Chapter 1 - Fourteen Days Earlier
Two weeks before the emergency surgery, Emma found Grandma Ruth sitting alone in the sunroom of Bellamy House.
The old mansion had belonged to Ruth’s family for nearly seventy years. It was surrounded by oak trees, rose gardens and a stone wall that separated it from the new luxury developments spreading across the neighborhood.
Ruth was eighty-one, but her mind remained sharp. She wore a pale cardigan and held a stack of bank statements on her lap.
“You came,” Ruth said.
“Of course I came.”
Emma placed a bag of groceries on the table.
Her father had told her that Ruth was becoming confused and needed someone to check on her. Yet when Emma entered the house, she noticed that everything was organized perfectly.
The medicine containers were labeled. The bills were filed. Ruth’s calendar contained appointments written in precise handwriting.
Nothing suggested confusion.
Ruth handed Emma a bank statement.
“Tell me what you see.”
Emma studied the page.
Three large transfers had been made from Ruth’s investment account during the previous month. Each payment had gone to Bellamy Property Management, a company Emma had never heard of.
The total was one hundred and eighty thousand dollars.
“Did you authorize these?” Emma asked.
“No.”
“Does Dad have access to this account?”
“He did.”
Ruth looked toward the garden.
“After your grandfather died, I gave John limited financial authority. I thought it would make things easier.”
Emma sat beside her.
“What did he say when you asked about the transfers?”
“He said I had forgotten approving them.”
“Did you?”
Ruth turned toward her granddaughter.
“Emma, I may walk slowly, but I am not disappearing.”
Emma immediately regretted the question.
“I’m sorry.”
“You do not need to apologize. Your father is depending on everyone believing that I am too old to understand what he is doing.”
Ruth picked up another document.
It was a proposal from Northgate Development to purchase Bellamy House.
The sale price was twenty percent below the property’s estimated value.
At the bottom of the page was a signature.
Ruth Bellamy.
Emma looked at her grandmother.
May you like
Ruth’s expression was calm, but her hands were trembling.
“That is not my signature.”
