Chapter 5: The Person Who Knew Thomas Best
I was discharged at noon with four stitches, a prescription I didn't fill, and a paper bag containing the clothes I'd been wearing the night before — laundered by someone on the ward without my asking.
I stood at the hospital entrance and called a car.
Elliot had arranged a hotel.
A quiet one, two miles from his office.
I checked in under my maiden name, Margaret Forsythe, which still appeared on one of my credit cards from a account I had never updated after the wedding.
Thomas had found that funny.
*You kept one foot out*, he used to say.
*Smart woman.*
The room was plain and clean.
I sat on the edge of the bed and opened the notes application on my phone.
I started a list.
Thomas's summary document — intercepted or given away.
Elliot's revised schedule — accessed without authorization.
Forged amendment form — submitted four months ago.
Forged trust letterhead — presented to bank two weeks ago.
Guardianship petition — filed the morning after I found the folder.
This was not improvised.
This had been constructed over months, possibly longer.
And it required someone who understood trust law well enough to know which documents to forge and which schedule numbers to reference.
Vanessa had a background in real estate.
She understood property and liens.
She did not have a background in trust administration.
Someone had helped her.
I called Elliot.
"Thomas's summary document," I said.
"You sent it to the house.
Which house?"
"The Glenwood house.
Your primary residence at the time."
Thomas and I had sold the Glenwood house four years ago, two years before he passed.
We had moved to the condominium together.
I had sold the condominium eight months ago.
"Who else had access to the Glenwood house?"
"Margaret, that was years ago—"
"Who, Elliot."
A pause.
"Thomas had a personal accountant.
Raymond Chu.
He came to the house quarterly.
Thomas trusted him completely — they'd worked together since before you were married."
I knew Raymond.
A small, precise man who wore the same style of wire-rimmed glasses for thirty years and brought Thomas single-malt Scotch at Christmas.
Thomas had called him the only honest man in finance.
"Is Raymond still practicing?"
"He retired two years ago.
But Margaret—" Elliot's voice shifted.
"Raymond's son works in estate and trust consulting.
He set up his own firm about three years back."
Three years ago.
One year before Thomas passed.
"What's the son's name?"
"Philip Chu."
"Has Philip Chu ever had any contact with Daniel or Vanessa?"
The silence lasted long enough that I already knew the answer before Elliot gave it.
"Philip Chu is listed as a consultant on two of Daniel's construction company filings.
I found it this morning when I was pulling corporate records."
I stood up from the edge of the bed.
"He's the one who built the amendment form," I said.
"He had his father's files.
He had access to the original summary document and he knew enough about trust structure to reference the right schedule numbers.
And when your office revised that schedule after Thomas passed, Philip found a way to access your records too."
"I've already called my IT firm," Elliot said quietly.
"They found a remote access event in my document system fourteen months ago.
A login from an IP address that doesn't match any of my staff."
Fourteen months ago.
Six months before the amendment form was dated.
"Philip Chu accessed your files, built the form, and handed it to Vanessa.
She signed my name, had it notarized through a compromised notary, and submitted it to the trust registry." I sat back down.
"And then she walked into Daniel's bank with forged letterhead and told them the transition was already underway."
"Yes," Elliot said.
"That's what it looks like."
"I need Philip Chu's address."
"Margaret—"
"I'm not going to confront him.
I'm going to give his name to whoever you're calling about the bank fraud."
A brief pause.
"I've already been in contact with a colleague who handles financial crimes.
She wants to meet tomorrow morning."
"Good." I looked at the plain white wall across from the bed.
"Elliot.
Does Daniel know Philip Chu?"
"They've met.
The corporate filings show Philip as a paid consultant, not a close associate.
It's possible Daniel hired him for legitimate work and Vanessa built the rest around that connection without Daniel's full knowledge."
Possible.
Not certain.
"One more question," I said.
"The guardianship petition.
Who prepared it?"
"It was filed by an attorney named Stacey Voss.
Solo practitioner, family law."
"Has Stacey Voss ever worked with Philip Chu?"
The pause was answer enough.
"They were at the same firm eight years ago," Elliot said.
"Before she went solo."
I set the phone down on the bed and looked at my hands.
The palm where the glass had cut me was bandaged.
The stitches above my eye pulled when I frowned.
Thomas had built something meant to protect me.
And someone had spent the better part of a year learning exactly how it worked so they could take it apart from the inside.
My phone lit up.
Not Daniel this time.
A text from a number I didn't recognize.
*Mrs.
Halbrook.
My name is Carol Reyes.
I found something else on the amendment form.
May you like
I need to show you in person.
Can you come to my office today?*
