Chapter 6 - margaret’s test
Sarah looked at the business card.
For one dangerous second, she did not know what to say.
Then she laughed.
“Of course.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“Of course what?”
“The contractor warned me about fraudulent assessors. I thought he was trying to sell me an inspection.”
“You let a stranger walk through the house?”
“She showed identification.”
“Which was clearly false.”
Sarah took the card and pretended to examine it.
“I’ll call the insurance company.”
Margaret reached for her phone.
“I will call David.”
“Why?”
“Because he should know you allowed an unknown woman near Emma.”
There it was.
Not concern.
Evidence.
Every mistake Sarah made would become another line in the story Margaret was building.
Sarah took out her own phone.
“I’ll call the police first.”
Margaret hesitated.
“If she was using false credentials, the police should investigate.”
“That seems unnecessary.”
“You just said she could be dangerous.”
“I said David should know.”
“And I said the police should know.”
Sarah dialed the non-emergency number.
Margaret grabbed her wrist.
The contact lasted only a second.
Then Margaret released her.
But Sarah had felt the fear behind it.
“Perhaps we should wait,” Margaret said. “The company may have changed names.”
Sarah ended the call before it connected.
“I’m sure that is the explanation.”
Margaret watched her closely.
The test had changed direction.
Margaret had tried to make Sarah appear careless.
Instead, she had revealed that she did not want Maya’s identity investigated.
Sarah placed the business card in her pocket.
“Would you like coffee?”
“No.”
“You brought pastries.”
“I have lost my appetite.”
Margaret moved toward the hallway.
Emma appeared carrying Doctor Bunny.
“Grandma, look. Doctor Bunny hurt her foot.”
Margaret crouched and smiled.
“Then she needs a real doctor.”
“No. Mommy can fix it.”
Margaret glanced at Sarah.
“Mommy cannot fix everything.”
Emma hugged the rabbit.
Sarah stepped forward.
“But Mommy knows when to ask safe people for help.”
Margaret stood.
“What an unusual thing to say.”
“Is it?”
Margaret’s gaze moved between Sarah and Emma.
Then she left without touching the pastries.
Sarah locked the door behind her.
Her second phone vibrated upstairs.
It was Maya.
The drive was encrypted, but I found a directory list. One file is named ELEANOR.
Sarah called immediately.
“What does it contain?”
“I cannot open it yet.”
“Can you copy the files?”
“Yes, but the encryption may take time.”
“Margaret recognized the insurance company as closed.”
“Your father chose it because Margaret had used the same company eleven years ago.”
Sarah frowned.
“For what?”
“To insure the first property purchased through Meridian Stewardship.”
“Then why send you with that name?”
“To see whether she reacted.”
Sarah understood.
Richard had suspected Margaret’s involvement long before Sarah found the email.
“He used me as bait.”
“He gave you a chance to confirm his suspicion.”
“Without warning me.”
“Your reaction needed to be genuine.”
Sarah felt both anger and admiration.
“What did Margaret say?”
“That she recognized the company.”
“Good. Then she knows Meridian.”
“Sarah, there is something else. The hidden drive connected to a private server last night.”
“Can you identify where?”
“Not yet. But someone downloaded a file called Transfer of Care.”
The phrase felt colder than the basement.
“What does that mean?”
“It could be a legal document.”
“Or a custody document.”
“Yes.”
Sarah walked toward the window.
Margaret’s car remained outside the gate.
She had stopped on the public road.
A man stood beside the driver’s door.
He wore a gray coat and carried a leather medical bag.
Margaret handed him an envelope.
Sarah quietly photographed them.
“Do you recognize him?” Maya asked.
Sarah enlarged the image.
She had seen him once before.
At Margaret’s birthday dinner.
“That is Dr. Nolan Pierce.”
“Who is he?”
“A private psychiatrist.”
Maya became silent.
Sarah watched Margaret point toward the house.
Dr. Pierce looked directly at the upstairs window.
Directly at Sarah.
Then Margaret drove away.
Two minutes later, Sarah’s main phone rang.
The caller was Emma’s preschool.
“Mrs. Mercer,” the director said, “your mother-in-law informed us that Emma will be absent next week.”
Sarah gripped the phone.
“Why?”
“She said your family would be traveling.”
“We are not traveling.”
The director hesitated.
“She provided a signed withdrawal form.”
“I did not sign anything.”
There was a pause.
Then the director spoke more quietly.
“Mrs. Mercer, the form was not signed by you.”
May you like
“Who signed it?”
“Your husband.”
