Chapter 6 - The Lake House
The Mercer lake house was worth six million dollars.
Robert had bought the Lake Geneva property decades earlier, when Daniel was a child. Family photographs showed birthdays on the dock, Christmas mornings beneath cedar beams, and Robert teaching Daniel to sail.
His will gave Margaret lifetime occupancy.
After her death, ownership passed fully to Daniel.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
Until the torn paper.
Daniel called the county register of deeds.
An hour later, his attorney obtained the records.
Three weeks before Robert died, a quitclaim deed had been recorded transferring the property into the Margaret Mercer Revocable Trust.
The deed bore Robert’s signature.
Daniel stared at it.
“He never told me.”
Emily looked at the notarization.
“Who notarized it?”
A woman named Janet Cole.
Charles Bennett searched the state database.
Janet’s notary commission had expired four months before the purported signing.
The room went silent.
“Could still be valid?” Daniel asked.
Charles shook his head. “The expired commission doesn’t automatically prove forgery, but it creates a serious problem.”
Emily asked, “Did Robert have to sign?”
“Yes.”
“Unless someone used his power of attorney.”
Charles checked.
The deed claimed Robert personally executed it.
Daniel whispered, “Mom forged it.”
Charles corrected him.
“We don’t know that yet.”
Daniel looked furious.
“I do.”
Emily watched him.
For the first time, his loyalty to Margaret had cracked completely.
That should have comforted her.
Instead she remembered his slap.
Daniel could change sides quickly.
She had learned that painfully.
They drove to the lake house Friday with Charles and a forensic document examiner.
Margaret was already there.
“You have no right to enter,” she said from the porch.
Daniel held up Robert’s will.
“I own the remainder interest.”
“Not anymore.”
“We’ll see.”
Margaret’s gaze shifted to Emily.
“You brought her?”
Emily stepped from the SUV.
“I go where my husband asks me.”
Margaret smiled.
“Still calling him that?”
Daniel flinched.
Inside, the house smelled exactly as Emily remembered: cedar, coffee, lake air.
They searched Robert’s study with Margaret’s attorney present.
The desk had been emptied.
So had the filing cabinet.
Then Emily noticed pale rectangles on the bookshelf where boxes had once sat.
“Who removed the files?”
Margaret shrugged.
“Your husband.”
Daniel stared.
“I haven’t touched this room since Dad died.”
Margaret’s attorney looked uncomfortable.
In the fireplace, Emily saw faint scorch marks.
Lucia’s photograph flashed in her memory.
Charles asked Margaret whether they could inspect her trust records.
“No.”
“Then we’ll request them in discovery.”
Margaret smiled.
“You people seem to think Robert was some helpless fool I manipulated.”
Daniel replied, “I think he trusted you.”
Margaret’s face sharpened.
“He betrayed me first.”
Silence.
Emily asked, “How?”
Margaret looked at her.
“You want family history? Ask your husband why Robert planned to remove Daniel as CEO.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
Margaret laughed.
“He didn’t tell you because he died before he could.”
“That’s a lie.”
“He thought you were weak.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“He thought you were too emotional to run the company.”
Emily watched Margaret find Daniel’s deepest wound and press.
It worked.
His anger redirected instantly.
“You’re lying.”
“Check the board drafts.”
“What drafts?”
“The ones your anonymous little friend hasn’t sent yet.”
Emily’s stomach dropped.
Margaret knew about the anonymous messages.
Daniel stepped toward her.
“Who is sending them?”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew Emily received them.”
Margaret’s expression shifted.
“Because Aaron told me.”
“Aaron?”
“He called after you fired him.”
“Where is he?”
Margaret smiled.
“Ask your wife’s lawyer.”
Emily frowned.
“I don’t know Aaron.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“Really?”
That evening, while driving home, Emily called Rebecca.
“Have you had contact with Aaron Pike?”
“No.”
“Anyone from Mercer Residential?”
“Only their counsel regarding preservation of the kitchen footage.”
Margaret had lied again.
But the lie had purpose.
She wanted Daniel suspicious of Emily.
At home, Daniel searched archived board emails.
At 1:04 a.m., he found it.
A draft resolution prepared six days before Robert’s death.
Transition of Chief Executive Authority.
Robert planned to remove Daniel as CEO temporarily and install an outside restructuring officer.
Daniel read the document twice.
His face hardened.
“My father didn’t trust me.”
Emily touched his arm.
“Or he was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From Margaret.”
Daniel looked at her.
She pointed to the final paragraph.
The restructuring officer’s mandate included:
Independent investigation of related-party payments and unauthorized transactions.
Daniel stared.
Robert had not planned to remove him because he was weak.
He had planned to pull him out of the line of fire.
Before Daniel could respond, the doorbell camera alerted.
Someone stood outside at 1:17 a.m.
A man wearing a baseball cap.
Daniel opened the intercom.
“Who are you?”
The man raised his face.
Emily recognized him from company Christmas photographs.
Aaron Pike.
The missing CFO.
He looked directly into the camera.
May you like
“Margaret knows I’m here,” he said.
“And if you want to know what Robert discovered, you need to let me in before she stops me.”
