Chapter 6 - THE PROMISSORY NOTE
Derek had brought Robert a revised repayment agreement.
Robert refused to sign because several terms were wrong.
The draft extended repayment another eighteen months.
More importantly, it characterized part of the original $48,000 as an “investment contribution.”
If accepted, that could complicate whether the full amount was a straightforward loan.
Robert had written:
NO.
Across the first page.
The document remained in his study.
Investigators found it.
Derek’s fingerprints were unsurprising.
He created the draft.
But metadata from the digital version showed it had been prepared on Derek’s laptop days before Robert’s first unexplained dizzy episode.
That established timing.
Not poisoning.
Timing.
The evidence was becoming a chain.
No single link solved everything.
Khloe’s statement.
Study footage.
Medication discrepancy.
Robert’s symptoms.
Debt.
Document dispute.
Threat.
Then came a witness.
Not a mysterious stranger.
Helen.
She remembered Derek repeatedly insisting on preparing Robert’s drinks during recent family visits.
At the time, she thought he was being helpful.
Looking backward changes ordinary details.
Investigators were careful not to treat memory as perfect.
They compared dates.
Three visits matched three episodes Robert had mentioned in text messages to Helen:
Feeling lightheaded again.
Going to lie down.
One of those texts was sent twelve minutes after Derek had been alone with his drink.
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Still circumstantial.
But increasingly coherent.
