Chapter 4 - LAURA'S SIGNATURE
Dean had memorized Laura’s passwords.
That was not difficult.
He created most of them.
When they married, he insisted on organizing everything.
Insurance.
Taxes.
Banking.
Utilities.
Laura considered it one of his strengths.
Now the forensic accountant showed her login records.
Trust transactions approved from Dean’s office computer.
Not Laura’s laptop.
Documents electronically signed at times when Laura could prove she was elsewhere.
One approval happened while she was attending Ava’s school concert.
There were photographs of Laura sitting in the auditorium.
Dean had claimed he was stuck at work.
He had been using her name from his desk.
The missing trust money went to three places.
A contractor connected to Dean.
A consulting company.
And a private account.
The private account belonged to Dean’s mother.
Marilyn Mercer.
Laura stared.
“My mother-in-law?”
Detective Moreno nodded.
“Forty-one thousand dollars.”
Laura almost laughed.
Marilyn had spent years telling Laura that Eleanor’s trust had made her “too protective of money.”
Apparently she had no objection to receiving some of it.
Then the consulting company was identified.
North Gate Family Strategies.
It sounded like counseling.
It was not.
It specialized in high-conflict divorce investigations.
Private surveillance.
Custody research.
Background reports.
Dean had paid them with Ava’s trust money.
To investigate Ava’s mother.
May you like
Laura’s stomach turned.
The broken arm suddenly felt like one chapter in a book Dean had been writing without her.
