled:
THOMAS B.
Richard laughed once.
It sounded almost desperate.
“This is getting insane.”
Detective Mills agreed.
“It is unusual.”
“Unusual?”
“A dead man may be alive, my fiancée pushed my son down the stairs, her brother was surveilling us, my wife thought someone accelerated her death, and apparently all of this is connected to twenty-six million dollars.”
Mills remained calm.
“Yes.”
Richard rubbed his face.
“That’s not unusual.”
“No.”
She closed the file.
“It’s coordinated.”
That word landed harder.
Coordinated.
Not one dangerous woman.
A network.
A plan.
Anna looked toward Leo.
He was sitting on the hospital bed stacking plastic cups.
Two years old.
Entire lives rearranging around money he didn’t even understand.
“Where did Marcus get the Thomas sample?” Anna asked.
“Unknown.”
“What does the trust say about Thomas?”
Richard opened Emma’s trust again.
The original settlor was Emma.
But several assets came from the Bennett family estate.
A clause required special review if Thomas Bennett ever reappeared and challenged the estate transfer.
Richard went pale.
“He could challenge Leo’s inheritance.”
“Possibly.”
Anna understood.
“What if that was the plan?”
Detective Mills looked at her.
“Explain.”
“Vanessa marries Richard.”
“Okay.”
“Anna gets pushed out as successor trustee.”
“Yes.”
“Then someone produces Thomas Bennett.”
Richard continued.
“Leo’s assets become tied up in litigation.”
Mills nodded.
“And Vanessa, depending on the forged amendment, gains administrative control.”
Anna’s stomach turned.
Vanessa might not need Leo dead.
She needed him legally vulnerable.
The staircase push could have been intended to frighten him.
Or Anna.
Or both.
But the footage showed something worse.
Vanessa had not looked surprised when Leo fell.
Richard remembered that now.
“She wanted him hurt.”
Anna said nothing.
Because yes.
That was what the video looked like.
At 9:05 p.m., police executed a search warrant at Vanessa’s apartment.
They found it mostly empty.
Drawers cleared.
Closet half vacant.
Passport gone.
She had prepared to leave.
But she had missed one thing.
A locked metal box behind the washing machine.
Inside were prepaid phones.
Cash.
Four passports under different names.
And letters from someone identified only as T.B.
Detective Mills read one aloud.
You are getting too close emotionally.
Remember the objective.
Richard stopped breathing.
Another:
The child is the key, not the man.
Anna’s skin crawled.
Then another:
If Richard refuses the marriage agreement, use the Emma file.
Richard looked up.
“What marriage agreement?”
Vanessa had repeatedly asked for a courthouse wedding before their planned ceremony.
Richard postponed because of Leo.
Now he understood why she kept pushing.
The final letter was dated nine days earlier.
Anna watched Detective Mills read it.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
Mills hesitated.
“What does it say?”
She handed it to Richard.
He read aloud:
Anna is becoming a problem. If she discovers what happened the night Emma died, remove her before she speaks to Richard.
Anna felt the room tilt.
“What happened the night Emma died?”
Richard looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
But Detective Mills was staring at the signature line.
The author had finally used a name.
Thomas Bennett.
Emma’s dead father.
And beneath the signature was a handwritten telephone number.
Mills called it from a secure police line.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
A man answered.
“Yes?”
Mills identified herself.
Silence.
Then:
“Is Anna Bennett with you?”
Anna stopped breathing.
Detective Mills looked directly at her.
“Yes.”
The man’s voice softened.
“Good.”
“Who is this?”
Another pause.
Then:
“Tell Anna I’m sorry I couldn’t save her sister.”
Anna’s blood went cold.
Emma had not been Anna’s sister.
Not biologically.
Not legally.
They had simply been best friends.
Only one person had ever called Emma Anna’s sister.
May you like
Anna’s mother.
Who died when Anna was twelve.
