Chapter 14 - Mavis Finally Told the Truth About NoraConfronted with the email metadata, Mavis changed her story.
She had sent the email.
Using Nora’s account.
“Why?”
“Thomas told me to.”
Thomas denied it.
Then investigators found a text.
THOMAS: Need source trail that predates Nora’s death.
MAVIS: From her?
THOMAS: Best option.
That ended his denial.
Reid read the messages with a strange calm.
No more shock.
The family conspiracy had stopped surprising him.
What hurt was the timing.
Nora in hospital.
Struggling to breathe.
Reid beside her.
Mavis at the house using Nora’s email to manufacture evidence.
He asked to hear Mavis’s full recorded interview.
Beth discouraged it.
He insisted.
Mavis said:
“I knew Nora was sick.”
Detective:
“How sick?”
Mavis:
“We all knew she was in the hospital.”
Detective:
“Did you believe she would die?”
Pause.
“I thought it was possible.”
“And you used her email because you believed she might not be available to deny it.”
Long silence.
“Yes.”
Reid stopped the recording.
He stood and walked to the window.
Beth waited.
He said:
“She was already preparing for Nora to be dead.”
“Yes.”
No murder.
No poison.
No secret medical plot.
Something emotionally worse in its own way.
Mavis saw a dying woman and recognized an administrative opportunity.
Reid continued listening.
Detective:
“Did you dislike Nora?”
Mavis:
“She was suspicious.”
“Of you.”
“Yes.”
“Was she wrong?”
Pause.
“Not completely.”
“Did she confront you about Evan’s paternity?”
“She accused me of trying to question it.”
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Everett’s trust was irresponsible.”
“How does a baby’s paternity change that?”
“If Evan wasn’t Reid’s child, he shouldn’t inherit.”
“Did you have any reason to think Evan wasn’t Reid’s?”
Silence.
“No.”
Reid closed his eyes.
There it was.
No suspicion.
No rumor.
A strategy invented from nothing.
Mavis continued:
“Nora made everything harder.”
“By protecting her family?”
“By refusing to understand that Nolan was Everett’s son too.”
The detective asked:
“Did you believe Landon and Evan had taken something from Nolan?”
“Yes.”
“They are children.”
“They represent what Everett did.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Mavis stopped.
The detective pressed.
“Did you resent the children personally?”
“No.”
“Then why tell them they had no right to call the estate home?”
Silence.
“Why call Evan a bastard?”
Mavis began crying.
Not dramatically.
“I was angry.”
“At a one-year-old?”
“At Everett.”
The detective waited.
Mavis whispered:
“He kept choosing Reid.”
Reid felt something complicated.
Everett had favored him.
Not always kindly.
He expected more from Reid.
Trusted him with more.
Nolan felt second.
Mavis watched her son live in that shadow.
Her resentment had a source.
Understanding did not absolve.
The detective said:
“Everett was dead.”
“Yes.”
“Reid’s children are not Everett.”
Mavis cried harder.
“I know.”
“Did you know when you struck Evan?”
No answer.
The recording moved to the trust plan.
Mavis admitted pushing Nolan.
Thomas offered legal pathways.
She pushed harder.
She photographed the boys.
Exaggerated incidents.
Canceled appointments to make Reid look careless.
Told the pediatric office Reid was overwhelmed.
Created false notes.
But the toxicology alteration?
Thomas.
He connected Megan Pike and instructed that “an adverse finding would be useful.”
Mavis claimed she did not know it would be fabricated.
Reid didn’t fully believe her.
Still, Thomas’s central role became clearer.
Then Mavis said something unexpected.
“Nolan wanted out.”
The detective asked:
“When?”
“Two weeks before the camera.”
Reid froze.
Nolan never told him.
“He said we were going too far.”
“What did you do?”
“I told Thomas.”
“And?”
“He said Nolan was emotional.”
The same label.
Thomas used emotional instability on anyone obstructing the plan.
Mavis continued:
“Thomas said the sale mattered more than Nolan’s nerves.”
The detective asked:
“So who was really driving the plan?”
Mavis looked down.
“At first, me.”
A pause.
“Then Thomas.”
Reid sat back.
The architecture of manipulation shifted.
Mavis’s resentment opened the door.
Nolan’s financial motive kept it open.
Thomas turned it into a system.
But Reid refused to make Thomas the sole villain.
That would be too easy.
Everyone had chosen.
Then the detective asked:
“If Landon hadn’t turned on the camera, what would have happened?”
Mavis covered her face.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
Long silence.
“We would have filed Monday.”
“And the children?”
“Moved temporarily to Nolan’s house.”
“Reid?”
“He would fight.”
“Did you expect him to win?”
Mavis whispered:
“Eventually.”
Reid froze.
Eventually.
She knew the case would probably collapse.
The goal was never permanent guardianship.
It only needed to last long enough to move the corporate vote.
His children were a bridge.
Their fear temporary collateral.
May you like
Reid stopped the recording.
That was enough.
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