Chapter 14 - The Man Who Started It
Charles Carter had been dead for nine years.
But the statement he left behind was still destroying people.
Anna's affidavit described how Charles ordered Dr. Harlan to label her unstable after she refused to surrender future rights in the company.
Margaret had helped him.
Thomas had obeyed him.
Harlan had signed the papers.
But Charles designed the trap.
Ryan read the last paragraph twice.
"If anything happens to me, my son must be protected from the Carter family until he is old enough to choose for himself."
He sat down.
"She tried to protect me from all of them."
Anna, listening by phone from the hospital, said, "I tried."
Ryan's voice cracked. "Why didn't anyone believe you?"
"Because powerful people had records, doctors, lawyers, and a family name. I had fear and a newborn."
Harlan requested a lawyer.
Before he stopped talking, he gave Brooks one useful fact.
Margaret had kept copies of Charles Carter's hidden financial books.
That was how she controlled Thomas.
"Where?" Brooks asked.
Harlan smiled.
"Ask Jessica."
Jessica was stunned.
Then she remembered a cedar chest Margaret had forbidden anyone to touch when Jessica was a child.
It had moved from house to house with her.
The chest was currently in a storage unit registered under Jessica's maiden name.
"She used my name?"
Brooks nodded. "Looks that way."
They obtained a warrant before sunrise.
The cedar chest contained pension records, payoff lists, medical invoices, and years of letters Anna had written to Ryan.
None had ever been mailed.
At the bottom was a sealed envelope in Margaret's handwriting.
FOR RYAN - IF I LOSE.
Ryan opened it.
May you like
The first sentence made his face harden.
I DID NOT START THIS FAMILY'S LIE, BUT I DECIDED TO KEEP IT ALIVE.
