Chapter 17 - The Doctor Said He Never Wrote the LetterDr. Steven Holloway was furious.
Not nervous.
Not evasive.
Furious.
“That is not my report.”
He sat in Bethany’s office holding the memorandum Miles used to question Harold’s capacity.
“My name is on it.”
“Yes.”
“My letterhead.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t write it.”
Rebecca stared.
“Did you ever treat my father?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
“For?”
“A cardiac evaluation.”
“Nothing cognitive.”
“No.”
“Did Miles contact you before Dad died?”
“Not that I remember.”
Dr. Holloway examined the signature.
“That isn’t mine.”
Another forgery.
Or copied signature.
The document had circulated internally at Carrow Fiduciary.
Not filed with court.
Its purpose was defensive.
If Harold later challenged transactions, Miles could claim he reasonably believed Harold lacked capacity.
Investigators traced the file metadata.
Created on Denise Rowe’s office computer.
Rebecca stared at Denise during the next interview.
“You made it.”
Denise cried.
“Yes.”
“Why use Dr. Holloway?”
“His old report was in Harold’s file.”
“So you copied his letterhead.”
“Yes.”
“Signature?”
“A scan.”
“Did Miles tell you?”
“Yes.”
Directly?
Denise produced an email.
Need medical support for capacity concerns. Use existing provider format. Keep internal.
Miles would argue he meant summarize records.
Denise understood differently.
Again language designed to leave deniability.
But Aaron’s files contained a follow-up text.
DENISE: Holloway never assessed cognition.
MILES: He doesn’t need to. We need a contemporaneous concern memo, not an exam.
DENISE: In his name?
MILES: Make it useful.
Rebecca stared.
That phrase destroyed much of the ambiguity.
Make it useful.
Federal investigators expanded charges under consideration.
Forgery.
Fraud.
Fiduciary misconduct.
Obstruction-related conduct.
Rebecca stopped trying to track every statute.
She cared about the family.
Priscilla started therapy again.
Not addiction treatment.
Trauma.
Shame.
She told Rebecca:
“I spent years thinking recovery meant never becoming the messy person again.”
“What does it mean now?”
“Not hiding when I am.”
Rebecca liked that.
Ethan resumed normal routines.
Soccer.
School.
Complaining about vegetables.
But one behavior remained.
He checked Rebecca’s purse sometimes.
Not searching.
Just looking.
She caught him once.
“What are you doing?”
He froze.
“Nothing.”
“Ethan.”
He looked ashamed.
“I wanted to see if there were pills.”
Rebecca’s chest tightened.
The living-room scene had stayed with him.
She sat.
“My bag won’t have unknown medication in it.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“No.”
Fair.
They started sessions with a child therapist.
The therapist told Rebecca not to promise perfect safety.
“You can promise procedures.”
“What does that mean?”
“If he finds something unfamiliar, he tells you.”
“If an adult acts confused, he calls another adult.”
“If medication is present, he doesn’t touch it.”
“Specific actions reduce fear better than saying nothing bad will happen.”
Rebecca listened.
One evening Ethan asked:
“Was Aunt Priscilla bad that day?”
Rebecca thought.
“She made some bad choices before that day.”
“What about that day?”
“She was sick because someone gave her something without permission.”
“And holding me?”
“She was trying to stop you touching the pills.”
“She hurt my arm.”
“Yes.”
“Can both be true?”
Rebecca smiled sadly.
“Yes.”
He nodded.
Children could hold complexity if adults stopped simplifying for them.
Meanwhile, Miles finally appeared for a formal deposition.
He looked thinner.
No paternal smile.
No “Becca.”
His attorney did most of the talking.
Miles admitted authorizing related-party investments.
Denied theft.
Admitted concern about Harold’s capacity.
Denied fabricating medical evidence.
Admitted hiring Gavin for investigations.
Denied directing Priscilla’s drugging.
Admitted knowing Denise and Aaron had accounting irregularities.
Claimed they acted independently.
Denise’s cooperation contradicted him.
Gavin’s too.
But Miles remained controlled.
Then Bethany asked one question.
“Why did Harold Bennett remove you from his final will?”
Miles looked at Rebecca.
“Because his daughters turned him against me.”
Rebecca felt anger.
Bethany continued.
“Which daughter?”
“Priscilla.”
“Yet you spent months telling people Priscilla was unreliable.”
“She was.”
“Then she was simultaneously powerful enough to manipulate Harold and too impaired to be believed?”
Miles paused.
Bethany leaned closer.
“Convenient.”
His jaw tightened.
“She resented me.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew her history.”
“No.”
Bethany placed Harold’s note down.
He knew Priscilla did not understand the family consent she signed.
Miles stared.
For the first time, his composure visibly cracked.
Bethany saw it.
“You weren’t afraid Priscilla manipulated Harold.”
She spoke quietly.
“You were afraid Harold finally believed her.”
Miles said nothing.
Then Rebecca’s phone vibrated outside the deposition room.
A message from Detective Morgan.
WE FOUND THE ORIGINAL SOURCE OF THE PILLS.
Rebecca thought they already knew Denise carried them.
This was different.
She called.
“What source?”
“A pharmacy purchase.”
“Who bought them?”
“Not Denise.”
Rebecca’s stomach tightened.
“Gavin?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Morgan paused.
“Marjorie Sloan.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
Marjorie again.
House manager.
Information source.
Paid debt.
Hidden key.
She had not been merely peripheral.
Morgan continued.
“She filled the prescription under her own name three days before the bank incident.”
Rebecca stared.
Marjorie had said she knew nothing about the drugging.
Another lie.
May you like
The woman who once managed Harold’s medications had obtained the very pills later used to make Priscilla look impaired.
And she had never told them why.
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