Chapter 10 - WHAT GRANDMA DID
Margaret admitted being there.
But she denied touching Nathan’s car.
Rachel had called her that afternoon, hysterical.
Nathan discovered more missing money.
He threatened divorce.
Margaret went over to mediate.
Mason was in the garage.
Margaret assumed he was fixing Rachel’s car.
She did not know he had opened Nathan’s hood.
“Why leave that out?”
“Because after Nathan died, I realized what it looked like.”
“What did Mason say?”
“That Nathan had asked him to check a noise.”
Peter did not believe it.
Neither did police.
But suspicion was still not proof.
Mason had automotive experience.
He could plausibly claim Nathan requested help.
Then investigators found a deleted message recovered from Margaret’s old phone backup.
Rachel had sent it two hours before Nathan died.
Mom, Mason fixed the problem. Nathan won’t be taking the kids anywhere.
Rachel argued the message referred to the custody argument.
Peter thought it referred to the car.
Both interpretations were possible.
Rachel survived again.
But something changed.
Mason panicked.
He contacted Claire secretly.
He wanted immunity.
In exchange, he would explain the trust scheme.
Not Nathan’s death.
Peter reluctantly agreed to listen.
Mason admitted the fake educational company, inflated renovations and fraudulent medical billing.
Rachel designed most of it.
He processed transactions.
“How much did she take?”
“About two million.”
Peter stared.
That was far more than they knew.
“Where is it?”
Mason looked toward the door.
“She didn’t keep it.”
“Then where?”
“She was paying someone.”
“Who?”
Mason hesitated.
Before he answered, Claire’s receptionist entered.
Police were downstairs.
Rachel had reported Mason for extortion.
She produced messages showing him demanding $500,000 for silence.
Mason’s face drained.
“I never sent those.”
Rachel had anticipated betrayal.
She had prepared evidence against her own partner.
Mason was arrested.
His credibility collapsed immediately.
As officers led him out, he twisted toward Peter.
“She’s not stealing the trust for herself!”
Peter followed.
“Then why?”
Mason shouted before the elevator closed:
“Nathan had another family!”
Peter froze.
Claire looked at him.
Nathan?
Another family?
That evening, they searched financial records outside the trust.
Every month for five years before Nathan died, he sent $4,000 to a woman named Allison Grant.
Peter found her address.
When Allison opened the door, a boy around nine stood behind her.
May you like
He had Nathan’s eyes.
---
