Chapter 17 - The Signature They Needed Her to BelieveDetective Ruiz wanted Sarah nowhere near the lake house.
Sarah agreed.
She had no intention of playing Diane’s game.
Instead, police began coordinating with authorities near Cedar Falls.
Daniel studied the photograph.
“They’re staging transfer papers.”
“With my signature.”
“Yes.”
“Can they actually use them?”
“Not without the keys.”
Sarah held the silver dog.
“And they don’t have this.”
“No.”
“What about my memory?”
Daniel looked at her.
“They may know the phrase.”
Sarah thought about Diane.
Diane had been part of the family for eleven years.
Had attended stories about Sarah’s childhood.
Had listened.
Asked questions.
Collected details.
“What if she knows Blue Heron?”
Daniel grimaced.
“Then the physical key is all that remains.”
Sarah looked toward Noah.
He was building a pillow fort with Megan.
“Why involve his passport?”
“To make the transaction package look legitimate.”
“Could they forge Ryan as guardian?”
“Possibly.”
Sarah laughed bitterly.
“My family is becoming a collection of forged documents.”
Her phone rang.
Ryan.
She almost ignored it.
Then answered.
“Mom called me.”
“What did she want?”
“The silver dog.”
“She called me too.”
Ryan exhaled.
“She’s desperate.”
“Good.”
“No. You don’t understand desperate Mom.”
“I’m learning.”
Ryan was quiet.
Then:
“She may hurt Victor.”
Sarah blinked.
“What?”
“She thinks he betrayed her.”
“He did.”
“I know.”
“Why would she hurt him?”
“Because she thinks the deal was supposed to make her rich.”
Sarah stared.
“She was getting five hundred thousand.”
Ryan laughed bitterly.
“That’s what he told us.”
“What was the real deal?”
“Mom expected ten percent of Northstar.”
Daniel heard and swore.
If Carter Ridge became worth tens of millions, ten percent could be enormous.
“Did Lang agree?”
“In writing, apparently.”
“Apparently?”
“Mom never got the signed copy.”
Sarah understood.
Diane had betrayed her son and grandson expecting wealth.
Lang had likely planned to discard her once the transfer was complete.
“What happens if she realizes he never intended to pay?”
“She already has.”
Sarah looked at Ruiz.
Police needed to move faster.
Ryan continued.
“She called me screaming. Said Victor had been using all of us.”
Sarah nearly said obviously.
Instead she asked, “What did you tell her?”
“To turn herself in.”
“And?”
“She said she’d rather burn everything.”
Sarah’s skin prickled.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
But Sarah did.
Documents.
Evidence.
Maybe the lake house.
Maybe Victor himself.
Ruiz began contacting the officers approaching Cedar Falls.
Then Ryan said, “There’s something I haven’t told you.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“Of course there is.”
“Mom has a gun.”
Silence.
Ruiz looked up sharply.
Sarah’s heart pounded.
“Since when?”
“Dad’s old revolver.”
“Your father died twelve years ago.”
“She kept it.”
“Is it registered?”
“I don’t know.”
Ruiz immediately relayed the information.
No one approached the house directly now.
Sarah hated the helplessness.
The waiting.
She watched Noah play and wondered how her life had become this.
At 5:43 p.m., police reported movement at the lake property.
A man matching Victor Lang’s description exited through the rear.
He entered a vehicle.
Officers moved in.
Victor fled.
Diane remained inside.
Then smoke appeared.
Ryan had been right.
She was burning something.
By the time officers entered, a wastebasket full of documents had been destroyed.
Diane was arrested without firing the gun.
The revolver lay on the kitchen table.
Victor escaped.
But not everything burned.
Police recovered a leather document case.
Inside were corporate transfer papers.
Forged declarations.
Copies of Sarah’s signature.
A fake emergency custody order that had never been issued.
And something nobody expected.
A signed agreement between Victor Lang and Diane.
Not ten percent.
Not even five.
It promised Diane ownership of Carter Ridge Resources itself.
Daniel stared at the agreement.
“This makes no sense.”
Sarah looked at him.
“Why?”
“Lang would never give her the company.”
“Unless he wasn’t planning to honor it.”
“Yes.”
But Sarah saw something else.
“Or unless Diane had something he wanted more.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What could be worth more?”
Police searched the leather case again.
In a hidden pocket they found an old audio cassette.
A handwritten label.
THOMAS CARTER — FINAL MEETING
May you like
Sarah stopped breathing.
Victor had kept a recording of the night her father died.
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