Chapter 6 - The Dead Notary’s Signature
Luke drove three blocks before speaking.
He kept both hands on the wheel and checked the rearview mirror twice.
“Is Raymond following us?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then tell me why Aunt Evelyn’s name is on that document.”
“I don’t know.”
“You handed it to me.”
“I found the copy two weeks ago.”
“Where?”
“In Mom’s bank records.”
I stared at him.
“You’ve been reviewing her accounts?”
“I started after Raymond asked me to approve the sale of Dad’s workshop.”
“Our father’s workshop belongs to the estate.”
“Not anymore. According to the trust, Raymond controls it.”
“And you waited two weeks to tell me?”
Luke’s jaw worked.
“You haven’t answered my calls in years.”
“You called twice. Both times you asked me to apologize to Raymond.”
“I was trying to keep access to Mom.”
I looked out the window at the wet streets.
The old neighborhood had changed. New fences. Renovated porches. Security cameras above front doors.
Our house seemed trapped in another time.
“Why did Mom say the abuse started when I left?”
Luke swallowed.
“Because Raymond blamed her for not stopping you from leaving.”
My chest tightened.
“He punished her for me?”
“He punished her for everything.”
The words sounded too practiced, as if he had repeated them privately many times.
“Did you know?”
“Not about the hitting.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I knew he controlled her phone. I knew she stopped going to church. I knew Martin increased her medication.”
“And you did nothing.”
“I paid the utility bills. I brought groceries. I checked on her whenever Raymond allowed it.”
“Allowed?”
Luke struck the steering wheel with his palm.
“You think I’m proud of this?”
“No. I think you’re scared.”
He pulled into the empty parking lot behind a closed pharmacy.
For the first time, he looked directly at me.
“I’m terrified.”
He took out his phone and opened a hidden folder.
Inside were photographs of bank statements, prescription labels, and checks written from Mom’s account.
Most payments went to normal expenses.
Then I saw monthly transfers to a company called Hearthstone Senior Management.
Each payment was just under ten thousand dollars.
“Who owns Hearthstone?” I asked.
“Raymond says it pays for private care.”
“Mom has no private caregiver.”
“I know.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred eighty-six thousand over eighteen months.”
My fraud instincts sharpened.
“Where does the company bank?”
“I couldn’t trace it.”
“Why not?”
“The statements disappear from the online account after thirty days. Raymond gets paper copies.”
Luke swiped to another image.
A photograph showed Mom’s coat hanging in the mudroom.
A small black device was clipped beneath the collar.
“What is that?”
“Audio transmitter.”
My skin went cold.
“He was listening through her coat?”
“Not just the coat.”
Luke pointed toward my sweater.
I searched the fabric and found nothing.
“He didn’t have time,” Luke said. “But he’ll assume you copied something.”
“He has my phone.”
“That buys us maybe an hour. He’ll try to unlock it.”
“It requires my face.”
“Martin has sedatives. Raymond has patience.”
The image of Mom trapped between them made my stomach twist.
“We go back.”
“No.”
“She’s alone.”
“She’s alive because Raymond thinks you lost the evidence.”
“He knows I found the wall.”
Luke looked away.
“You weren’t supposed to find that today.”
I heard the sentence clearly.
“Supposed to?”
He exhaled.
“I planned to remove the box tonight.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know. The key disappeared years ago.”
I opened my hand.
The brass key lay against my palm.
Luke stared at it.
“Mom gave you that?”
“She sewed it into her coat.”
His face drained of color.
“Then Raymond saw the coat.”
“He didn’t see the key.”
“He won’t need to. He checks the lining whenever she leaves the house.”
Luke started the truck.
“We have to get there before he finds the torn seam.”
His phone rang.
Raymond’s name appeared on the screen.
Luke declined the call.
It rang again immediately.
Then a text message appeared.
COME BACK ALONE OR CLAIRE’S MOTHER TAKES ANOTHER FALL.
Beneath the words was a photograph taken seconds earlier.
Mom stood at the top of the basement stairs.
May you like
Raymond’s hand rested against the middle of her back.
📖 See why Luke refused to return alone—and what Claire risked when Raymond threatened to send Margaret down the basement stairs in CHAPTER 7. 👇
