Chapter 6 - THE DEAD NOTARY
Grant’s smile disappeared.
Only for a second.
Then he recovered.
“I received that document from counsel.”
“Which counsel?” Evelyn asked.
“Peter Moss.”
Evelyn laughed once.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“Peter surrendered his license eighteen months ago for document fraud.”
Grant’s face hardened.
Claire watched him carefully.
Was he surprised?
Or acting?
For the first time, she considered something uncomfortable.
Grant might not be the smartest person in the conspiracy.
He might simply be the greediest.
Police were not called immediately.
Evelyn wanted more.
So did Claire.
Grant left the building furious.
Stephen Mercer refused to speak.
Rebecca resigned before lunch.
Claire did not accept the resignation.
She placed Rebecca on paid administrative leave and preserved every company device assigned to her.
At three, Noah found the first major break.
The forged agreement had been created on a computer linked to Halcyon Strategic Partners.
Tessa’s firm.
But the metadata showed something stranger.
The original template had been downloaded from Bennett Family Trust legal archives.
Claire stared.
“Grant doesn’t have access.”
“Correct.”
“Tessa doesn’t.”
“Also correct.”
“Then who does?”
Noah rotated the screen.
Twenty-one people.
Trust attorneys.
Administrators.
Three family members.
Claire.
Her mother.
And one outside fiduciary adviser.
Stephen Mercer.
Her godfather.
Claire’s stomach dropped.
Stephen had advised Claire’s grandmother for twenty-six years.
He was not technically family.
But Claire had called him Uncle Stephen since childhood.
Her father trusted him.
Her grandmother trusted him.
Claire trusted him.
Until this week.
Hannah paced.
“What does Stephen get?”
“That’s the question.”
They searched trust records.
Stephen received annual fiduciary compensation.
Significant.
Not enough to risk prison.
Then Evelyn found an amendment.
Dated eleven years earlier.
If Claire died without children before age forty-five, temporary administrative control of the Bennett Family Trust would transfer to an independent three-person committee.
Stephen chaired that committee.
Claire felt her skin turn cold.
“I’m forty-one.”
“Yes.”
“Grant has a fifteen-million-dollar life insurance policy.”
“Yes.”
“Someone is drugging me.”
“Yes.”
Hannah whispered, “Jesus.”
Claire stood.
“No assumptions.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Good.”
But fear had entered the room.
At six that evening, Tessa called Claire directly.
Claire stared at the number.
Noah motioned for her to answer on speaker.
“Hello?”
Tessa’s breathing was fast.
“Don’t hang up.”
Claire almost laughed.
“You have thirty seconds.”
“Grant is lying to both of us.”
“Not exactly breaking news.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
“I thought he wanted divorce money.”
Claire glanced at Noah.
Tessa continued.
“I thought the medical stuff was about leverage.”
“What medical stuff?”
Silence.
“Tessa.”
“I never touched your pills.”
Claire’s chest tightened.
“I saw you inside my house.”
“I was there.”
“Why?”
“Grant asked me to photograph documents.”
“And Rebecca?”
“She let me in.”
“Who changed my medication?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why call?”
Tessa started crying.
“Because Grant told me yesterday that if everything worked, you’d be gone by spring.”
Claire’s blood went cold.
“What does gone mean?”
“I asked him.”
“And?”
“He wouldn’t answer.”
Claire gripped the phone.
Then Tessa whispered something unexpected.
“I searched his office.”
“What did you find?”
“A storage key.”
“To what?”
“A unit in Matthews.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because I went there.”
Claire’s pulse accelerated.
“What was inside?”
“Boxes about you.”
Silence.
“Medical records. Bank statements. Photographs. Copies of your father’s files.”
Tessa’s voice cracked.
“And Claire?”
“What?”
“There were boxes dated before you married Grant.”
Claire forgot how to breathe.
“How far before?”
“Almost two years.”
Two years before their wedding.
May you like
One year before Claire had even met him.
Which meant Grant had been collecting information about her before their first date.
