Chapter 2 - MICHAEL’S LAST LETTER
Arthur did not touch the envelope immediately.
He stared at it as though it might explode.
Elena had seen that handwriting thousands of times.
Michael wrote notes on grocery receipts.
He left messages inside books.
He wrote her birthday cards in blue ink because he said black ink looked too serious.
The handwriting on the envelope looked real.
Victoria watched their faces.
“You recognize it.”
Elena swallowed.
“Where did you get that?”
Victoria ignored her.
Arthur finally picked up the envelope.
The paper was old enough to be genuine.
The seal had already been broken.
Arthur noticed.
“You opened it.”
Victoria shrugged.
“It was found in my house.”
“This is my house.”
“Technically, half of it is marital property.”
One of the detectives cleared his throat.
Arthur barely heard him.
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a single folded page.
His eyes moved across the first lines.
Then stopped.
Elena watched his face change.
“What does it say?”
Arthur did not answer.
“Arthur?”
He looked at Victoria.
“You expect me to believe this?”
“I expect you to recognize your son’s handwriting.”
Arthur read aloud.
“Father, if anything happens to me, do not assume Elena is innocent.”
Elena felt the room tilt.
Arthur continued.
“She knows more about the family accounts than she admits.”
“She has asked questions about the trust.”
“She has spoken repeatedly about what Lily would inherit if I died.”
Elena’s mouth opened.
“No.”
Victoria smiled.
Arthur kept reading.
“If I am gone, protect the family before emotion blinds you.”
Arthur lowered the letter.
Elena shook her head.
“Michael never wrote that.”
“You just said the handwriting was his,” Victoria replied.
“It looks like his handwriting.”
“Because it is.”
Elena looked at Arthur.
“Michael trusted me.”
Arthur’s expression was unreadable.
“I know.”
Victoria laughed softly.
“Do you?”
Elena stepped closer.
“Michael and I reviewed our wills together.”
“That isn’t suspicious.”
“We had a child.”
“Responsible parents discuss inheritance.”
Victoria turned to Arthur.
“Interesting explanation.”
Elena’s anger rose.
“You forged twenty-eight million dollars in transfers, and suddenly you produce a letter accusing me?”
Victoria’s smile vanished.
“You photographed private financial documents.”
“Because I found my dead husband’s signature on transfers made after his death.”
Arthur’s head snapped toward her.
“What?”
Elena realized she had said too much.
Arthur’s voice became sharp.
“What did you just say?”
Elena looked at Victoria.
Victoria’s eyes warned her not to continue.
That warning decided everything.
Elena handed Lily to the longtime housekeeper, Margaret, who had silently appeared near the dining room.
“Take her upstairs.”
Margaret nodded and hurried away.
Then Elena faced Arthur.
“Two weeks ago, I found a folder in Michael’s old desk.”
“There were transfer authorizations dated seven weeks after his funeral.”
Arthur’s face tightened.
“His signature?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because the next morning the folder disappeared.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“Convenient.”
Elena ignored her.
“I started searching.”
“I found copies inside a locked cabinet in Victoria’s office.”
“That’s when I photographed them.”
Arthur looked at the letter again.
“And this?”
“I have never seen it.”
Victoria spoke.
“Michael gave it to me.”
Elena stared at her.
“Why would Michael give you a secret letter about his wife?”
“Because he was afraid of you.”
“That is a lie.”
“He was planning to leave you.”
Elena actually laughed.
It came out as a broken sound.
“Michael and I were planning a second child.”
Victoria’s expression flickered.
Only for a second.
Arthur noticed.
“Were you?”
Elena nodded.
“We had an appointment scheduled with our doctor the week after he died.”
Arthur closed his eyes briefly.
Victoria turned away.
Detective Samuel Reed, the older of the two officers, stepped closer.
“Mr. Whitmore, we need to proceed with the financial investigation.”
Arthur looked at him.
“Take the letter.”
Victoria objected immediately.
“That is private family property.”
“It may be evidence.”
Arthur handed the envelope to Reed.
Victoria’s confidence finally slipped.
“You have no right.”
Arthur gave her a cold look.
“You wanted me to read it.”
“Now I want to know who really wrote it.”
Reed placed the letter into an evidence sleeve.
Victoria’s eyes followed it.
Arthur noticed that too.
The younger detective approached Victoria.
“Mrs. Whitmore, we need you to come with us.”
Victoria looked at Arthur.
“You’re making the greatest mistake of your life.”
Arthur did not answer.
She stepped toward the doors.
Then she stopped beside Elena.
Her voice dropped low enough that only Elena could hear.
“You should ask Arthur where Michael was going the night he died.”
Elena turned.
“What?”
Victoria smiled.
“Your husband wasn’t coming home to you.”
Before Elena could respond, the detectives escorted Victoria outside.
Arthur remained in the foyer.
Rain blew through the open doors.
Elena stared after Victoria.
“What did she mean?”
Arthur did not answer.
Elena turned toward him.
“Arthur.”
He looked suddenly older.
“What did she mean?”
Arthur glanced toward Michael’s portrait hanging above the staircase.
Then he said the one sentence Elena had never expected to hear.
“Michael called me forty minutes before the accident.”
Elena’s heart stopped.
May you like
“You told me he never called anyone.”
“I lied.”
