“He expected that possibility.”
Evelyn placed a small recorder on the desk.
I recognized Robert’s voice before she pressed play.
If you are hearing this, Martha, someone has tried to use my name against you. I am sorry. I wanted to tell you everything, but I needed proof before I placed our son in the middle of it.
His breathing was uneven. I could hear the faint rattle that had worsened near the end.
The house is yours for as long as you live. After that, it goes to the Hale Foundation, unless Lucas has demonstrated that he can protect it without treating it as an inheritance to be claimed.
Lucas lowered his head.
Robert continued.
There is another matter. The blue room contains the records of a private loan I made to Bill and Linda Benton. They promised repayment, but after my illness began, they began pressuring Sarah to secure the house. The loan is separate from the trust. It is documented. Do not destroy those records. They may explain why this happened.
Linda made a strangled sound.
Bill went still.
Sarah turned on them.
“You told me there was no loan.”
Bill’s face hardened. “This is not the time.”
“It is exactly the time.”
Evelyn stopped the recording.
I looked at Linda. “How much?”
She looked toward the front door.
“Eighty-four thousand dollars.”
Lucas stared at her.
“What?”
Bill grabbed her arm. “Don’t.”
She pulled away.
“We borrowed it for the restaurant,” she said. “Robert said we could repay him when it turned around.”
“It didn’t,” Evelyn said.
Linda’s eyes filled. “He said he wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Because he believed you would make it right,” I said.
Bill laughed once, without humor.
“He was going to leave the house to Lucas. We were only making arrangements.”
“You forged his signature.”
“We had authorization.”
“From whom?”
Bill looked at Sarah.
Sarah looked at Lucas.
No one spoke.
Evelyn opened her briefcase and removed a second folder.
“Robert hired a handwriting examiner before he died. He also installed a camera in the foyer after noticing that documents had been removed from his study.”
She placed photographs on the desk.
The first showed Sarah entering the study late at night.
The second showed Bill carrying a scanner.
