Chapter 4 - The Dead Man at Dinner
Sarah did not sleep.
Daniel left at 2:17 a.m. after giving her the number of an attorney named Rebecca Sloan.
At 6:30, Sarah called.
By eight, Rebecca was sitting across from her in a private conference room.
She was fifty-one, silver-haired, direct, and unimpressed by wealth.
She read the first five pages without speaking.
Then she looked at Sarah.
"Do not call Mark."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Do not answer him."
"Fine."
"Do not confront Brenda."
"Fine."
"Do not access any bank account associated with Bennett Residential."
"Why?"
"Because if federal investigators are already watching the money, we don't want you looking like you're moving it."
Sarah nodded.
Rebecca tapped the forged signature.
"This is good."
Sarah blinked.
"Good?"
"For you. Bad forgery."
"It looks exactly like mine."
"Exactly is the problem."
Rebecca pulled out Sarah's driver's license application.
"Real signatures change slightly. Pressure changes. Angle changes. Forgers reproduce."
Sarah felt the first tiny piece of hope.
"Can you prove it?"
"Probably."
"Probably isn't enough."
"No. Which is why we're going to find something better."
Rebecca looked at Daniel.
"You said seven fires?"
"Seven claims."
"Deaths?"
Daniel hesitated.
"One."
Sarah's heart stopped.
Rebecca's expression hardened.
"Who?"
"Tenant. Male. Fifty-eight."
Sarah whispered, "Name?"
"George Alvarez."
Silence.
Sarah stared at the table.
A man had died in a house supposedly owned by her.
"Did Mark know?"
Daniel nodded.
"He signed correspondence regarding the settlement."
Sarah stood and walked to the window.
Below them, people crossed the city streets carrying coffee and checking phones.
Normal lives.
She barely remembered what normal felt like.
Rebecca approached her.
"Sarah, listen carefully. What Mark did to you is enormous. But forged documents can be dismantled."
Sarah turned.
"What about Victor Hale?"
Daniel answered.
"That's harder."
He explained.
Victor Hale had built a regional construction empire fifteen years earlier.
Nine years ago, his yacht exploded off the coast of Florida.
No body was recovered.
He was legally declared dead.
His companies collapsed.
Creditors lost tens of millions.
Insurance companies paid enormous claims.
Then, according to Daniel's photograph, Victor Hale had apparently returned from the dead to have dinner with Sarah's husband.
Rebecca stared at the image.
"When was this taken?"
"Eleven months ago."
"Source?"
"Private investigator."
"Why were you investigating Mark that early?"
Daniel became quiet.
Sarah noticed.
"Daniel?"
He looked at her.
"Because George Alvarez was my uncle."
The room changed.
Sarah stepped backward.
"You came to me because this is personal."
"Yes."
"Then why should I trust you?"
"You shouldn't."
Daniel's answer surprised her.
"You should verify everything I've given you."
Rebecca studied him.
"That's exactly what we'll do."
Sarah's phone lit up.
MARK.
Rebecca reached for it.
"Don't."
A voicemail arrived.
Then another.
Then a video.
Sarah opened the video despite Rebecca's warning.
Mark was sitting in their mansion.
Alone.
He looked exhausted.
"Sarah, you need to bring the kids home."
She almost stopped it.
Then he said something that made everyone in the room listen.
"Brenda is gone."
Sarah frowned.
Mark looked behind him.
"And I don't mean she left me."
May you like
His voice cracked.
"Someone took her."
