Chapter 7 - THE WILL THAT DISAPPEARED
The safe was empty.
Not partly empty.
Completely empty.
Sarah's will was gone.
Her original trust documents were gone.
Emily's birth certificate was gone.
My property deeds were gone.
Even the encrypted backup drive I kept inside was missing.
Rebecca hadn't started planning this wedding three months ago.
She had been planning something far longer.
Police obtained a warrant for Rebecca's apartment.
They found nothing.
Then they searched Nathan's office.
That changed everything.
Behind a locked cabinet were copies of Sarah's documents.
There were forged amendments.
False notarizations.
Transfer instructions.
And correspondence with the residential academy.
The school was real.
But Rebecca hadn't described Emily honestly.
She claimed Emily had severe behavioral problems.
Violent episodes.
Emotional instability.
A history of running away.
All lies.
One email made me shake.
Rebecca had written:
Once she is admitted, communication with the father should be restricted during the adjustment period.
Another said:
He will be traveling internationally and may be difficult to contact.
She intended to isolate Emily while we were on our honeymoon.
Then came the financial trail.
Nathan had debts.
Huge ones.
Failed investments.
Private loans.
More than $900,000.
Rebecca had debts too.
Credit cards.
A failed boutique.
Loans she'd hidden from me.
Together, they needed money.
Emily's trust was the answer.
But there was still one thing that made no sense.
Margaret.
Why had Sarah named her?
Margaret asked to speak with me.
We met at the police station.
She looked exhausted.
“I need to tell you what happened twenty years ago.”
I said nothing.
She placed an old photograph on the table.
Sarah stood beside her.
Both were young.
Both were smiling.
“I loved your wife like a sister,” Margaret said.
“Then why didn't I know you?”
“Because Thomas made sure I disappeared from her life.”
She explained.
Thomas had been stealing from clients at his investment firm.
Sarah discovered irregular transfers while doing contract accounting.
Margaret helped her gather evidence.
But before they could report him, Thomas found out.
He threatened Margaret.
He threatened to take Rebecca and Nathan.
Margaret backed down.
Sarah didn't.
She quietly preserved evidence.
Years later, when Emily was born, Sarah contacted Margaret.
She made her backup trustee because she believed Margaret would finally do the right thing if something happened.
“Did you?”
Margaret started crying.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I was a coward.”
She opened her purse.
“I kept something.”
She handed me a flash drive.
“Sarah gave this to me two weeks before she died.”
“What is it?”
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
May you like
Margaret looked straight at me.
“Your wife's death may not have been natural.”
