Chapter 6: The Witness Who Was Already Dead
Adrian read his father's name three times.
Then he pushed the document across the table as though the paper had burned him.
“Robert Flynn,” he whispered.
“That's my dad's signature.””
Logan sat opposite us, his reading glasses resting low on his nose.
“The name appears in the witness section. That does not establish that your father signed it.””
“I know his signature,” Adrian snapped.
“I've seen it on birthday cards, Christmas checks, every stupid form he ever made me fill out. That's his handwriting.””
“Then we need to establish how it came to be here.””
“My father died six months before this document was supposedly signed.””
“I understand.””
“No, you don't.”” Adrian stood and began pacing.
“My dad spent his final months barely able to hold a coffee cup. Kelsey handled his paperwork because he was sick. She knew where every document was kept. She knew his passwords, his accounts, everything.””
Logan closed the file.
“Adrian, sit down.””
“My stepmother used my father's signature on a document he couldn't possibly have witnessed. And we're all sitting here discussing how to establish that it's suspicious?””
“We're discussing how to make sure the evidence cannot be dismissed.””
Adrian stopped pacing.
For a moment, I thought he would argue again.
Instead, his shoulders sagged.
He sat down and covered his face.
I moved beside him.
“Adrian.””
He lowered his hands.
“I let her do this.””
“You didn't know about the second page.””
“But I signed the first one. I gave her the opportunity.””
“You trusted someone who was supposed to be your family.””
“And I asked you to trust her, too.””
That was the part he couldn't forgive himself for.
I took his hand, but I didn't tell him everything would be fine. Neither of us knew that.
Logan opened his notebook.
“I have requested a certified copy of the complete instrument, including the registration timestamps and the identity of the person who submitted it. I've also requested the underlying company records for Northvale Property Holdings.””
“When will we get them?”” I asked.
“The initial documents should arrive shortly. The rest may take longer.””
“Meanwhile, Kelsey can keep threatening to take our home?””
“An allegation of a property interest does not automatically establish that every action she threatens is lawful. We'll have to address the immediate risk through the appropriate channels.””
I looked at Noah's drawing on the refrigerator.
Three little stick figures.
One small house.
A yellow sun that took up half the page.
“Do whatever you need to protect the house,” I said.
“But I want the truth about the money just as much.””
Logan nodded.
“That's why Beatrice appointed you trustee.””
The words brought me back to the letter we had found.
I selected you because you understand that a home belongs to the people who live in it, not merely the people whose names appear on the paperwork.
I had wondered whether Beatrice had known what I would be facing.
Now I wondered whether she'd seen it coming long before I did.
At 5:18 p.m., Logan's phone rang.
He listened without interrupting, occasionally writing down a number. His expression remained controlled until the caller mentioned the registration date.
Then he leaned forward.
“Could you repeat that?””
Adrian and I exchanged a glance.
Logan asked the caller to send the record immediately.
When he ended the call, he turned his laptop toward us.
“The registered instrument was submitted electronically,” he explained.
“The execution date entered on the form is November fourteenth.””
Adrian frowned.
“My father died in May.””
“Correct. The date is inconsistent with his death.””
I gripped the back of the chair.
“Could the document have been signed before he died and registered afterward?””
“That possibility must be considered. However, the document itself identifies November fourteenth as the date the witness certified the signature. The issue isn't merely when it was filed. It's what the person submitting it declared to be true.””
Adrian rubbed his jaw.
“So somebody claimed my dead father was standing in a room watching me sign something.””
“That's one of the questions we need to answer.””
Logan clicked into the company records.
Northvale Property Holdings had been incorporated shortly before the transfer.
The directors were listed beneath the company's name.
Kelsey Flynn.
Vanessa Flynn.
I remembered Vanessa at the housewarming, folding her napkin and leaving without a goodbye after the will was opened.
“What does Vanessa have to do with this?”” I asked.
Logan scrolled through the registration details.
“She was listed as the company's administrative contact and authorized the initial filing.””
“That's Kelsey's sister,” Adrian said.
“I know.””
“Why would she be involved in our property?””
