PART 21 — “DON’T LET HER LEAVE”

Thomas was already reaching for his phone.

“Mark, listen carefully. Don’t sign anything. Don’t argue with Melissa. And don’t let her take those papers.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Ask for copies.”

I stood.

“We’re going there.”

Thomas shook his head.

“Not yet.”

“Thomas—”

“Dorothy, right now Melissa doesn’t know we know what she’s carrying.”

That stopped me.

He was right.

Again.

I was beginning to dislike how often that happened.

Mark lowered his voice.

“She thinks I’m in the kitchen getting coffee.”

Thomas said, “Good. Go back. Keep her talking.”

“About what?”

I looked at the $4.75 million offer.

“Ask her what happens after tomorrow.”

Thomas nodded.

“Exactly.”

Mark returned to his living room.

His phone remained connected in his pocket.

We heard his footsteps.

Then Melissa’s voice.

“Everything okay?”

“Fine.”

A cup touched a table.

Mark asked casually:

“So after Mom sees Dr. Price tomorrow, what happens?”

Melissa answered too quickly.

“We submit the assessment.”

“To whom?”

A pause.

“Whoever needs it.”

“Silver Meadows?”

“Among others.”

Thomas wrote every word.

Mark continued.

“And then Mom moves in on the eighteenth?”

“Yes.”

“For thirty days?”

Melissa hesitated.

“That was the original plan.”

My stomach tightened.

“Original?” Mark asked.

“Well…”

Another pause.

“Carol thinks thirty days may create unnecessary complications.”

I looked at Thomas.

He underlined Carol’s name.

“What complications?”

“If Dorothy goes home, she can interfere.”

Mark’s voice hardened.

“Interfere with what?”

Melissa realized she’d gone too far.

“I think you should discuss that with Alicia.”

“No. I’m asking you.”

Silence.

Then Melissa said:

“Mark, everyone is trying to protect your future.”

I almost laughed.

There was that word again.

Protect.

Mark asked, “Does Dr. Price know his conclusion is already written?”

Nothing.

“Melissa?”

Her chair moved.

“I should go.”

Thomas whispered:

“Copies.”

Mark said quickly, “Can I keep those papers?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“They aren’t final.”

“Then why is the conclusion filled in?”

Melissa didn’t answer.

We heard paper being gathered.

Then Mark said:

“Wait.”

“What?”

“My mother never signed this.”

Melissa’s voice changed.

“I don’t know anything about signatures.”

“You witnessed one.”

Silence.

Thomas closed his eyes.

Mark had pushed too hard.

“Mark,” I whispered, though he couldn’t hear me.

Melissa said:

“I really need to leave.”

A door opened.

Then Mark’s voice became louder.

“Melissa.”

“What?”

“You’ve never met my mother, have you?”

Silence.

I stopped breathing.

Then Melissa answered.

“No.”

Thomas’s pen froze.

Mark said:

“But your name is on a document saying you watched her sign it.”

“I was told she had signed.”

“That isn’t what witness means.”

“I know.”

Her voice cracked.

Finally.

Not polished anymore.

Not professional.

Afraid.

Mark lowered his voice.

“Who told you to put your name there?”

Melissa didn’t answer.

“Was it Alicia?”

“No.”

“Bruce?”

“No.”

“Carol?”

A long silence.

Then:

“Yes.”

I shut my eyes.

There it was.

Thomas wrote the time beside the statement.

Mark asked:

“Why?”

Melissa began crying.

“She said it was family paperwork.”

“You work at Silver Meadows.”

“I know.”

“You submitted information saying my mother has memory problems.”

“Carol gave me the information.”

“And tomorrow’s evaluation?”

“I didn’t write that.”

“Who did?”

“I don’t know.”

“Melissa.”

“I swear.”

Then she said something none of us expected.

“Carol gave me the form already completed.”

Thomas and I looked at each other.

“Who signed it?” Mark asked.

“She said the doctor would.”

“Would?”

Silence.

“Melissa, has Dr. Price even seen this?”

“No.”

My skin went cold.

Mark exhaled.

“So the doctor hasn’t evaluated Mom.”

“No.”

“He hasn’t written this conclusion.”

“No.”

“And Carol already has a form saying he did.”

Melissa started crying harder.

“I didn’t know it had gone this far.”

Thomas muttered, “They always say that.”

Then we heard a car outside Mark’s house.

Melissa stopped crying.

“Oh God.”

Mark asked, “What?”

“She followed me.”

“Who?”

Melissa didn’t answer.

A car door slammed.

Then another.

Thomas stood.

“Mark, who’s outside?”

Footsteps approached Mark’s front porch.

Melissa whispered:

“Carol.”

I grabbed my coat.

Thomas didn’t stop me this time.

But before we reached the office door, Mark spoke again.

“Mom.”

“Yes?”

His voice was barely audible.

“Carol isn’t alone.”

I stopped.

“Who is with her?”

Mark moved toward his window.

Then went silent.

“Mark?”

“I don’t know him.”

Melissa did.

We heard her whisper:

“Daniel.”

Thomas turned toward Peter Lang.

Peter’s expression changed.

“What?” I asked.

Peter stood.

“Daniel Cross?”

The man Alicia claimed had received the twins’ missing college money.

Peter nodded slowly.

“I know that name.”

“From where?”

He pointed toward the $4.75 million offer on Thomas’s desk.

“He’s the consultant who first contacted our company about buying the Harper parcel.”

I stared at him.

And suddenly Daniel Cross wasn’t some mysterious investment man.

He was part of the land deal.

Outside Mark’s house, someone knocked three times.

Then Carol’s voice came through the phone.

“Mark?”

Another knock.

“Open the door.”

And Daniel Cross said something behind her that made even Thomas go still.

“We need the original trust before Dorothy realizes what Raymond did.”