Chapter 6 - UNCLE ROBERT
Robert Merritt arrived twenty minutes later, furious before he even crossed the threshold.
“You two need to stop whatever war you’ve started,” he said.
He was Daniel’s father’s younger brother, a retired corporate attorney who had spent most family gatherings telling everyone else how to behave.
Daniel put the document on the table.
“Did you witness this?”
Robert barely looked at it. “Yes.”
Emily’s breath caught.
“I wasn’t there.”
Robert’s eyes shifted to her. “You were.”
“No. I wasn’t.”
“It was last October. Margaret’s dining room.”
“I was in Chicago last October for the bakery expo.”
Robert hesitated.
Daniel opened Emily’s calendar and airline receipt.
“October fourteenth. She landed in Chicago at 9:12 that morning.”
Robert’s face changed.
Daniel leaned forward. “What exactly did you witness?”
Robert sat down.
For the first time, he looked old.
“Margaret brought me a stack of documents. She said you and Emily had already signed them but needed a family witness because the bank was rushing a deadline.”
“You witnessed signatures you didn’t see happen?” Emily asked.
He rubbed his forehead. “I trusted her.”
Daniel laughed bitterly. “That sentence has cost this family a lot.”
Robert looked at him sharply. “Watch your mouth.”
“No. You watch the document you helped legitimize.”
Silence filled the room.
Robert picked up the paper again.
“This signature may be copied from something else.”
Emily thought of dozens of contracts, birthday cards, checks, vendor forms.
Margaret had access to the house for years.
Robert reached for his phone. “I’m calling my malpractice attorney.”
Daniel stopped him.
“First, tell us what else she gave you.”
Robert went still.
Emily saw it immediately.
“There’s more.”
Robert looked toward the window.
“After Thomas died, Margaret asked me to witness a codicil.”
Daniel’s face drained.
“To Dad’s will?”
Robert nodded.
“You said the codicil was valid.”
“I believed it was.”
Daniel stepped closer. “Did you see Dad sign it?”
Robert said nothing.
“Did you?”
“No.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Emily remembered Margaret’s fake deed.
The transfer papers.
The doctored bank records.
Then Robert said the words that changed everything.
“There’s something else your father gave me before hospice. A sealed envelope.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What envelope?”
Robert swallowed.
May you like
“One Margaret made me swear I had destroyed.”
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