Chapter 4 - The Missing Money
The recording lasted only four minutes.
Lucas watched it twice.
The first time, he barely breathed.
The second time, he listened to every word.
Eleanor stood beside the nursery window while Audrey paced behind her.
Sophia was apparently downstairs.
Leo was sleeping.
Audrey's recorded voice was unmistakable.
“We can't keep doing this forever.”
Eleanor answered calmly.
“We don't have to.”
“What happens when Lucas comes home?”
“He won't know anything.”
“And Sophia?”
A pause.
Then Eleanor said, “She won't have access to anything by then.”
Lucas stopped the recording.
“What does that mean?”
The investigator didn't speculate.
“We're still determining that.”
Lucas looked at Sophia.
She was staring at the tablet.
“Keep playing.”
The recording resumed.
Audrey mentioned transfers.
Eleanor told her to stop talking about them near the camera.
Audrey laughed.
“The camera's dead.”
That sentence explained their carelessness.
Then came something worse.
Eleanor mentioned the trust.
Not accurately.
But enough to reveal what she believed.
She apparently thought Lucas's long absence gave her an opportunity to establish greater control over the property and certain family assets.
Lucas watched without speaking.
Sophia looked at him.
“Lucas?”
“I need my attorney.”
“He's already been contacted,” the investigator said.
Lucas looked surprised.
“He's downstairs.”
Twenty minutes later, attorney Michael Grant entered the room carrying a leather portfolio and wearing the expression of a man who had already learned enough to know his evening would be long.
“Lucas.”
“Michael.”
They shook hands.
Michael looked toward Sophia.
“I'm sorry.”
Sophia nodded.
Michael sat down.
“We have a problem.”
Lucas almost smiled bitterly.
“One?”
Michael opened the portfolio.
“Your mother has been representing herself as having authority she does not possess.”
“I know.”
“There's more.”
He placed several printed documents on the table.
Bank transfers.
Lucas scanned them.
His eyes narrowed.
“These aren't mine.”
“No.”
“Where did they come from?”
“An account associated with household expenses.”
Sophia leaned closer.
“I never authorized those.”
Michael nodded.
“We suspected that.”
Audrey's name appeared repeatedly.
So did a company Lucas had never heard of.
“What is this?”
“We're investigating.”
Lucas stared at the amounts.
None individually looked catastrophic.
Together, they were substantial.
Michael continued.
“The trust itself appears intact.”
Lucas exhaled.
“But someone seems to have believed they could create enough financial confusion to pressure Sophia into leaving.”
Sophia's face went pale.
Lucas looked at her.
“Did they ask you to sign anything?”
Silence.
“Sophia?”
She looked down.
“Your mother brought papers.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“What papers?”
“I don't know. I refused.”
Lucas felt his pulse pounding in his neck.
“What happened when you refused?”
Sophia didn't answer.
She didn't have to.
Lucas's eyes moved toward the bruises on her arms.
Michael quietly closed the folder.
“Those documents may still be in the house.”
The investigator nodded.
“We'll locate them if they're there.”
Lucas stood and walked toward the window.
Outside, the city lights looked strangely peaceful.
His mother had raised him.
His sister had grown up beside him.
And while he was thousands of miles away, both had apparently convinced themselves that his wife could be isolated, intimidated and controlled.
He turned.
“I want them out of the house.”
Michael nodded.
“We'll handle that legally.”
“Tonight.”
“Lucas.”
“My wife isn't going back there while they're inside.”
Sophia spoke softly.
“I don't want to go back.”
Lucas immediately turned toward her.
“You don't have to.”
She looked relieved.
Then frightened again.
“But our things—”
“Things can be replaced.”
“Leo's nursery.”
Lucas sat beside her.
“We'll deal with it when you're ready.”
A nurse entered.
“Mr. and Mrs. Davis?”
Both stood.
The nurse smiled.
“Your son's temperature is coming down.”
Sophia covered her mouth.
Lucas closed his eyes.
For the first time that night, relief entered the room.
“Can we see him?”
“Yes.”
They followed the nurse.
Leo lay beneath a warmer, sleeping.
Sophia reached into the bassinet and touched his tiny hand.
His fingers closed around hers.
She began crying again.
But these tears were different.
Lucas stood beside her.
For several minutes, the nightmare outside that room disappeared.
Their son was improving.
They were together.
And Sophia was safe.
Then Michael appeared at the doorway.
He waited until Lucas noticed him.
Something in his expression immediately erased Lucas's relief.
“What?”
Michael stepped into the room.
“They found the papers.”
Lucas looked at Sophia.
“What were they?”
Michael held up a clear evidence sleeve.
Inside was a document bearing Sophia's name.
At the bottom was a signature.
Sophia stared at it.
“That isn't mine.”
Lucas looked closer.
The signature looked almost perfect.
Almost.
Michael's expression hardened.
May you like
“Someone forged your wife's signature.”
And according to the date printed at the top, it had happened only six days earlier.
