Chapter 6 - The Signature)
The practice sheets were still in Caitlyn's school desk.
Mark found them the next morning.
Pages of handwriting.
MARK BENNETT.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Some letters were backwards.
Others uneven.
At the bottom of one page, Margaret had written:
Make the M sharper.
Mark carried the papers downstairs.
Daniel stared at them.
"She's teaching Caitlyn to forge your signature."
"No."
Mark laid another sheet beside it.
A scanned contract from Daniel's office.
His signature appeared at the bottom.
Daniel compared them.
The M.
The slope.
The exaggerated final T.
It looked like Mark's handwriting.
But it wasn't.
Daniel's face went white.
"Mark."
"What?"
"This is the option agreement for your property."
Mark stared.
"You said Margaret signed."
"She signed as witness."
Daniel pointed.
"That's your signature."
"No, it isn't."
"I know."
Mark sat down.
The agreement gave Bennett Development an exclusive right to acquire his portion of the house under specific conditions.
The payment amount was far below market value.
More troubling was a clause permitting transfer into a larger redevelopment pool.
Victor Hale's company appeared as the broker.
"How many documents have this signature?" Mark asked.
Daniel did not answer.
"Daniel."
"At least six."
Mark stood.
"Six?"
"I didn't personally process them."
"You're the trustee."
"I trusted Margaret."
"And Victor."
Daniel slammed his palm on the counter.
"I know."
Caitlyn appeared at the doorway.
Both men immediately stopped.
She held a stuffed rabbit Daniel had found in a closet.
"Are you mad at me?"
Mark crouched.
"Never."
"I wrote your name."
"You were practicing."
"Mom said it was a game."
"I know."
"Did I do something bad?"
Mark shook his head.
"No."
He took the handwriting sheets and placed them face down.
"You helped us."
Caitlyn looked uncertain.
"Really?"
"Really."
Her shoulders relaxed.
She returned to the living room.
Daniel whispered, "She's the witness."
"To what?"
"Everything."
That explained the custody documents.
If Mark challenged the forged contracts and Caitlyn could describe being trained to copy his signature, Margaret's scheme collapsed.
Unless Caitlyn was removed from Mark.
Placed somewhere else.
Declared emotionally unreliable.
Or worse.
The locked room had not only been about provoking Mark.
It had been about terrifying Caitlyn into silence.
Mark called Moreno.
Within an hour detectives collected the handwriting pages.
Then something unexpected happened.
Margaret asked to speak with Mark.
Without lawyers.
Without police.
Moreno refused an unsupervised meeting but allowed Mark to listen from the observation room while Margaret recorded a message.
Margaret sat alone.
No cream dress now.
Gray detention clothes.
Her styled hair hung loose.
For the first time she looked like someone Mark recognized.
Not the woman from the hallway.
The woman he had married eleven years earlier.
She stared into the camera.
"Mark, you're going to think everything I say is manipulation."
She paused.
"Maybe some of it is."
He felt no sympathy.
"Victor came to me eighteen months ago. He knew about the trust. He knew about Daniel's debts."
Daniel, standing beside Mark, stiffened.
Margaret continued.
"He said the Bennett properties were sitting on something worth more than anyone understood."
Mark glanced at Daniel.
"What debts?"
Daniel ignored him.
Margaret went on.
"At first he wanted signatures. Then access. Then Caitlyn's beneficiary records."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I should have told you."
Mark whispered, "Yes."
"But Victor showed me documents about your father."
Mark froze.
"He said Thomas Bennett had hidden assets inside the trust. Not money. Rights. Land. Agreements."
Daniel stepped closer to the monitor.
Margaret lowered her voice.
"Victor said the only way to unlock the last account was through Caitlyn because your father named the youngest Bennett descendant as the contingent beneficiary."
Mark looked at Daniel.
His brother shook his head.
He knew nothing.
Margaret continued.
"I believed I could control it."
She laughed once.
"I thought I was smarter than him."
Then her expression changed.
"Mark, the fire was never supposed to happen."
He clenched his fists.
"I agreed to frighten you. I agreed to the cameras. I agreed to make Samantha provoke you."
Her voice cracked.
"I did not agree to burn that room."
Mark stared.
"Victor changed the plan."
She leaned toward the camera.
"When I saw real flames, I froze. I know what that makes me."
Mark waited.
Margaret said, "But Victor didn't want Caitlyn scared."
A long pause.
"He wanted Caitlyn dead."
Mark's knees nearly gave way.
Daniel caught his arm.
Margaret continued quickly.
"Because Caitlyn saw him. She heard names. And because once she dies, the contingent beneficiary changes."
Daniel whispered, "To who?"
Margaret looked directly at the camera.
"Mark, ask Daniel who comes after Caitlyn."
Both brothers turned toward each other.
Daniel's face emptied.
He knew.
Mark grabbed his shoulder.
"Who?"
Daniel swallowed.
"My son."
Mark stared.
"You don't have a son."
May you like
Daniel looked away.
"Yes, I do."
