Chapter 8 - THE TRUST
Detective Hayes asked why someone would intentionally make Emma ill.
No one offered an answer.
Then my father’s attorney arrived.
That told me there was an answer.
Dad had called him before surrendering his phone.
The attorney advised him not to speak.
My father was not arrested, but police escorted him from the hospital for further questioning.
My mother followed.
Rachel and David left separately.
For the first time, Mark and I were alone.
Emma slept behind the glass wall of her room.
I stood with my back to him.
“How much more do you know?”
“I don’t know who poisoned her.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Mark removed an envelope from his jacket.
It contained a copy of my grandmother Evelyn’s trust.
She had died eight months earlier.
I knew she had left money to the family.
I did not know she had created a separate trust for Emma.
The account contained nearly six million dollars.
Control remained with my father until Emma turned eighteen.
If my father became unable to serve, control passed to Emma’s legal parents.
If one legal parent died or lost custody, the remaining parent controlled the funds.
A handwritten amendment created a different possibility.
If Emma’s genetic mother established legal guardianship, the court could appoint her as a co-trustee.
“Rachel could gain access to the money,” I said.
“Only if she became Emma’s legal guardian.”
“Why would Grandma write this?”
Mark looked at the floor.
“Your grandmother knew Rachel was the donor.”
“She believed Rachel had been pressured into signing the original agreement.”
I stared at the amendment.
Grandma Evelyn had always treated Emma differently.
She bought expensive gifts.
Asked strange questions about my marriage.
Repeatedly suggested Rachel should spend more time with her.
I thought she was trying to repair their strained relationship.
Perhaps she had been preparing something else.
Mark hired a private investigator after discovering the trust clause.
He found that Rachel and David owed more than four hundred thousand dollars.
Their apartment renovation was a lie.
They were facing eviction.
David had lost money through failed investments.
Rachel had quietly contacted three family-law attorneys.
She asked whether a genetic donor could challenge custody if the child’s legal mother was proven medically negligent.
My chest tightened.
“Making Emma sick would make me look negligent.”
“Yes.”
“And if something happened to me?”
Mark did not answer.
He did not need to.
The prescription amount in the birthday drink could have killed Emma.
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But perhaps Emma had never been the intended victim.
Perhaps her collapse was meant to destroy me.
