Chapter 12 - Elena Used My Name
Elena answered on the second call.
We used Arthur's phone.
I put it on speaker.
"Elena, did you go to the county archive pretending to be me?"
Silence.
Then she said, "Who told you?"
"There's a photograph."
Another silence.
"I'm sorry."
Mara closed her eyes.
Arthur said, "Why?"
Elena's voice shook.
"Peter sent me."
My stomach turned.
"He gave you my identification?"
"A copy."
"Where did he get it?"
"I don't know."
I did.
Peter had copies of everything from my father's estate.
My driver's license.
Social Security documents.
Signature samples.
Tax records.
Everything.
"Why did you agree?"
"I was working for Arthur. Peter told me the request was authorized by Sophia."
"You never called me?"
"He showed me an email."
"I didn't send it."
"I know that now."
Arthur leaned toward the phone.
"What did you find?"
"The original agreement."
"And?"
Elena hesitated.
"Arthur, there were two."
He went still.
"What?"
"The filed easement and an unrecorded side letter."
Arthur's face changed.
"I never signed a side letter."
"Your signature was on it."
"Forgeries again?"
Elena said, "Maybe."
I asked, "What did it say?"
"It gave transfer authority to a private holding company if either original partner died."
My skin went cold.
"My father died."
"Yes."
"Then who owns the authority now?"
Elena didn't answer.
"Elena."
"That's why Peter panicked when I asked."
Arthur whispered, "Name the company."
Static filled the line.
Then Elena said, "Northstar Meridian LLC."
Arthur swore.
Mara looked at him.
"You know it?"
"I know the name."
"Whose company is it?"
"It shouldn't exist anymore."
"Arthur."
He looked at me.
"It belonged to a syndicate of investors we investigated fifteen years ago."
"Who?"
"People using infrastructure projects to hide debt."
"Names."
"I never had all of them."
Elena interrupted.
"Peter did."
My heart sank.
"Of course he did."
She continued.
"He took the side letter from me."
"When?"
"The night before I disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
"I left because Julian threatened me."
Julian shouted from somewhere inside the mansion.
Arthur looked toward the breezeway.
We didn't have much time.
I asked, "Where are you now?"
"Safe."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I'm giving over the phone."
"Then send me the document."
"I don't have it."
"Peter does?"
"No."
"What happened?"
Elena's breathing quickened.
"I took a photograph first."
My pulse jumped.
"Send it."
"I tried earlier."
"Try again."
A notification appeared on Arthur's phone.
Image received.
I opened it.
A yellowed legal page filled the screen.
The text was difficult to read.
But the signature block was clear.
My father's name.
Arthur's name.
And a third signature.
Witness and escrow counsel.
PETER CALDWELL.
Beneath the signatures was a date.
Three months before my father's death.
My hands shook.
Arthur read the page.
His face drained of color.
"This isn't the agreement I signed."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"Then why is your signature there?"
"I don't know."
Elena said, "Zoom in on Section Seven."
I enlarged the image.
A clause appeared.
Upon death or incapacity of either principal, transfer authority shall vest in Northstar Meridian LLC through its designated fiduciary representative.
I whispered, "Who's the fiduciary?"
Elena said, "Keep reading."
I scrolled.
Designated fiduciary representative:
Peter James Caldwell.
I stared at the name.
My father's attorney had controlled the transfer clause all along.
Julian and Evelyn hadn't created the scheme.
They were participating in one that had begun years earlier.
Then Elena said, "There's something else."
"What?"
"The copy I photographed isn't the oldest version."
Arthur looked up sharply.
"How do you know?"
"Because the signature pages don't match the paper stock."
Mara frowned.
"So?"
"Someone replaced them."
My heart pounded.
"With whose signatures?"
Elena whispered, "That's what Peter didn't want me to see."
A door slammed behind us.
Julian stepped into the breezeway.
Evelyn beside him.
Julian had my phone in one hand.
And a lighter in the other.
He looked at Arthur's phone.
"End the call."
I didn't move.
He flicked the lighter on.
In his other hand was the brown envelope from Arthur's safe.
My father's remaining documents.
May you like
"End it," Julian said, "or these burn."
📖 See what Julian demanded in exchange for my father's documents—and why Evelyn panicked when he threatened to expose her too in CHAPTER 13. 👇
