The bottom drawer opened with a reluctant scrape.
Inside were contracts, receipts, and a dark blue folder bound with twine.
Daniel removed it.
The first page was a settlement from the lender Samuel had mentioned. The debt had been paid in full. The second was a letter from the lender acknowledging that the original claim had been based on falsified signatures.
The third page showed the signature of Amanda’s father.
Jacob stared at it.
“She knew,” he said.
Daniel nodded. “Her father was the person who tried to take the vineyard. Samuel exposed him. He lost his license and disappeared from the industry.”
“Amanda told me her father had been ruined by people like my mother.”
“Your mother had nothing to do with it,” Daniel said. “Samuel refused to let him use the vineyard as collateral.”
Jacob’s face tightened as he read the documents.
Judith remembered the years after Samuel’s death: the envelopes that arrived without explanations, the calls she never returned because she was too busy keeping the workers paid, the way Amanda had appeared in Jacob’s life with answers to every question Judith had been too exhausted to ask.
“She chose me because of this,” Jacob said.
“She chose the vineyard,” Daniel replied. “You were the door.”
Martin leaned against the wall. “She told me the marriage would make her a partner. She said the company would control the land once you signed.”
Jacob looked at him. “And you helped her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Martin’s mouth twisted. “My wife was sick. The bills were impossible. Amanda offered money.”
Judith studied him. “And when the money came, did the bills disappear?”
“No.”
“Then what did it buy?”
Martin looked toward the photograph. “Time. That was all.”
The investigators collected copies of every document. The original transfer papers were found inside the office safe, along with a second phone containing messages from Amanda.
One message instructed Martin to seat Judith near the kitchen.
Another read, Make him feel guilty enough to sign.
A third said, If he hesitates, remind him that his mother’s name makes him look weak.
Jacob read that one twice.
He placed the phone on the desk.
“She said that to me.”
