Chapter 9 - The Boston Escrow
Claire and I traveled to Boston without public announcement.
The escrow attorney, Miriam Shaw, checked our identities and the trust instrument before producing the sealed records.
She was meticulous and unsentimental, which made me trust her more.
The packet contained copies of voting agreements, compliance memoranda, and correspondence showing that Dad had rejected a proposed reallocation of his fund's control rights.
Peter's proposal would have diverted power to an entity controlled by Adrian's family after Dad's death.
Dad had annotated the pages with the same sharp pencil marks he used on Ethan's arithmetic puzzles.
"No consideration. No consent. No authority."
I traced those three phrases with my finger.
Miriam showed us a visitor log.
Someone presenting forged identification in Dad's name had tried to collect the sealed packet six weeks after his stroke.
The attorney's staff refused because the visitor could not answer a verification question known only to Dad and Miriam.
"What question?" I asked.
Miriam smiled faintly.
"Which painting did your wife hate most?"
My mother had despised a watercolor of a gloomy harbor.
Dad refused to remove it because she'd purchased it for him as a joke.
My parents' private life had prevented a forgery.
For one brief moment, I laughed.
Then Miriam showed us an inventory sheet indicating that someone had also requested a duplicate certification from another office.
The request originated from a law firm retained by Harborstone Holdings.
Vanessa's apartment company had reached into Dad's estate records.
On the train home, Claire summarized the evidence we could actually use.
We had documents showing attempted interference with voting rights.
We did not yet have proof that Adrian ordered the impersonation.
We had evidence linking Peter to the plan and financial connections among companies benefiting Adrian's circle.
The gaps mattered because a careless allegation would give them room to maneuver.
I checked my phone and found six missed calls from Daniel.
A Voss Meridian warehouse in New Jersey had been shut down for an unscheduled safety inspection after an anonymous complaint.
Employees were being sent home.
Minutes later, I received a text from Adrian.
"You wanted control. Enjoy the responsibility."
May you like
There was no confession in those words.
There was a threat in their timing.
