Chapter 12 - Everett Had Changed the Trust to Protect WrenHenry found a scanned draft.
Not enough.
The trust required the executed original for the amendment to be unquestionably enforceable.
Everett had signed it five months before his death.
Henry remembered because he witnessed the signing.
So did another attorney.
The original should have entered the firm's vault.
It never arrived.
"Who carried it from Dad's house?" Conrad asked.
Henry hesitated.
"Elise."
Conrad closed his eyes.
Of course.
Everett had been recovering from surgery.
Henry and his colleague traveled to the house.
Elise happened to be there.
Everett asked her to deliver the envelope because she was heading downtown.
"Did she?"
"She called me that afternoon."
"What did she say?"
"She said she needed to make a copy first."
"Why?"
"She didn't trust Maureen."
Conrad's chest tightened.
"Then?"
"She never arrived."
"What?"
"She called again."
"When?"
"An hour later."
"What did she say?"
"That Maureen had confronted her in the parking garage."
Conrad stood.
"You never told me."
"Elise asked me not to."
He almost shouted.
Instead:
"What happened to the document?"
"She said she'd put it somewhere safe."
"The safe-deposit box?"
"No. We checked after Everett died."
"Birdhouse?"
"Possibly."
"But Maureen searched it."
"Maybe Elise moved it."
Conrad thought of Wren's words.
Grandpa's change.
Maureen had shown her a yellow paper.
Maybe not the original.
Maybe a copy.
"Could the amendment affect Maureen's control?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"It also changed successor-trustee provisions."
Conrad's stomach tightened.
"From who to who?"
"Originally, Maureen remained co-trustee until Wren turned twenty-five."
"And the amendment?"
"Removed Maureen after Everett's death."
Conrad stared.
"Who replaced her?"
"You."
Everything became clear.
Maureen hadn't simply wanted Wren disqualified.
The amendment stripped her of influence either way.
If Wren remained eligible, Conrad controlled the shares as trustee.
If Wren didn't, Conrad still held executive control.
Maureen lost leverage.
"Why would Dad do that?"
Henry answered:
"Because he learned about the fake DNA report."
Conrad felt something like grief.
His father had protected Wren quietly.
Elise had tried to preserve the protection.
Maureen had spent years searching for the paper that removed her.
He told Detective Sloan.
A warrant process began for Maureen's hotel room and financial records.
Conrad didn't know whether she'd be arrested.
Not yet.
He cared less than he expected.
He wanted the amendment.
He returned to the safe-deposit inventory.
No yellow paper.
Elise's office?
Searched.
Birdhouse?
Empty.
Necklace?
Empty.
Stuffed rabbit?
Only key.
Then Conrad remembered the blue bird.
Not the birdhouse.
Wren had said:
Mommy said if Grandma ever asked about the blue bird, I wasn't supposed to tell her.
He had assumed birdhouse because he'd built it.
But what if there were two blue birds?
He asked Wren gently.
"What did Mommy mean when she said blue bird?"
Wren looked confused.
"The blue bird."
"Which one?"
"The one in her book."
Conrad froze.
"Book?"
Wren nodded.
"Mommy's story book."
Elise had loved children's books.
She collected first editions.
One favorite had been The Bluebird's Winter, an obscure picture book Elise's mother read to her as a child.
After Elise died, Conrad packed most of her collection into storage because seeing it hurt.
"Where is the book?"
Wren shrugged.
"Grandma took Mommy's books away."
"When?"
"After Mommy went to heaven."
Conrad called Marisol.
"Do you remember boxes of Elise's books?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Your mother had movers take them."
"To where?"
"I thought storage."
Which storage?
The estate had two units.
Conrad checked records.
One unit remained in his name.
Another had been closed two years earlier by Maureen.
Contents?
Unknown.
Destination?
Donation, according to paperwork.
He called the charity.
They had never received Elise's books.
Conrad felt rage rise.
Maureen had taken them.
Why?
Because she knew one contained something?
He called Nina.
"Did Mom keep any of Elise's books at her condo?"
"I don't know."
"Think."
Nina paused.
"She has a shelf of children's books in the guest room."
"Old?"
"Yes."
Conrad stood.
"Blue bird on the cover?"
Silence.
Then Nina said:
"I've seen one."
They called Detective Sloan.
An hour later, with Maureen's consent not required under the warrant connected to the child-abuse and fraud investigation, officers entered her condo.
On a guest-room shelf sat The Bluebird's Winter.
The cover was faded.
Blue bird.
Detective Sloan opened it carefully.
Nothing between the first pages.
Nothing in the middle.
Then she reached the inside back cover.
The cardboard had been cut.
A thin cavity hidden beneath it.
Empty.
Conrad stared.
"She found it."
Maybe.
Then the detective pointed toward the cut.
Dust lined most edges.
Except one small corner.
Something had recently been removed.
She searched the shelf.
No document.
Then an officer called from the bedroom.
They had found a fireproof document case beneath Maureen's bed.
Inside—
dozens of Elise's papers.
And one yellow photocopy of Everett's amendment.
May you like
Across the top, Maureen had written:
FIND ORIGINAL BEFORE CONRAD DOES.
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