Bill moved behind her.
“That is a serious accusation.”
“It is a fact.”
Linda crossed her arms. “Robert was sick. Maybe he signed things you didn’t know about.”
“Then the signature should be real.”
Sarah looked at Lucas.
“Tell her what you told us.”
He stared at her.
“Tell her you knew your father wanted us to have the house.”
“I don’t know that.”
“You said he promised it.”
“I said you showed me the email.”
Her expression sharpened.
“You’re changing your story.”
“No,” Lucas said quietly. “I’m realizing it was never mine.”
The room fell silent.
I walked past them toward the blue room.
The door stood open.
The shelves had been disturbed. Toolboxes lay on the floor, and one of Robert’s camera cases was missing.
I crouched beside the lowest shelf.
A thin line of dust marked the place where a box had been removed.
“Where is it?” I asked.
Nobody answered.
I looked at Lucas.
He looked at Sarah.
She shook her head.
A knock sounded at the front door.
The movers stopped.
A woman in a gray coat entered without waiting for permission. She carried a leather briefcase and wore the kind of expression Robert used to call politely dangerous.
“Martha Hale?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Evelyn Price, the attorney named in your husband’s trust.”
Sarah backed away from the study door.
Evelyn looked at the trucks outside, then at the furniture on the lawn.
“I see the notice was delivered.”
“You knew?”
“Robert contacted me two weeks before his death. He anticipated an attempted transfer.”
Lucas stared at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Your father instructed me not to disclose the trust until you came to him voluntarily.”
“He was dead.”
