Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO LIED TO BOTH OF USI called Allison back.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Rachel traced the number.
Prepaid.
Inactive.
My certainty fractured.
“What if she’s lying?”
Rachel replied:
“Victims can lie too.”
I hated that answer because it was true.
Daniel sent me security footage from the Bennett Club.
Timestamp:
10:42 p.m.
The night before Dad died.
Harold Finch entered a private dining room.
Eleven minutes later, Allison arrived.
My father entered last.
At 12:08 a.m., Dad left alone.
He looked angry.
Alive.
Allison left six minutes later.
Harold stayed another hour.
The next afternoon, Dad collapsed.
I remembered our final call.
He sounded tired.
He said:
“I need to fix something I should have noticed sooner.”
I assumed he meant estate paperwork.
Now I wondered.
Police located Margaret’s attorney.
She wanted to speak to me.
Rachel advised against it.
I went anyway.
Margaret sat in an interview room wearing the same clothes from our wedding night.
No makeup.
No pearls.
No authority.
She looked older.
“I didn’t put your key in my bag.”
“I believe that’s possible.”
Her eyes filled with surprise.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t.”
I leaned forward.
“You helped forge my signature.”
“Yes.”
“You planned to call me incompetent.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Daniel was still married.”
“Yes.”
She lowered her head.
I laughed bitterly.
“You’re not getting sympathy.”
“I know.”
“Why tell me anything now?”
“Because Daniel will lie until lying stops helping him.”
That hurt.
She continued.
“And Allison will do the same.”
“What does Allison want?”
Margaret looked at me.
“The company.”
I frowned.
“Allison?”
“She owns eleven percent.”
“How?”
“Divorce settlement agreement.”
“But they never divorced.”
“The agreement was signed anyway.”
Margaret explained.
Years ago, Allison threatened to expose Bennett fraud.
Daniel agreed to give her eleven percent after divorce.
Then Harold blocked the divorce.
Allison disappeared.
Her shares remained in legal limbo.
“If my note converts…”
“You receive forty-one percent.”
“With Allison’s eleven…”
“Fifty-two.”
Control.
Allison and I together could control Bennett Hospitality.
Suddenly her interest in me had another dimension.
“Did Dad know?”
“Yes.”
“Did he plan to work with Allison?”
Margaret nodded.
“To remove Daniel?”
“To force an independent audit.”
I sat back.
That sounded like Dad.
Then Margaret whispered:
“But Harold offered Allison something else.”
“What?”
“If she helped him secure your father’s note, he would give her full control.”
I stared.
“Harold can’t give away my property.”
“He believed he could if Thomas was incapacitated before changing the terms.”
My skin went cold.
“Incapacitated.”
Margaret nodded.
“Your father’s heart condition was known.”
“No.”
“He had an arrhythmia.”
I knew that.
Controlled.
Not fatal.
“Harold obtained his medication list.”
“How?”
“Family insurance records.”
I felt sick.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Harold knew which drug could make a natural cardiac event more likely.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“Did Allison help him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Daniel?”
Margaret looked away.
My stomach dropped.
“Margaret.”
“He knew Harold wanted your father frightened.”
“Frightened how?”
“With financial pressure.”
“Did he know about medication?”
“No.”
She sounded certain.
I wanted to believe nothing she said.
But something about her shame felt different now.
Then she reached into her legal folder.
“I kept one thing from Harold.”
She handed me a photocopy.
A transfer authorization.
My father’s convertible note.
Beneficiary:
Claire Morgan.
Contingent co-beneficiary:
Allison Reed.
I stared.
“Dad added her?”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
“This isn’t Thomas’s handwriting.”
“Then whose?”
She pointed at the signature.
My signature.
Forged.
Again.
Except this document was dated eleven months earlier.
Before Daniel proposed.
Before my father died.
Before I supposedly knew anything.
May you like
Someone had been using my identity for nearly a year.
And the witness signature belonged to Allison Reed.
