Chapter 16 - Elaine Porter
Elaine answered on the fourth call.
Her first words were, "How did you get this number?"
Daniel put the phone on speaker.
"My mother."
A long silence followed.
"Daniel, I don't want trouble."
"Trouble threw a brick through my window. Trouble burned Dad's workshop. Trouble tried to take my son from a playground."
Elaine inhaled sharply.
"Marcus went near your child?"
"Yes."
Another pause.
Then she gave them the name of a diner forty miles away.
"Tomorrow. Eleven. Come with police if you want. I don't care anymore."
Ramirez went with them.
Elaine Porter looked older than Daniel remembered. She sat in a back booth with both hands wrapped around untouched coffee.
"Your father was scared of Marcus near the end," she said.
Daniel stiffened.
"Dad wasn't scared of anybody."
"He was scared of what Marcus would do when the money stopped."
Elaine opened a folder.
Inside were printed emails.
Marcus had asked her for copies of old signatures. She refused.
Then Vince Harper contacted her from a private email address, asking about Thomas's middle name and medical condition.
She refused him too.
"Why didn't you tell police?" Emily asked.
Elaine looked ashamed.
"Marcus said he'd ruin my son. My son had a DUI. Marcus knew the judge's clerk. I panicked."
She slid a second document across the table.
A hospital visitor log.
Marcus and Vince had both visited Thomas on the date of the so-called second will.
"Did Dad sign anything?" Daniel asked.
Elaine nodded slowly.
"A blank card for your mother's anniversary. Marcus put a pen in his left hand and helped him make a shaky mark. Your father got angry and pushed it away."
Daniel's stomach turned.
"The signature on the will is smooth."
"Because it's traced."
Elaine took out her phone.
"I recorded ten seconds because I thought something was wrong."
The video showed Marcus holding a page over the card, aligning paper against a bright hospital window.
Tracing.
Daniel felt his whole body go still.
Ramirez stood.
"This may be enough for additional charges."
Elaine grabbed his sleeve.
"Then move fast. Marcus isn't planning to go to court."
"What do you mean?"
She looked at Daniel.
"He called me last night. He said if he couldn't have the house, nobody would."
Daniel's phone rang.
Mrs. Chen.
He answered.
Her voice was shaking.
May you like
"Daniel, somebody just went into your house."
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