Chapter 5: The Signature on the Page
I showed the alert to the officer.
“Stop the transfer.”
“We need the bank’s fraud department,” he said.
“Call them now.”
Claire folded her arms.
“It isn’t fraud if Daniel authorized it.”
“To whose account?” Rachel demanded.
“A protected education fund.”
“Whose name is on it?”
Claire smiled without warmth.
“Mine, as trustee.”
I called the bank and put the phone on speaker.
A representative answered after security questions I could barely remember.
“The transfer is valid,” she said.
“It was approved using Mr.
Mercer’s digital credentials and notarized authorization.”
“I did not approve it.”
“The authorization was uploaded fourteen minutes ago.”
Every face turned toward Claire.
She held up her empty hands.
“My phone has been with me.”
Margaret stared at the metal box.
“The tablet.”
“What tablet?” I asked.
“The one Claire kept at my house.
It was gone this morning.”
Claire’s smile returned.
“You have no proof I touched anything.”
The officer asked the bank to freeze the funds.
The representative’s keyboard clicked.
“I’m sorry.
The receiving institution has already accepted them.”
Emma covered her mouth.
“You took Mom’s money?” Sophie asked.
“That money was going to sit untouched for years,” Claire replied.
“I was going to invest it for you.”
“In a company registered to Claire,” Margaret said.
Claire’s head snapped toward her.
Margaret pulled a statement from the box.
“Laura found the company name.
Holloway Family Resources.
Your maiden name was Holloway.”
“Give me that.”
“No.”
Claire moved forward, but Rachel stood beside Margaret.
“You’ll have to go through both of us,” Rachel said.
Claire faced me.
“I can return part of it.”
“Part?”
“Two hundred thousand today.
We tell everyone this was a family misunderstanding, and I disappear.”
“You kept my daughters hidden.”
“I gave them a stable home.”
“You told them I abandoned them.”
“Because they would have run back to a man who couldn’t care for himself!”
Sophie stepped beside me.
“We did run back.”
Claire’s mouth closed.
The bank representative spoke again.
“Mr.
Mercer, someone has just submitted a second document.”
“What document?”
“A petition alleging that you are mentally unfit to control the trust.”
Claire looked down, but not before I saw satisfaction cross her face.
“Who filed it?” I asked.
“The attorney listed is Malcolm Vane.”
Rachel grabbed my arm.
“Claire’s cousin.”
The ballroom doors opened, and a gray-haired man in a dark suit entered carrying a leather case.
“I represent Ms.
Holloway,” he announced.
“I also have an emergency order preventing Daniel Mercer from removing the children from their lawful guardian.”
Margaret went white.
“You said the guardianship ended today.”
Claire looked at her.
“I said many things.”
Malcolm handed the order to the officer.
“Until a hearing, the children return to Mrs.
Bell.”
“No,” Margaret said.
“They do not.”
“The order names you.”
“Then I refuse.”
“You may be held in contempt.”
Margaret took Sophie’s hand.
“Then the court can come and get me.”
The officer read the paper.
“This appears valid.”
Emma wrapped both arms around my waist.
“Daddy, please.”
I held her while Claire watched.
“Call Teresa,” Sophie said suddenly.
I looked down.
“Why?”
“Mom said Aunt Teresa knew where the original papers were.”
Claire’s head jerked up.
“Laura never spoke to Teresa.”
Sophie reached into the plastic bag again and unfolded a tiny scrap from behind the envelope lining.
On it, Laura had written a telephone number and four words:
TERESA HAS THE REAL TRUST.
I dialed immediately.
A woman answered on the second ring.
“Daniel?” Teresa said.
May you like
“If Claire is with you, do not tell her where I am.”
Behind me, Claire whispered to Malcolm, “Get the girls out now.”
