Chapter 7 - THE DOCTOR'S ENVELOPE
Dr. Bennett was waiting near the customer-service desk when Amelia emerged from the employee corridor.
He was in his early sixties, with a silver beard and a dark overcoat. He held a plain manila envelope in one hand.
Sarah followed Amelia at a distance.
The doctor looked at Amelia's stomach, then at her face.
“You have your mother's eyes.”
“Everyone seems to know my mother better than I do,” Amelia replied. “What do you want?”
“To give you something she asked me to keep safe.”
He held out the envelope.
Amelia did not take it.
“Why now?”
“Because Thomas has started asking questions about the records I kept.”
“What records?”
Dr. Bennett glanced toward the security cameras.
“Not here.”
“I'm not going anywhere with you.”
“That's wise.”
He placed the envelope on the counter.
“Your mother was my patient. Near the end of her life, she asked me to preserve a copy of a medical authorization she believed had been altered after she signed it.”
Amelia felt her stomach tighten.
“Altered by whom?”
“I don't know. But the authorization concerned the administration of her estate and the transfer of certain assets after her death.”
Amelia opened the envelope.
Inside was a photocopy of a document bearing her mother's signature. A second signature appeared at the bottom.
Thomas McCauley.
The document authorized Thomas to manage a portion of Margaret's financial affairs during her final months.
But the date was wrong.
The authorization had been signed six weeks after Margaret's death.
Amelia stared at it.
“That's impossible.”
“That's why I kept it,” Dr. Bennett said. “Your mother believed someone had forged her signature on a related document. She was afraid that the original would disappear.”
Sarah stepped closer.
“Doctor, did you ever give Thomas a copy?”
“No.”
“Did you tell him about this envelope?”
“No.”
The doctor looked at Amelia.
“I can't tell you who altered the document. I can tell you your mother spent the last year of her life trying to protect you from something she couldn't fully prove.”
Amelia's eyes burned.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“She wanted you to have a normal life. She believed the evidence would be enough if it ever became necessary.”
Dr. Bennett gave her his card.
“If you need the original medical records, contact my attorney. I won't release confidential patient information without proper legal authorization.”
He left before Amelia could ask another question.
Sarah watched him go.
“I've seen that signature before,” she whispered.
“Thomas's?”
Sarah nodded.
“He used the same authorization in a board presentation. He said your mother had agreed to transfer her voting rights before she died.”
Amelia looked at the document again.
“My mother never agreed to that.”
“Then we need the original.”
Rebecca filed an emergency request for the partnership's archived records.
Three days later, the custodian delivered a sealed box to her office.
Inside were account ledgers, trust documents, and the original voting-rights agreement.
Amelia sat beside Rebecca as she opened it.
The agreement bore Margaret Hayes's signature.
This time, the signature appeared genuine.
But the document included an additional page that was missing from the copy Thomas had presented to the board.
The page stated that Amelia's voting rights would become active when she turned thirty or upon the birth of her first child, whichever occurred later.
Amelia was thirty-two.
Her child would be born within weeks.
If the agreement was valid, she would soon have the power to demand a full review of the partnership's management.
Thomas had known about the clause.
The question was why he'd concealed it.
Rebecca turned to the final page.
“There is another problem.”
“What now?”
“The trust's beneficiary designation was amended twice. The first amendment removed a charitable organization. The second transferred a portion of the voting rights to a private trust.”
“Who owns it?”
Rebecca studied the signature.
“Someone named Eleanor Hayes.”
Amelia frowned.
“My mother's name was Margaret Hayes.”
“Eleanor was your grandmother.”
“My grandmother died before I was born.”
Rebecca nodded slowly.
“Then someone has been using the name of a dead woman to control your family's assets.”
That evening, Amelia received a call from Thomas.
He sounded exhausted.
“I know you've found the agreement.”
“Then you know the audit is going forward.”
“I want to explain everything.”
“You've had years.”
“Your mother and I made mistakes. I thought I could fix them without destroying the company.”
“By hiding money?”
“By protecting thousands of employees whose jobs depended on the company surviving.”
“And the women who were supposed to receive housing?”
He said nothing.
Amelia closed her eyes.
“Did you love me, Thomas?”
The question seemed to surprise him more than any accusation.
“Yes.”
“Then why did you treat me like something you could manage?”
His voice broke.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of losing everything.”
She almost told him that he'd already lost the one thing he couldn't buy back.
Instead, she ended the call.
That night, contractions woke her at 2:16 a.m.
They were irregular at first.
Then they became stronger.
By the time Rebecca arrived to drive her to the hospital, Amelia was gripping the edge of the kitchen counter and trying to breathe through the pain.
Her phone rang.
Thomas.
She ignored it.
It rang again.
Then a text appeared.
Please tell me where you are. I won't let you go through this alone.
Amelia stared at the message.
She didn't know whether she wanted him there.
She only knew that the baby was coming, and the world had become frighteningly small.
At the hospital, a nurse checked her and called for the obstetrician.
“Thirty-three weeks,” she said. “We're going to monitor you closely.”
Amelia's fear rose.
“Is my baby going to be okay?”
“We're going to do everything we can.”
As the nurses prepared the room, Rebecca called Thomas.
For the first time in months, Amelia didn't ask her to stop.
But when Thomas arrived, he wasn't alone.
Two men in dark suits followed him through the hospital doors.
One carried a document envelope.
The other carried a laptop.
May you like
Thomas looked at Amelia.
“I need you to sign something before the baby is born.”
