Chapter 8 - the document dated three months in the future
Claire thought she had misheard.
"What did you say?"
Jennifer's voice trembled.
"A death certificate."
"Mine?"
"Yes."
"That's impossible."
"I know."
Claire stood in the storage unit, surrounded by evidence of a scheme that had already exceeded everything she could have imagined that morning.
"What date?"
Jennifer swallowed audibly.
"December fourteenth."
It was September.
Three months in the future.
Natalie took the phone.
"Jennifer, do not touch anything else in that folder. Police are already involved. We are coming with Detective Alvarez."
They arrived at Jennifer's apartment after officers had removed Charlotte from the lobby.
Charlotte had not committed a crime by standing there.
Yet.
But the message was obvious.
She wanted Jennifer frightened.
Jennifer unlocked the door.
Her confidence was gone.
She looked younger without the smug expression Claire had seen that morning.
"I was going to burn it."
Claire said nothing.
Jennifer continued.
"I should have."
"No," Claire replied. "You should have told me."
"I know."
"Show us."
Jennifer went to a bedroom closet and removed a document envelope from inside a suitcase.
Detective Alvarez photographed it before opening.
Inside were four documents.
A draft death certificate for Claire Bennett.
A draft petition identifying Solomon as surviving parent and successor trustee for Theo.
A draft corporate resolution transferring Claire's voting authority upon death.
And a life-insurance statement.
Claire stared at the amount.
Five million dollars.
"I don't have this policy."
Natalie examined it.
"Apparently someone applied for one."
"My signature?"
"Looks like it."
Claire did not feel afraid at first.
She felt disbelief.
Then the implications arrived.
Forgery.
Future death certificate.
Insurance.
Trust succession.
Corporate control.
The air in Jennifer's apartment suddenly felt thin.
Detective Alvarez asked, "How did Solomon explain this?"
Jennifer sat down.
"He said it was estate planning."
Claire stared at her.
"You believed a death certificate dated in the future was estate planning?"
Jennifer's eyes filled.
"No."
"Then why didn't you say anything?"
"Because by then I was scared of him."
Claire's anger did not disappear.
But it changed shape.
"When did he give it to you?"
"Six days ago."
"What exactly did he say?"
Jennifer rubbed her palms on her jeans.
"He said if the divorce became messy, there were papers that couldn't be discovered. He told me to keep them somewhere nobody connected to him would search."
"You."
Jennifer nodded miserably.
"I thought it was leverage against you."
"Not a possible plan for my death?"
"I didn't know what to think."
Detective Alvarez said, "Did Solomon ever threaten Claire's life?"
"No."
"Discuss harming her?"
"No."
"Discuss accidents?"
Jennifer went still.
Claire saw it.
"So he did."
Jennifer looked at the detective.
"Not directly."
"What did he say?"
"Once, maybe two weeks ago, he said Claire drives too fast when she's angry."
Claire frowned.
"I don't."
Jennifer continued.
"He said if she crashed after we told her about us, everyone would assume she was upset."
The room went silent.
Claire's skin went cold.
Detective Alvarez asked, "Where were you?"
"His office."
"Anyone else present?"
"Charlotte."
"And what did Charlotte say?"
Jennifer looked at Claire.
"She said, 'Only if you're lucky.'"
Claire sat very slowly.
For the first time since morning, rage gave way to fear.
Not abstract fear.
Physical fear.
Someone had contemplated a world in which she was dead.
Maybe only as a joke.
Maybe as a possibility.
But they had prepared paperwork for it.
Natalie put a hand on Claire's shoulder.
"We're changing your locks."
Claire nodded.
"Today."
"Security too."
"All of it."
Detective Alvarez took possession of the folder.
"This changes the investigation."
"Can you arrest him?"
"Not for possessing a draft document alone."
"What about forged signatures?"
"We're moving on that."
"What about Calvin?"
"We're treating his disappearance seriously."
Claire looked at Jennifer.
"Anything else?"
Jennifer shook her head.
Claire held her gaze.
"Think."
Jennifer began crying.
"I don't know."
"Think."
Then Jennifer's face changed.
"The medication."
Claire froze.
"What medication?"
"Solomon asked me if I knew anyone who could get prescription sedatives."
Natalie swore under her breath.
"When?"
"About a month ago."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Why did he ask?"
"He said he wasn't sleeping."
Claire's mind raced backward.
Solomon had not been sleeping badly.
She had.
For two weeks in August, Claire had experienced unusual exhaustion.
She had blamed work.
One morning she had slept through two alarms.
Solomon had taken photographs of her asleep at 9:30.
He had joked about it.
Sleeping Beauty finally wakes.
Claire's stomach turned.
"Did he ever mention putting them in someone else's drink?"
"No."
Claire remembered a glass of wine Solomon had brought her in bed.
She had taken three sips.
She had woken eleven hours later with a headache so severe she canceled a meeting.
"Claire?" Natalie said.
She looked up.
"I need a toxicology test."
"Now?"
"Now."
The test would probably reveal nothing after weeks.
But Claire wanted a record.
Because every strange event now needed to be reconsidered.
Not with paranoia.
With evidence.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Claire answered.
"Mrs. Bennett?"
A man's voice.
Weak.
Breathless.
Ethan looked at her.
Claire put the call on speaker.
"Who is this?"
"Calvin Mercer."
Ethan stood so quickly his chair fell.
"Dad?"
The voice broke.
"Ethan?"
"Where are you?"
Calvin coughed.
"I don't have long."
Detective Alvarez moved closer.
"Mr. Mercer, this is Detective Alvarez. Tell us your location."
"I don't know exactly."
A pause.
May you like
Then Calvin said something that made Claire's blood run cold.
"Solomon knows about the backup."
