Chapter 6 - The Whispers in the Dark
The sun was setting behind the trees, casting long, bruised shadows across our front lawn, when my phone buzzed on the kitchen island.
An unknown number. I swiped to answer.
“Clara Mercer?” a cautious, gravelly voice whispered through the speaker.
“Speaking. Who is this?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“It doesn't matter who I am,” the voice replied quickly. “I’m calling because I work security at the Sterling Estate archives. If you want to keep your custody rights and your son’s inheritance intact, you need to check the county probate annex tonight before midnight.”
“Why? What’s at the annex?” I asked, my pulse quickening.
“Eleanor’s legal team filed an emergency addendum an hour ago, attaching a forged medical addendum claiming your late husband, David, was legally disowned prior to his death, and that your son is therefore an illegitimate beneficiary.”
A cold chill ran down my spine. David hadn't been disowned; he had walked away voluntarily because he refused to participate in his family’s corrupt financial schemes. But if Eleanor forged an official disownment paper and backdated it through a corrupt county clerk...
“Thank you,” I said firmly. “I’ll be there.”
I hung up the phone, immediately dialing Judge Harrison’s private number.
“Judge,” I said the moment he picked up. “Eleanor is making her move. She’s filing a fraudulent disownment addendum at the county probate annex tonight.”
“That’s federal document tampering,” Harrison said gravely, his voice sharpening. “If she pulls that stunt, she’s crossing the line from civil probate dispute into criminal felony fraud.”
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“Meet me at the county annex in forty minutes,” I replied, grabbing my car keys from the hook by the door. “We’re going to catch them in the act.”
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