Chapter 4 - SLOAN'S PLAN
Sloan had married Daniel three years earlier.
She entered the family with polished manners, expensive perfume, and a story about growing up poor.
Loretta had welcomed her.
She paid for the wedding.
She invested in Sloan’s boutique.
She even defended Sloan when Daniel’s cousins called her calculating.
Now investigators discovered that Sloan had created four companies in two years. Each received money from older relatives of people she knew.
One company had purchased expensive jewelry.
Another paid for luxury travel.
A third existed only on paper.
The fourth was preparing to buy Loretta’s house after Daniel completed the forged transfer.
Sloan was not merely supporting Daniel’s plan.
She had designed it.
The police searched the guest bedroom.
Inside Sloan’s suitcase, they found copies of Loretta’s medical records and a draft petition asking the court to declare her mentally incompetent.
The petition described hallucinations, memory loss, and dangerous behavior.
None of it was true.
But it was detailed.
Daniel intended to become Loretta’s legal guardian.
Once appointed, he would control her home, bank accounts, and medical decisions.
Loretta read the petition in Marcus’s office.
One line stopped her.
Subject frequently accuses family members of abuse.
They planned for her to speak.
They planned to make every accusation look like proof of dementia.
Loretta folded the document carefully.
“What happens now?”
Marcus looked at her.
“We prove the truth before they manufacture another version.”
The challenge was evidence.
The forged signatures were strong.
The bank transfers were stronger.
But Daniel and Sloan claimed Loretta had approved everything and later forgotten.
Then Marcus received a voicemail from an unknown number.
A woman whispered, “Check the smoke detector above the kitchen island.”
The call ended.
Police returned to Willow Lane.
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Inside the smoke detector was a tiny camera.
It had recorded the slap.
