Chapter 10 - THE SECOND WITNESS
Finding Elaine Mercer became more important than finding the original document.
If she had truly witnessed Thomas signing the codicil, Vanessa had a path to challenge the trust.
If she hadn’t, Vanessa had forged more than a signature.
Margaret’s investigators located Elaine through a nursing-license database.
She lived in Vermont.
Alive.
Retired.
And terrified when Daniel called.
“I don’t want anything to do with the Wentworth family,” she said through speakerphone.
Austin leaned toward the table.
“Elaine, it’s Austin.”
Silence.
Then her voice softened.
“I’m sorry about your father.”
“Did you witness him sign a codicil six days before he died?”
Another silence.
Longer.
“No.”
Vanessa’s witness had just denied the document.
A real reward.
But Elaine immediately complicated it.
“I signed something.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“What?” Margaret asked.
“A medical observation sheet.”
“For Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“What did it say?”
“That he was awake, oriented, and capable of answering questions during an attorney visit.”
Austin looked at Margaret.
“Which attorney?”
Elaine hesitated.
“I never knew his full name. Mr. Price brought him.”
Julian.
Not Charles.
Not Vanessa.
Julian.
Elaine explained that Thomas had met privately with a lawyer. She did not remain in the room. Afterward Julian asked her to sign a standard capacity note.
She signed.
Months later, someone could have copied her signature from that sheet.
Daniel asked whether she had a copy.
“No.”
“Did anything unusual happen afterward?”
Elaine inhaled.
“Vanessa asked me about the visit.”
Austin’s eyes sharpened.
“What did you tell her?”
“That her father had been lucid.”
“And?”
“She asked whether he had signed anything.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her I didn’t know.”
That was all Elaine could honestly provide.
No miracle witness.
No complete answer.
But she had demolished one key claim.
She never witnessed the codicil.
Margaret requested a sworn statement through counsel.
Elaine agreed.
Vanessa’s legal weapon weakened.
Then our own position took a hit.
Corporate security reported that Julian had not returned home.
His office laptop was gone.
So was an encrypted backup drive assigned to finance.
Austin slammed his palm onto the table.
“We watched him and still lost him.”
Daniel didn’t react.
“He may run. He may bargain.”
“Or destroy everything.”
Margaret looked toward me.
“What matters is what we preserved before he left.”
The answer arrived twenty minutes later.
Julian had sent one email just before disappearing.
Not to Vanessa.
To me.
Subject:
ASK AUSTIN ABOUT ACCOUNT 4419.
Austin went completely still.
I turned the screen toward him.
“What is account 4419?”
His face told me he recognized the number.
May you like
And once again, I realized my husband had a secret before he admitted having one.
📖 Elaine destroyed one piece of Vanessa’s codicil story, but Julian vanished after directing me toward an account Austin clearly recognized and had never mentioned. 👇
