“Forged.”
“Cleanly, but yes. A professional would spot it in ten
minutes. The paper stock is wrong, the notary stamp is from a commission that expired in 2019, and the date was altered.” He took off his glasses. “Gloria, I don’t think she was trying to fool a court. I think she was trying to fool you, tonight, long enough to frighten you into talking.”
“And Trevor?”
“Probably Trevor too.” Howard’s mouth tightened. “It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s been telling him for months that he’s about to be disinherited.”
That was the piece that finally made it all fit. A
frightened, vain man. A wife who understood exactly which fears to feed. A loan from people like Voss, borrowed not for any business but to buy her silence about his affair. And once she had been paid, she had gone straight on planning to take the rest.
