Chapter 3 - Eight Months Earlier
Emily printed the amendment and laid it across the kitchen island.
Eight months earlier, she had been in Portland taking care of her mother after hip surgery. Daniel had stayed home, claiming a concrete pour could not be moved.
The amendment had been notarized on a Tuesday at 2:14 p.m.
Emily had been three states away.
She called the trust’s senior counsel, Margaret Hayes, her father’s older sister.
Margaret answered on the second ring.
“Tell me you didn’t press anything red.”
Emily almost smiled. “Good morning to you too.”
“I got the acceleration alert.”
“So did someone named Noah Carter.”
Silence.
“Aunt Margaret?”
“I need you to come downtown.”
“Why is Noah in my trust?”
“Not on the phone.”
“Was that my signature?”
Another silence.
Emily’s stomach turned cold.
“You knew.”
“I knew someone tried to amend the trust. I did not know the document had survived compliance review.”
“Someone?”
“Emily, come to the office.”
“Was Daniel involved?”
Margaret exhaled. “Bring the laptop.”
That was an answer.
Twenty minutes later Emily was pulling on boots when a silver sedan stopped across the street.
A man got out.
Tall. Lean. Dark coat. He looked familiar enough to make her uneasy.
He walked to her porch and did not ring the bell.
Instead, he held up both hands where the doorbell camera could see them.
“My name is Noah Carter,” he said through the closed door. “Please don’t call Daniel.”
Emily froze.
Noah looked straight into the camera.
“He thinks I helped him steal your trust.”
Emily opened the door only as far as the chain allowed.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then why is your name on it?”
“Because your husband needed a beneficiary he could control.”
Emily’s fingers tightened on the door.
Noah’s face hardened.
“And because Daniel thinks I owe him for burying what happened to our father.”
Emily said nothing.
Noah reached slowly into his coat and produced a sealed envelope.
May you like
On the front, in faded blue ink, was her grandfather’s handwriting.
EMILY - IF A CARTER EVER ASKS FOR CONTROL, OPEN THIS FIRST.
