Chapter 5 - THE HUSBAND'S SIGNATURE
Michael swore he had never signed the affidavit.
Melissa brought in a forensic document examiner.
The signature was genuine.
Michael looked shaken.
Then he remembered.
Six months earlier, Amber asked him to sign documents relating to a temporary company loan.
Victor had notarized the package.
Michael had signed several pages quickly.
One signature page could have been detached and attached to something else.
Amber had prepared leverage months before the picnic.
Sarah finally stopped thinking of the incident as an impulsive act.
This was a campaign.
Melissa traced the consulting transfers Eleanor mentioned.
Carter Foods had paid nearly $2.3 million over three years to three vendors.
All had legitimate contracts.
All had performed some work.
But their charges were wildly inflated.
Two companies were connected indirectly to Victor.
One used the same accountant as Amber.
When Michael confronted his sister, she laughed.
“You think Sarah found fraud because her kid fainted?”
“Did you touch her bag?”
“No.”
“Was Victor at the park?”
“I don’t know where Victor goes anymore.”
“Did you know about Mom’s trust change?”
Amber paused.
“I knew she was confused.”
Michael’s face changed.
Amber was already preparing a competency attack against Eleanor.
That night, Amber filed a petition seeking temporary control of Eleanor’s voting shares.
She claimed their mother was experiencing memory problems and had become vulnerable to Sarah’s influence.
Sarah understood immediately.
The picnic incident now served two purposes.
Make Sarah look dangerous.
Make Eleanor look unreliable.
If both women lost credibility, Amber could challenge the trust.
Eleanor passed a cognitive screening the next day.
Amber responded by producing emails in which Eleanor seemed forgetful and paranoid.
The emails were real.
But stripped of context.
Melissa found entire reply chains missing.
Amber did not forge everything.
She edited reality.
Then Victor contacted Sarah.
Not through his attorney.
He called from a blocked number.
“I can tell you what happened at the park.”
Sarah recorded the call.
“What do you want?”
“Protection.”
“From Amber?”
Victor laughed quietly.
“No. From your husband.”
Sarah froze.
“Michael?”
“Ask him where he was Sunday between one and three.”
“He was working.”
“That’s what he told you.”
Victor continued.
“Amber didn’t plan the picnic alone.”
The call ended.
Sarah immediately checked Michael’s travel itinerary.
His flight home had landed at 12:18 p.m.
May you like
He had told her he arrived after six.
And Liberty Oak Park was only twenty minutes from the airport.
