Claire admitted Derek had brought her a stack of papers two weeks earlier. He said they confirmed she would eventually inherit the cabin. She signed one affidavit without reading the attachments.
“I thought it was estate planning,” she whispered.
Rebecca turned to Derek.
“And Margaret Hale’s signature?”
He folded his arms.
“Margaret wanted Claire to have the cabin.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Deputy Mills asked whether Derek had changed the keypad code.
He admitted he had because his parents needed access “for maintenance.”
Maintenance did not require a sectional sofa, three suitcases, and a U-Haul.
Then Rebecca’s phone buzzed.
The lender had frozen the $320,000 loan before funding.
But the title package contained something worse.
A trustee certification claimed I had resigned because of cognitive decline and appointed Derek in my place.
Attached was a physician’s letter.
I recognized the doctor immediately.
Dr. Steven Marks had been Margaret’s oncologist.
He had died eighteen months earlier.
Claire covered her mouth.
