Chapter 7 - TWO ACCIDENTS
Ethan's father, Charles Hale, had died twelve years earlier when his car went off a mountain road.
Everyone called it an accident.
Ethan had been twenty-six.
Margaret became the grieving widow who held the family together.
Now Detective Ruiz pulled the old report.
The similarities were impossible to ignore.
Rainy night. Brake failure suspected but never proven. Vehicle released quickly. Private mechanic consulted by the family.
Raymond Pike.
"This doesn't mean your mother killed your father," Ruiz warned.
"I know what it means," Ethan said. "It means we have to ask."
Ava watched Ethan struggle to reconcile the mother he remembered with the woman who had drugged his wife.
Margaret never looked dangerous. Charity galas, pearls, perfect posture—that had been her greatest weapon.
That afternoon, Ava's attorney, Maya Brooks, arrived with copies of the documents recovered from Margaret's office.
"The trust transfer is only part of it," Maya said.
She laid out a second set of papers.
A petition for emergency guardianship.
A psychiatric declaration claiming Ava suffered from progressive cognitive impairment.
A proposed order giving Margaret temporary control over Ava's medical decisions.
And a draft amendment to Ava's estate plan.
"If this had gone through," Maya said, "Margaret would have controlled your treatment and nearly every major financial decision."
Ava stared at the forged signature beneath her name.
It was good.
Too good.
"Who prepared this?"
"Victor Lane's office."
Maya hesitated.
"But there's another signature you need to see."
She turned the page.
A witness had sworn that Ava signed the amendment voluntarily.
May you like
The witness was Ethan's younger sister, Claire.
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