Chapter 13 - The Witness
The home-care aide’s name was Tanya Reed.
Rachel interviewed her with attorneys present.
Tanya was terrified.
“I didn’t know it was a will.”
Martin Cross looked exhausted.
“Tell us exactly what happened.”
Tanya described entering Daniel’s hospital room on October 19.
Daniel was asleep.
Vanessa had several papers on the rolling bedside table.
“She said Mr. Mercer had signed them earlier.”
“Did you see him sign?”
“No.”
“Was he awake?”
“No.”
“What were you told?”
“That it was paperwork allowing her to manage hospital matters.”
“Did you read it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I was working. Mrs. Mercer said she needed two witnesses and it would take one second.”
Rachel asked, “Was Serena Holt there?”
“She came in maybe five minutes later.”
“Did Mr. Mercer wake?”
“Not while I was there.”
Martin Cross closed his eyes.
Rachel continued.
“Did Vanessa sign anything?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Did she direct where you should sign?”
“Yes.”
Tanya began crying.
“I didn’t know.”
Rachel softened.
“Nobody is accusing you of planning this.”
Martin looked toward Rachel.
“Yet.”
She ignored him.
Tanya’s statement did not alone prove who forged Daniel’s signature.
But it badly damaged the new will.
Serena Holt was harder to locate.
When finally interviewed, she initially claimed Daniel had been awake.
Then hospital security records showed she entered the building twenty-eight minutes after Tanya left.
They could not have witnessed Daniel’s signature together.
Her story changed.
Again.
Then again.
Eventually Serena admitted Vanessa had asked her to sign.
“She said Daniel wanted everything simple.”
“Was Daniel awake?”
“I saw him.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Serena swallowed.
“No.”
“Did you see Daniel sign the will?”
“No.”
Vanessa’s document was collapsing.
But the criminal questions were growing.
Martin Cross requested a private conversation with Vanessa.
He placed Tanya’s and Serena’s statements in front of her.
“I am withdrawing the new will.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“You work for me.”
“I represent you. I do not submit evidence I have reason to believe may be fraudulent.”
“You don’t know it’s fraudulent.”
“I know the witnesses did not observe execution.”
“That doesn’t mean Daniel didn’t sign it.”
“For a witnessed will, that matters.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Tell me the truth.”
She laughed softly.
“Everybody keeps asking for that as though truth is simple.”
“It is simple enough here.”
“No. Daniel was dying. Everyone was circling.”
“Who signed his name?”
Vanessa did not answer.
Martin leaned forward.
“Who?”
“I found the document.”
“Where?”
“In his desk.”
“When?”
“After he died.”
“Then why did both witnesses say you brought it to them before he died?”
Vanessa’s expression finally cracked.
She stood.
“I’m done.”
“You’re not.”
She turned.
Martin’s next words stopped her.
“If you leave without answering, I may withdraw from representing you.”
She looked back.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I already drafted the motion.”
For several seconds Vanessa stared at him.
Then she sat.
“I didn’t forge Daniel’s signature.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Daniel sign the document?”
“I believe so.”
“Did you see him?”
“No.”
“Then why did you arrange witnesses?”
“Because he asked me to make sure it was complete.”
“When?”
“Earlier.”
“Was anyone else present?”
“No.”
“Was he medicated?”
“He was always medicated.”
Martin rubbed his temples.
“Did Daniel tell you he wanted to leave you everything?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Yes.”
It was barely audible.
Martin looked at her.
“You hesitated.”
“I’m tired.”
“No. You hesitated because you are deciding which version protects you.”
Vanessa stood again.
This time Martin let her leave.
Back at Rachel’s office, Lucy sat coloring while the adults discussed the witness statements.
She drew the Mercer house.
Pumpkins.
Orange lights.
The front door.
Then she drew herself and Margaret outside.
Rachel noticed.
“You don’t have to draw that night.”
Lucy did not look up.
“I know.”
She added another figure inside the doorway.
Vanessa.
Then a small square in Lucy’s hand.
The paper.
“What are you drawing now?” Margaret asked.
“The thing Dad gave me.”
Rachel smiled.
“The number?”
Lucy nodded.
Then she stopped coloring.
“Do we still need Elias?”
Elias, sitting across the room, looked surprised.
“What do you mean?”
“Dad said call him if I didn’t know who to trust.”
“Yes.”
“I called.”
“Yes.”
“Now we know Vanessa lied.”
Elias nodded carefully.
“So when does this end?”
No adult answered immediately.
Finally Rachel said, “When the truth is strong enough that the lies stop controlling what happens.”
Lucy frowned.
“That sounds like lawyer talk.”
Elias laughed.
“It absolutely is.”
Lucy smiled.
Then Rachel’s assistant entered holding another envelope.
It had been delivered by courier.
No return address.
Inside was a photocopy of a bank statement.
One transaction had been highlighted.
$250,000.
Transferred from a Mercer Residential account three days before Daniel died.
The destination account was not Vanessa’s.
It belonged to Elias Grant.
Everyone in the room turned toward him.
Elias stared at the page.
“I’ve never seen this before.”
Margaret’s expression changed.
For the first time since Halloween, Lucy wondered whether her father’s warning had another meaning.
Maybe Daniel had not been telling her whom to trust.
May you like
Maybe he had been telling her that nobody should be trusted completely.
---