“That's what we need to establish.””
Logan printed the page.
The printer hummed in the corner, feeding out a sheet that seemed far too ordinary to contain the explanation for our missing savings.
I took it from the tray.
Vanessa's name sat beneath Kelsey's.
Two sisters.
One company.
Our money.
A house that no longer felt entirely ours.
“Did Vanessa receive any of the transfer?”” I asked.
“The banking records are still being obtained. The company filings establish her involvement in the administration of Northvale. They don't tell us what she knew about this particular transaction.””
Adrian stood again.
“I'm calling her.””
“Not yet,” Logan said.
“Let's preserve what we have before anyone starts coordinating explanations.””
Adrian glared at him.
“She's my aunt. I can ask her a question.””
“You can. But an impulsive confrontation may give her an opportunity to delete communications or alter her account of events. Let me make the formal request first.””
Adrian sat back down, furious but silent.
Logan made another call.
This time, he asked his assistant to send a preservation notice to Northvale's registered officers and the relevant financial institutions. He instructed them to retain communications, account statements, authorization records, and versions of any documents associated with the transfer and property registration.
As he worked, I collected the papers from the table.
One sheet had been caught beneath the laptop.
It was a copy of Northvale's original registration form.
At the bottom, beside Vanessa's electronic signature, was a correspondence address.
I recognized the street.
It was the address of Vanessa's bookkeeping business.
“Logan.””
He looked up.
“If Vanessa handled the company paperwork, maybe she kept copies at her office.””
“Possibly.””
“Then she might have the version Adrian signed before the second page appeared.””
“That is also possible.””
Adrian stared at the paper.
“Would she give it to us?””
Nobody answered.
At 6:02 p.m., another notification appeared on Logan's screen.
He read it, then sat very still.
“What is it?”” I asked.
“Northvale has filed a request to begin voluntary dissolution.””
Adrian gave a disbelieving laugh.
“She wants to shut the company down now?””
“The request was submitted less than an hour ago.””
“After you asked for the records?””
Logan nodded.
I felt the same coldness I had experienced when I found the signature slip beneath my ruined dinner.
Kelsey had spent months insisting everything was temporary.
Now, when someone started looking closely, she wanted the company to disappear.
“Can she do that?”” I asked.
“Dissolution doesn't automatically erase liabilities or prevent an investigation. But it can complicate the recovery of information and assets, which is why the request needs urgent attention.””
“What happens next?””
“I'll notify the appropriate professionals and seek the necessary safeguards. We have to act on the evidence, not speculation.””
Adrian picked up his phone.
“I don't care what the procedures are. I'm not letting her destroy another record.””
He walked to the far end of the room and called Vanessa.
This time, she answered.
“Adrian?”” Her voice sounded breathless.
“What's happening?””
“You tell me. Why is your name on Northvale?””
Silence.
Then Vanessa said, “Did Kelsey send you?””
“No. The company records did.””
A chair scraped on the other end of the line.
“Adrian, listen to me. You need to stop this before she makes everything worse.””
“Who is making everything worse?””
“Your stepmother.””
“You're a director of the company she used to receive our money. You helped register it. You need to explain why.””
Vanessa began to cry.
“I didn't know she was going to use it like this.””
“Like what?””
“I thought it was a temporary arrangement.””
Adrian closed his eyes.
The same words again.
Temporary.
Safekeeping.
Protecting the family.
Always a new phrase for the same missing money.
“Did you know she used my father's signature?””
Vanessa stopped crying.
“Adrian, I can't talk about this on the phone.””
“Then come here.””
“I can't.””
“Why?””
“Because Kelsey is with me.””
Adrian went completely still.
Then Vanessa whispered something else.
Something so quiet that I nearly missed it.
“She told me if the original document ever surfaced, she'd say I prepared it without her knowledge.””
The line went dead.
Adrian lowered the phone.
Logan looked up from his papers.
“What did she say?””
I watched my husband stare at the blank screen.
“She says Kelsey is with her.””
May you like
He swallowed.
“And she says my stepmother has already decided who she's going to blame.””
