Chapter 8 - The Dead Notary’s StampDetective Quinn arrived with two financial-crimes investigators.
Grayson repeated what he remembered.
They did not pressure him.
No leading questions.
No dramatic interrogation.
The process was slow.
Careful.
Thaddeus appreciated that.
Afterward, Mara showed him the forged trust authorization.
Notary:
June Halpern.
Commission number matched the deceased woman.
Stamp image valid.
Date:
Three months after her death.
“So someone stole her seal?” Thaddeus asked.
“Possibly.”
“Who had access?”
“Her employer.”
“Silas.”
“His firm.”
Mara’s team obtained a warrant for Silas Crowe’s office that afternoon.
What they found changed the investigation.
In a locked filing cabinet were six notary seals belonging to former employees.
Three dead.
Two retired.
One moved overseas.
There were signature samples.
Blank authorization forms.
Trust documents.
Property transfers.
Powers of attorney.
Dozens.
Not only involving the Mercers.
Silas had apparently operated a long-term document fraud system.
Some documents changed ownership.
Some shifted trustee powers.
Some authorized loans.
Some appeared to settle estates.
Thaddeus stared at the preliminary list.
“How many families?”
“Potentially seventeen.”
Mara pointed at the Mercer files.
“Yours is one of the largest.”
“And Tabitha?”
“We found a folder with her name.”
“What’s in it?”
“We’re still reviewing.”
“Did Silas talk?”
“He asked for a lawyer.”
“Good.”
Mara looked at him.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I want answers.”
“You want confessions.”
“Yes.”
“Those are different.”
Thaddeus knew she was right.
That didn’t help.
By evening, Tabitha’s attorney contacted him.
She wanted to talk.
Privately.
Mara advised against it without legal counsel.
Thaddeus agreed to a recorded meeting at her lawyer’s office.
Tabitha looked exhausted when he entered.
No makeup.
Hair loose.
Nothing like the controlling woman in Grayson’s bathroom.
For one dangerous second, Thaddeus saw his sister.
The girl who used to sneak him cookies.
The teenager who taught him to drive.
The woman who held Grayson at the hospital after Evelyn died.
Then he remembered his son crying.
Both versions were real.
“Is Grayson okay?” she asked.
Thaddeus sat.
“You don’t get to begin there.”
Her eyes filled.
“I care about him.”
“You called him a bastard.”
“I was angry.”
“You grabbed him.”
“I lost control.”
“You made him practice forging my signature.”
Her face changed.
Her attorney immediately said:
“Tabitha, don’t answer.”
Thaddeus looked at him.
“Then why are we here?”
Tabitha whispered:
“I didn’t know what Silas was going to use it for.”
Her attorney closed his eyes.
“Tabitha.”
Too late.
Thaddeus leaned forward.
“You knew he wanted signature samples.”
“I thought he was proving something.”
“What?”
“That your signature could be reproduced.”
“Why would that matter?”
She began crying.
“Because I wanted to challenge the trust transfers.”
Thaddeus stared.
“You stole from the trust and then wanted to challenge it?”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“The money wasn’t Grayson’s.”
“Whose was it?”
“Dad’s.”
“Wrong.”
“You didn’t know what Evelyn found.”
“I do now.”
Tabitha went still.
“Jonathan Avery.”
Her face drained.
Thaddeus saw confirmation.
“You knew.”
“I knew some.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“Did Dad steal Bellweather?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you know Evelyn thought he did?”
“Yes.”
“Before she died?”
“Yes.”
The room became cold.
Thaddeus’s voice dropped.
“Did you know she left evidence?”
Tabitha looked at the table.
“Yes.”
His fists tightened.
“Did you burn it?”
“No.”
“Silas?”
“Yes.”
“How soon after she died?”
“Two days.”
Thaddeus nearly stood.
Her attorney raised a hand.
Tabitha started crying.
“I didn’t know what was in it.”
“You helped destroy my wife’s work two days after she died?”
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“That she had found what Dad did.”
“So?”
“If Jonathan’s family still had a claim, the company could collapse.”
Thaddeus stared.
“You protected the Mercer fortune.”
“Yes.”
“By stealing from Grayson.”
“That was different.”
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“It’s all the same thing. You keep deciding money matters more than people.”
She flinched.
“That’s what Dad taught us.”
Thaddeus stopped.
That sentence hurt because it contained truth.
Wallace had taught them to protect assets.
Reputation.
Control.
But Thaddeus would not let inherited damage become an excuse.
“You’re fifty-one years old.”
Tabitha looked away.
“You don’t get to outsource every choice to Dad.”
Silence.
Thaddeus asked the question he had feared.
“What happened the night Evelyn died?”
Tabitha looked at him.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I wasn’t there.”
“Was Silas?”
“No.”
“Did either of you cause the accident?”
“No.”
The answer came fast.
He studied her.
She continued:
“But I knew where she was going.”
Thaddeus felt cold.
“Where?”
“To see Margaret Avery.”
“Jonathan’s widow?”
“Yes.”
“In Maine?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“Margaret was visiting Connecticut.”
Thaddeus leaned closer.
“How did you know?”
“Evelyn told Silas.”
“And he told you.”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
Tabitha’s breathing became uneven.
“I called Dad.”
Thaddeus stared.
“Our father?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I swear.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That Evelyn had found Margaret.”
“And?”
“That she was driving to meet her.”
Thaddeus felt something inside him drop.
The accident occurred on the road north.
Exactly where Evelyn would have driven.
“What did Dad say?”
May you like
Tabitha closed her eyes.
“He said he would handle it.”
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