Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Signed Twice)
Celia Ward met them in the closed dining room of a roadside inn forty miles from Lake Briar. She arrived in a navy coat with a leather briefcase chained to her wrist and checked every exit before introducing herself.
At thirty-nine, Celia was younger than Honora expected and more tired. She had served as Thaddeus's personal attorney for seven years. Victoria dismissed her four days after his death and sent security officers to collect every file from her office.
"They missed the files that mattered," Celia said.
She locked the dining-room doors, closed the curtains, and inserted Thaddeus's memory card into an offline laptop. The screen requested two passwords. Celia entered the first. Honora supplied the second without being asked: the name of the lullaby she sang when Thaddeus was ill as a child.
The card opened.
Folders appeared containing bank statements, audio recordings, photographs, and scanned contracts. Celia selected a document titled Final Instructions.
Thaddeus appeared on the screen, seated in his private office. The recording was dated four days before the crash. His suit jacket hung over a chair, his tie was loose, and a bruise darkened his jaw.
"If you're watching this," he began, "I failed to stop Victoria before she moved against me."
Honora reached toward the screen. Celia paused the video.
"Do you want a moment?"
"No. I have had eleven days of moments. Play it."
Thaddeus described a network of shell companies that had taken fourteen million dollars from employee pensions and low-income housing projects. Victoria approved the transfers as chair of the Westbridge Foundation. Conrad used false construction invoices to move the money. When Thaddeus discovered the theft, they attempted to force him to sign a resignation and a new will.
He refused.
"My existing will protects my mother," Thaddeus said. "The document Victoria intends to present after my death is a forgery. Compare the signature on page nine with the signature on page twelve. She made the same mistake twice."
Celia opened the scanned will used at probate. On page nine, Thaddeus's signature curved beneath the witness block. On page twelve, the same mark appeared again, identical down to a tiny interruption where the pen supposedly crossed a fiber in the paper.
"Copied image," Celia said. "No two handwritten signatures are perfectly identical."
"Can we prove it in court?" Honora asked.
"We can prove the document is suspicious. To destroy it, we need the original will or the notary who witnessed the replacement trust."
Samuel tapped the trust amendment. "Boston seal."
Celia examined it under a small ultraviolet light. "Authentic seal. Authentic paper. But the notary's name has been scratched from the copy. Thaddeus did that deliberately."
The video continued.
"The original will is not at Westbridge," Thaddeus said. "Celia, follow the hymn Mother sang at the cabin. She remembers the place where my father refused to enter."
Honora knew immediately.
Blackwood Chapel stood above the old family cemetery. Her husband, Walter, had never crossed its threshold after their first child died. Honora used to sit on its steps with Thaddeus and sing while Walter waited among the trees.
On the screen, Thaddeus leaned closer to the camera.
"Mother, there is something else. I need you to hear it from me, not Victoria. The accident may not be the first attempt. Check the hospital record from March seventh. Ask why I was admitted under another name."
The video ended.
Celia searched the files. The hospital record showed that Elias North, the alias used for the storage box, had been treated for poisoning on March seventh. Toxicology found a dangerous level of digoxin, a heart medication Thaddeus had never been prescribed.
Honora remembered that day. Thaddeus canceled lunch, claiming stomach flu. Victoria sent flowers to Honora with a note saying he needed rest.
"She poisoned him," Honora said.
"The record proves poisoning," Celia replied carefully. "Not who administered it."
Honora closed the laptop. "Then we find proof."
Celia studied her. "Mrs. Vale, I can request an emergency injunction tomorrow. It could freeze the company accounts and prevent Victoria from selling Westbridge House. But once I file, she will know exactly what we possess."
"She already sent armed men to the lake."
"Those men may decide a second attempt should look less complicated."
Samuel moved to the curtain and looked out.
Across the road, a woman in a white coat stood beneath the inn's broken neon sign. She was watching their window.
Honora recognized Victoria's posture before she saw her face.
May you like
Victoria raised one hand and pressed a phone to her ear.
The telephone in the locked dining room began to ring.
