Chapter 5
I thought the stress had confused her.
“My grandfather died in March.”
“That was the public announcement,” Emily said. “He actually died the night before our wedding.”
“That makes no sense.”
“He was receiving private care at the lake house. Your mother told the family he had already passed because she did not want anyone visiting him.”
I remembered the closed funeral.
The sealed casket.
Diane said my grandfather wanted privacy.
I had believed her.
“How did you know he was alive?”
“He called me.”
Emily explained that my grandfather had learned about Diane’s attempt to alter his trust.
He no longer trusted my father.
He could not reach me because Diane controlled his phone and staff.
So he contacted Emily.
“She thought I was harmless,” Emily said. “She never realized he had my number.”
The night before our wedding, Emily drove to the lake house.
My grandfather gave her a handwritten statement and a recording.
He wanted her to deliver them to his attorney.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because when I arrived, he was struggling to breathe. I called for help, but Diane came instead.”
Emily’s voice shook.
“She accused me of killing him.”
I sat beside her.
“She threatened you.”
“She said she would have me arrested for interfering with his medical care. Then she showed me documents claiming you would lose your inheritance if our marriage became connected to a criminal investigation.”
“So you gave her the evidence?”
“No. I hid the recording.”
“Where?”
“In a safe-deposit box under my maiden name.”
I stood so quickly that the chair struck the wall.
“That recording could prove everything.”
“It could also prove something worse.”
Before Emily could explain, the fetal monitor began beeping.
Her face tightened with pain.
A nurse rushed in.
Another contraction followed.
Then another.
The doctor ordered me into the hallway.
I watched through the window as six people surrounded my wife.
She was only thirty-four weeks pregnant.
Our baby was not ready.
The doctor emerged twenty minutes later.
“We stopped the contractions again, but this cannot continue. Mrs. Hale needs calm.”
Calm had become impossible.
I called Detective Ortiz and told her about the safe-deposit box.
Because Emily could not leave the hospital, an attorney prepared authorization papers.
Ortiz retrieved the box under police supervision.
Inside was a digital recorder, my grandfather’s handwritten statement, and photographs of documents bearing two different signatures.
We listened to the recording in a private hospital conference room.
My grandfather’s voice was weak but clear.
“If you are hearing this, Diane has succeeded in isolating me. I did not authorize the transfer of Ryan’s share. I did not remove Daniel as trustee. Any documents stating otherwise are fraudulent.”
There was a pause.
Then he continued.
“I am also afraid Diane has been changing my medication. Thomas knows. He has refused to act.”
I looked at my father.
His face collapsed.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“You let her poison him?”
“I did not know for certain.”
“You never wanted to know.”
Thomas covered his face.
The recording continued.
My grandfather said he had ordered a private medical review.
The results were hidden in the lake house.
Before he could explain where, a door opened in the background.
Diane’s voice filled the recording.
“What are you doing with that girl?”
Emily’s voice answered.
“He needs a doctor.”
Then came a crash.
My grandfather gasped.
Diane shouted for Emily to leave.
The recording ended.
Ortiz collected the evidence.
“This could turn the fraud investigation into something much more serious.”
My father stood.
“There is a hidden compartment beneath the red cabinet in the basement.”
Ortiz called the officers guarding the lake house.
They found medical records, pill bottles, and a letter from my grandfather’s doctor.
The medication in his system had not matched his prescription.
That evening, Diane was questioned about his death.
She denied everything.
Then her attorney presented a document claiming Emily had been hired as my grandfather’s private assistant and had access to his medicine.
The signature at the bottom looked like Emily’s.
It was another forgery.
May you like
But this one had been notarized.
The notary was my father.
