Chapter 6 - The Forged Signature
The handwriting expert needed four days.
The result required four seconds to understand.
The signature was forged.
More importantly, the notary seal belonged to a man who had been dead for seven months when the document was supposedly signed.
Samuel stared at the report.
“They became careless.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“They became confident.”
There was a difference.
Marcus had believed I would never challenge him.
Maybe he expected grief to keep me away.
Maybe he expected the money being deposited into my personal trust accounts to keep me comfortable.
Maybe he believed I was exactly what he had spent years telling the board I was.
Spoiled.
Emotional.
Useless.
The criminal investigation expanded.
So did the board’s attacks.
Anonymous stories appeared online claiming I had addiction problems.
That I had been hospitalized.
That I had abandoned my mother during her final year.
Every story was false.
But truth moved slower than scandal.
Then Julian called.
“Charlotte, we need to meet.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother left something with me.”
I nearly dropped the phone.
“What?”
“A letter.”
“You waited eighteen months?”
“I was scared.”
“Of Marcus?”
A pause.
“No.”
“Then who?”
May you like
Julian whispered:
“Of the person Marcus answers to.”
