Chapter 5 - The Man Wearing Connor’s Coat
Amy dropped the plate into the sink.
It did not break, but the sound made Teresa turn.
Connor opened the garden door.
He held a small replacement cake and looked irritated.
“The bakery called. They delivered the wrong message.”
Teresa’s face lost color.
Connor placed the new cake beside the first.
“What message?” Amy asked.
The baker had told Connor the original cake included words no one in the family had requested.
Connor moved the sugar roses on Teresa’s cake.
Blue icing appeared beneath them.
To the new owner.
Every conversation stopped.
Teresa recovered quickly.
“It must be a joke.”
Connor looked at Dylan.
His cousin was no longer in the kitchen.
Amy pointed toward the hallway.
“Someone went into your office wearing your coat.”
Connor looked toward the hook near the entrance.
His dark winter coat was missing.
He ran.
Amy followed as quickly as she could while holding Frederick.
The office door slammed shut ahead of them.
Connor reached it and twisted the handle.
Locked.
He entered the security code on the wall panel.
The system rejected it.
“Who changed my code?” he demanded.
Teresa approached from behind.
“Perhaps you forgot it.”
Connor looked at her.
“I used it this morning.”
Amy remembered the medical declaration Dylan had mentioned.
A document claiming Connor could not manage his own decisions.
A changed security code could be presented as evidence of confusion.
Missing papers could be blamed on memory.
The strategy was becoming clear.
They were not only stealing Connor’s property.
They were constructing a version of him that appeared unstable.
Connor stepped back and kicked the office door near the lock.
The wood cracked.
A second strike forced it open.
The room was empty.
The garden window stood open.
Connor’s coat lay on the floor.
The locked cabinet had been emptied.
Amy approached the desk.
“He was here.”
“Who?”
“I couldn’t see his face.”
Connor checked the window.
Footprints crossed the wet soil toward the garage.
He called the security company and requested access logs.
The agent asked for his verification phrase.
Connor gave it.
The agent paused.
“That phrase was changed yesterday.”
“By whom?”
“The authorized property administrator.”
“I am the property administrator.”
The agent asked him to wait.
Teresa stood in the doorway.
Amy watched her expression.
She was calm again.
The agent returned.
“Our records list Teresa Hale as the primary administrator. Your access was changed to resident status.”
Connor slowly lowered the phone.
“That is impossible.”
The agent offered to send the authorization file to his email.
Connor opened it.
The document contained his signature.
Another forgery.
The authorization had been completed in person at the security company’s local office.
The employee had confirmed Connor’s identification.
Connor looked at the coat on the floor.
Someone had impersonated him.
Someone close enough in height and appearance to pass from a distance.
Amy remembered the figure entering the office.
The same build.
The same hair.
The same way Connor held his shoulders.
A terrible thought came to her.
“Connor,” she said, “where is your brother?”
The question silenced the room.
Connor’s younger brother, Nathan, had not attended a family gathering in four years.
He had not spoken to Connor in almost as long.
Teresa’s expression changed.
It was only a flicker.
But Connor saw it.
“Where is Nathan?” he asked her.
Teresa turned away.
A car engine roared outside.
Connor ran to the window.
May you like
His black sedan sped through the open gate.
Behind the wheel sat a man wearing Connor’s face.
