Chapter 3 - The Husband Who Came Back for the Money
Greg arrived twelve hours later.
Tan.
Expensive coat.
Wedding ring still on his hand.
Not Sarah’s ring.
The new one.
He walked into the hospice lobby like a man returning to property he still owned.
“Where is my wife?”
I stood.
His face changed.
“Margaret.”
“You remember me.”
“Move.”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“I am her legal spouse.”
“That may be more complicated than you think.”
His expression flickered.
The divorce had been finalized only seventeen days earlier.
Sarah remembered signing something while heavily medicated, but she thought it involved insurance.
The decree listed her as appearing through written waiver.
She had no independent attorney.
That alone did not automatically void anything.
But it gave our lawyer plenty to examine.
Greg lowered his voice.
“You are upsetting her.”
“You left her in hospice and went on a honeymoon.”
His eyes hardened.
“My marriage to Sarah was over.”
“Then why were you still the beneficiary of her life insurance?”
Silence.
There it was.
Not grief.
Calculation.
“You changed it.”
“Sarah changed it.”
“She’s not competent.”
I almost smiled.
“That is a dangerous argument to make after relying on her signature for your divorce.”
Greg froze.
Behind me, Brenda said nothing.
She didn’t need to.
Greg looked toward Sarah’s room.
“I’m seeing her.”
“No.”
“You cannot stop me.”
Sarah’s attorney appeared from the elevator at exactly the right moment.
Actually, I had called her hours earlier.
“Mr. Lawson,” she said, “your access has been revoked by the patient.”
Greg stared at her.
Then at me.
Finally:
“This is about the money.”
I nearly laughed.
“You’re right.”
His face brightened for half a second.
Then I finished.
“It was always about the money. We’re simply no longer pretending you weren’t the one chasing it.”
Greg left after hospital security warned him not to force entry.
But he didn’t go far.
That evening, our attorney obtained the divorce file.
She called me at 9:06.
“There’s a problem.”
“What?”
“Sarah’s waiver was notarized in Anchorage.”
“So?”
“Sarah’s hospice admission records show she was receiving medication at the exact time the notary claims she appeared in person.”
My pulse rose.
“Meaning?”
“The notary may never have seen her.”
Then she sent me the name.
May you like
The notary was Lauren Keene.
Dr. Martin Keene’s wife.
