Chapter 3 - THE MISSING PAPERS
Daniel and Sloan packed three suitcases.
They also attempted to take Loretta’s jewelry box, Henry’s watch, and a locked document case from the study.
The police officer stopped them.
Daniel claimed the case belonged to him.
Loretta said it did not.
Marcus asked what was inside.
Loretta hesitated.
She had not opened it in years.
The key was kept in a sewing tin beneath her bed.
When the case was opened, it was empty.
Loretta stared at the black velvet lining.
“That’s impossible.”
Henry had stored insurance documents, bonds, and the original family trust inside.
Daniel looked away too quickly.
Marcus noticed.
“Where are the papers?”
“I don’t know.”
Sloan folded her arms.
“Maybe she forgot.”
Loretta’s grief hardened.
She remembered exactly what Henry had placed in that case.
A trust created for Daniel.
A second trust for any grandchildren.
And shares in Hayes Medical Supply, the company Henry founded before retirement.
Those shares were worth far more than Daniel knew.
Or perhaps he knew now.
Marcus ordered an immediate freeze on any trust-related transactions.
The next morning, they discovered three attempted transfers totaling $860,000.
All had been initiated using Loretta’s electronic signature.
The receiving company was owned by Sloan.
Daniel was not merely taking over the house.
He had been preparing to steal his mother’s estate.
Loretta sat at the kitchen table while Marcus explained the records.
“I trusted him,” she said.
“You trusted your son.”
“I raised him.”
“That does not make you responsible for what he chose to become.”
The police opened a financial exploitation investigation.
Daniel denied everything.
Sloan claimed Loretta had gifted them the money.
Then Marcus found a notarized document transferring the house to Daniel.
The signature looked like Loretta’s.
The notary seal belonged to a man who had died eight months earlier.
The document was forged.
Loretta touched the edge of the paper.
Daniel had not lost control in the kitchen.
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The slap was not the beginning.
It was the moment his disguise failed.
