I almost laughed.
“We were two frightened people who happened to be awake.”
Rachel wiped her eyes.
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“He tried to find you afterward.”
“Why?”
“He wanted to thank you properly. But you moved, and nobody knew where.”
“We wanted to start afresh.”
“Your old landlord didn’t have your forwarding address.”
“We didn’t leave one.”
“Margaret stopped using her stage name. Dad hired investigators over the years, but they kept reaching dead ends.”
“That’s how we wanted our lives to be. Devoid of the past.”
She opened a cabinet and removed a small laptop.
“There’s something I want to show you.”
A grainy video appeared.
Three people stood inside the old studio.
Charles was holding a camera.
Margaret was laughing while tying two lengths of fabric together.
And beside her stood a younger version of me.
I leaned toward the screen.
“Good Lord.”
Margaret looked so young.
Her hair fell over her shoulders.
I could hear her voice beneath the crackling recording.
“Arthur, you’re doing it backward!”
Young me laughed.
“Then stop moving my hands!”
She leaned over, adjusted my fingers, and tied the knot.
I felt tears running down my face.
Rachel paused the video.
“Dad kept recordings of everyone he worked with. This was one of his favorites.”
I touched the screen. “Margaret.”
Rachel waited while I collected myself.
Then she said something unexpected.
“Arthur, my father left something.”
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Before I could answer, someone knocked.
“Rachel? It’s Officer Daniels.”
She unlocked the door.
A gray-haired officer entered, accompanied by a younger woman carrying a briefcase.
Rachel introduced them.
“Officer Daniels has been helping us with a fraud investigation. And this is Helen, my father’s attorney.”
The officer shook my hand.
“Arthur, nobody here suspects you of wrongdoing.”
“That’s reassuring, considering the circumstances.”
He smiled slightly.
“Rachel called because we’ve had two people attempt to claim an inheritance using your name.”
“An inheritance?”
Helen opened her briefcase.
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“Charles named Margaret and Arthur as beneficiaries of a substantial portion of his estate.”
“How substantial?”
She studied my face.
“Approximately six million dollars, depending on final estate expenses.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it.
“Well, you’ve got the wrong Arthur.”
Helen shook her head.
“Your identity still needs formal verification, but Rachel believes you’re the person we’ve been searching for.”
She explained that Charles had established a trust before his death.
His instructions named Margaret and me.
If Margaret had died, her share would pass to me.
Charles also described the unusual knot Margaret had developed.
He wanted anyone claiming the inheritance to demonstrate it.
“That isn’t legally sufficient proof by itself,” Helen explained. “But it was his personal safeguard. We’ll use official records to confirm everything.”
Officer Daniels added that two impostors had appeared with forged documents after information about the inheritance leaked.
Rachel had helped expose them by asking about the knot.
Neither knew it.
“Why didn’t Charles just leave us a letter?” I asked.
Helen looked uncomfortable.
He did.”
She removed a sealed envelope.
“But there’s something you should know before reading it.”
Rachel looked down.
“My father requested that you receive this personally. He also said its contents might change whether you accepted the money.”
I took the envelope. My hands were shaking.
Across the front, someone had written:
Arthur and Margaret.
“Can I read it alone?”
Rachel nodded.
They stepped outside.
I opened the envelope.
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The letter was six pages long.
By the second page, I wished I’d never touched it.
Charles began by thanking us for saving his life.
Then he confessed something terrible.
He had started the fire himself.
He wrote that his circus was failing.
He’d spent his inheritance, borrowed money, and fallen behind on nearly every payment.
Creditors were threatening legal action.
He believed losing the studio would destroy him.
So he deliberately set the building on fire, intending to collect the insurance money.
He claimed he never wanted to hurt anyone or himself.
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But the fire spread faster than he expected.
He became trapped.
