Chapter 6 - The Account with Olivia's Name
"She hasn't even finished high school," Adrian told Priya. "How could she receive that money?"
"She didn't," Priya said. "The account is labeled Olivia Mercer Education Trust, but the routing information goes to an institution we don't use. I'm requesting confirmation of the beneficial owner."
Adrian remembered Vanessa asking for Olivia's school records and identification that spring. She had said it was for college planning.
He called Olivia. "Did Aunt Vanessa ever ask you to sign bank papers?"
"She made me sign something at Christmas," Olivia said. "She said it was a gift account from Mom."
"Did you get a copy?"
"No. She told me I was too young to understand it."
Adrian closed his eyes. Nora had left Olivia a real education fund, managed by an independent trustee. His sister knew that. She had used the name of a legitimate gift to make a false account sound ordinary.
"Listen carefully," he said. "You haven't done anything wrong."
"That's what Clara keeps telling me."
"I'm going to find out whose account it is."
"Dad? Why didn't you believe Clara when she told you something was wrong?"
He could not use shock or stress as an answer. "Because I liked the story Vanessa told me better than the truth Clara was showing me."
Olivia was quiet for a moment. "Then stop liking easy stories."
At the hospital, Celia obtained permission to preserve Clara's threatening text and asked investigators to examine the false petition. Clara also signed a statement describing Vanessa's months of little cruelties: hiding Emma's medication, canceling pediatric appointments, blaming Clara for missing house keys.
"She kept telling Adrian I was exhausted and unstable," Clara said. "I started wondering if I was."
That evening the bank confirmed the account's registered controller.
It was not Olivia.
May you like
It was Evan Kline.
And a second authorized signer was Vanessa Mercer.
