He had never examined me.
I took out my phone.
“Marcus?”
“Yes?”
“I need you to call Rachel Bennett.”
My attorney.
“At this hour?”
“Tonight.”
There was something in my voice.
He didn’t argue.
By ten-thirty, Rachel was sitting at my dining table with Marcus.
She read the petition without interrupting.
Then read it again.
“This has not been filed,” she said.
“Yet.”
“No.”
“Can they do this?”
“Anyone can petition. Winning is something else.”
She removed her glasses.
“The manufactured incident is disturbing.”
“Illegal?”
“Potentially. Especially if there was intent to create false evidence.”
Marcus placed a folder on the table.
“There’s more.”
He had asked his corporate staff to trace the Denver asset inquiry.
It originated from a firm representing Madison.
Not Daniel.
The request had included an attachment.
A power of attorney.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
I had never seen it.
Rachel leaned forward.
“Elaine?”
“No.”
“You did not sign this?”
“No.”
The room became very still.
Marcus said, “There were two attempted credit inquiries connected to trust assets last month. Both were automatically rejected because Elaine’s personal verification was absent.”
Rachel’s expression changed.
“This is no longer about a conservatorship.”
I understood.
“A loan.”
Marcus nodded.
“Someone attempted to use the trust as collateral.”
“How much?”
He hesitated.
“Three point two million dollars.”
For several seconds, I heard nothing at all.
Not the fire.
Not the wind.
Not my own breathing.
“Daniel said their debt was nine hundred thousand.”
Rachel looked at me.
“Then either Daniel lied or someone else has a much larger problem.”
I thought of Madison’s face.
Not greedy.
Afraid.
“What aren’t we seeing?”
Marcus opened another document.
“The entity requesting financing is called Northstar Design Development.”
Madison’s company.
Rachel asked, “Do you know its financial condition?”
“No.”
Marcus did.
“Now I do.”
He slid a report toward me.
Northstar was not merely struggling.
It was collapsing.
Overdue loans.
Lawsuits from contractors.
Unpaid taxes.
Personal guarantees.
Nearly two million dollars in liabilities Daniel apparently knew nothing about.
Rachel looked grim.
“She didn’t need your trust to help Daniel.”
I finished the sentence.
“She needed it to save herself.”
Christmas Eve morning arrived bright and brutally beautiful.
Aspen looked innocent beneath fresh snow.
I had slept perhaps two hours.
At eight, someone knocked.
I expected Marcus.
It was Lily.
Daniel stood several feet behind her.
“Grandma!”
She launched herself against me.
I held her so tightly she squeaked.
“Merry almost Christmas.”
“Daddy said I could see your secret house.”
“It isn’t secret anymore.”
She marched inside.
Daniel remained at the threshold.
“May I?”
I almost said no.
Then I saw his face.
He looked twenty years older than he had downstairs.
