Chapter 4 - Jennifer Brings Thomas’s Old Evidence
Jennifer arrived forty minutes later.
Emily expected to hate her.
Instead, Jennifer entered looking uncomfortable, carrying a worn brown
folder and keeping a careful distance from Michael.
“I didn’t know Emily wasn’t invited tomorrow until this afternoon,” she
said.
Margaret scoffed.
Jennifer looked directly at Emily.
“Margaret told me you and Michael had already separated.”
Emily turned toward her husband.
Michael closed his eyes.
Another lie.
Jennifer placed the folder on the table.
Thomas had contacted her because her late father, attorney Samuel Walsh,
represented Carter & Sons during the fraud investigation.
Before Samuel died, he kept copies of several financial documents.
Jennifer found them while clearing his house.
One document showed retirement funds transferred into a shell company
called Marwick Holdings.
Thomas’s signature authorized the transfer.
But a forensic handwriting note attached years later said the signature
might have been traced.
Robert frowned.
“Why wasn’t this presented at trial?”
Jennifer pulled out a letter.
Her father had written:
THOMAS REFUSED TO LET ME CHALLENGE THE SIGNATURE. HE SAID THE FAMILY HAD
ALREADY LOST ENOUGH.
Robert sat down.
“What did that mean?”
Jennifer did not know.
Thomas claimed he accepted prison because someone threatened to expose
another family secret if he fought the charges.
Emily looked toward Margaret.
Margaret’s face was unreadable.
Then Lily spoke from beside Robert.
“Grandma has papers like that.”
Everyone turned.
Margaret snapped, “Lily.”
The child flinched.
Emily immediately pulled her close.
“What papers, sweetheart?”
“In Grandma’s Christmas bag.”
Margaret grabbed the red gift bag beside her chair.
Robert got there first.
Inside were wrapped presents.
Underneath them was a white envelope.
The envelope was addressed to Thomas Carter.
Robert opened it.
Inside was a cashier’s check for $250,000.
Michael stared at his mother.
“Why are you paying Uncle Thomas?”
Margaret’s voice became quiet.
“To stay away.”
Robert looked at the check.
Then at his wife.
“From what?”
May you like
Margaret finally answered.
“From telling you what really happened twenty-eight years ago.”
