Chapter 18 - Margaret's Signature
Arthur took the document.
The signature was unmistakable.
Margaret Ashford.
Below it was a transfer authorization dated 1989.
Margaret shook her head.
“I never signed this.”
Claire nodded.
“I know.”
Arthur studied the paper.
“The signature is real.”
Margaret looked at him.
“What?”
“It matches your handwriting.”
“I was unconscious.”
Claire's expression hardened.
“That's what Daniel believed.”
Margaret's mind raced.
If the signature was authentic, someone had forged it using something she had already signed.
Then she remembered.
The hospital.
The stack of insurance documents.
The forms her father had brought her.
Margaret whispered:
“My father.”
Claire nodded.
“Walter had access to your signature.”
Arthur looked at the document again.
“This wasn't an adoption authorization.”
“What was it?”
Claire turned the page.
Margaret read the heading.
PROPERTY TRUST TRANSFER.
Her blood ran cold.
The house.
The house had been placed into a trust.
Not for Ryan.
Not for Linda.
Not even for Margaret.
For the Hayes network.
Claire looked at her.
“Your family wasn't fighting over your house.”
Margaret's eyes widened.
“They were trying to get control of the trust.”
“And they succeeded once.”
Margaret's voice trembled.
“When?”
May you like
Claire answered:
“Three days before Christmas.”
