Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO HELPED HIM LIE
Margaret Hayes arrived at my house the following afternoon without calling.
She wore a cream coat, pearl earrings, and the same expression of injured dignity she had used whenever someone questioned her son's behavior.
I let her inside.
She declined coffee.
“You've gone too far,” she announced.
I closed the front door.
“Good afternoon to you too.”
“Victor is dying. The last thing he needs is a legal battle.”
“Then perhaps he shouldn't have attempted to transfer disputed assets.”
“He wanted to provide for his son.”
“Which son?”
Her face hardened.
“You know exactly what I mean.”
I led her into the living room.
For years, I had allowed Margaret to speak to me as if marriage to her son had been a privilege I needed to earn every day. I had endured her criticisms of my cooking, my clothes, and the way I raised Ethan. I had cared for her after surgery and accompanied her to appointments when Victor was traveling.
I had done all of it because I believed family was something people built through patience.
Now I wondered whether Margaret had ever considered me family at all.
She sat on the edge of the sofa.
“You've always been ambitious, Eleanor. I knew that from the beginning.”
“Ambitious?”
“You wanted to be involved in Hayes Development. You wanted access to Richard's papers. You asked questions about the trust.”
“Because I was married to Victor and the assets affected our household.”
“You should have trusted him.”
I almost laughed.
“Your son had another child, maintained a separate household, and moved money through companies I didn't know existed. Why would I trust him?”
Margaret's eyes flashed.
“Men make mistakes.”
“Thirteen years is a long mistake.”
She stood abruptly.
“You think you're better than us because you kept records?”
“No. I think records are useful when people lie.”
For the first time, her composure cracked.
She looked toward the window, then back at me.
“Richard created that trust because he didn't trust Victor to manage the business alone. He was always suspicious. He thought my son was reckless.”
“Was he?”
Margaret didn't answer.
I sat across from her.
“Why is Northstar Advisory connected to the payments?”
Her expression changed.
Only slightly, but I noticed.
“I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“Daniel has records showing your name among the directors.”
“I signed paperwork Richard asked me to sign. I didn't manage the company.”
“Then you'll have no trouble explaining that under oath.”
She stared at me.
“You would put your own mother-in-law on a witness stand?”
“You stopped being my family when you helped conceal financial transactions that may affect my son's inheritance.”
She stepped closer.
“You have no idea what you're dealing with.”
I held her gaze.
“Then explain it to me.”
For a moment, I thought she might.
Instead, she picked up her handbag.
“You'll regret this.”
After she left, I called Daniel and told him everything.
He advised me not to contact Margaret again without him present. The investigation was moving beyond a marital dispute into questions about the administration of the family trust.
Two days later, the forensic accountant delivered a preliminary report.
It was worse than we had expected.
Several payments from companies associated with the trust had been routed through Northstar Advisory before appearing in Victor's private accounts. Some funds were later used to cover property expenses. Others went toward private school tuition, travel, and household costs connected to Melissa.
The report did not prove every transaction was improper, but it raised enough questions to justify a deeper investigation.
There was another discovery.
A series of payments had been made to an account in the name of a company called EH Legacy Services.
The initials were mine.
I had never heard of the company.
Daniel found that it had been registered using an old address where Victor and I lived during the early years of our marriage.
Someone had created a company in my name without my knowledge.
I sat very still as Daniel explained.
“Could Victor have forged my signature?”
“We don't know yet. The registration documents contain a signature that resembles yours, but we need a handwriting expert. It may be a forgery, or someone may have used a document you signed for another purpose.”
“What was the company used for?”
“That's what we're investigating.”
I felt cold.
For thirteen years, I had believed I was documenting Victor's secret life.
Now I had evidence that someone might have been building a financial trail designed to implicate me.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Eleanor, if this company was used to receive or transfer money, we need to be prepared for the possibility that someone intended to blame you if the transactions were discovered.”
“Victor?”
“Possibly. Margaret. Another business partner. We don't have enough evidence to identify the person responsible.”
I stared at the papers.
The secret payments had always seemed like an effort to hide Melissa and Caleb.
Now they looked like part of a much larger arrangement.
That evening, I visited Victor again.
He was awake, sitting upright with an oxygen line beneath his nose. Melissa had gone to meet her attorney, and Margaret was nowhere to be seen.
“You came back,” Victor said.
“I have a question.”
He smiled weakly.
“You always do.”
“Who created EH Legacy Services?”
His expression changed so quickly that I almost missed it.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“Answer the question.”
He turned toward the window.
“I don't remember.”
“It's registered in my name.”
“Then ask your lawyer.”
“My lawyer has asked. That's why I'm here.”
He looked at me again.
For the first time, I saw something close to genuine fear.
“You should stop digging,” he whispered.
“Why?”
“Because you don't know what you'll uncover.”
“Then tell me.”
He closed his eyes.
“I can't.”
I leaned forward.
“Can't or won't?”
His breathing grew uneven.
“Eleanor, please.”
The plea unsettled me more than his anger had.
I waited.
Finally, he opened his eyes.
“Your name was used because people would trust it. You were the clean one. The person no one would suspect.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who used it?”
He swallowed.
“I didn't start it.”
“But you knew?”
He didn't answer.
The monitor continued its steady rhythm.
I stood.
“Victor, if you know someone used my identity, you need to tell the truth.”
He turned his face away.
“I have done terrible things,” he whispered. “But not everything was my idea.”
I walked toward the door.
“Then perhaps you should decide which truth you want to leave behind.”
As I reached the corridor, I heard him call my name.
I stopped but didn't turn around.
“Eleanor?”
“Yes?”
“Don't trust my mother.”
I looked back.
Victor's eyes were wet.
“Whatever happens,” he whispered, “don't let her get the original ledger.”
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
“What ledger?”
But Victor had closed his eyes, and the nurse was already hurrying toward the room.
I left the hospital with one new question.
May you like
If Victor feared his own mother, then who had really controlled the secret for thirteen years?
And why was everyone so desperate to find a ledger that supposedly no longer existed?
