Chapter 2 — The Will That Gave Them Everything
I did not open the greenhouse door.
Not immediately.
Kyle had always been able to make himself sound helpless when he was in trouble. As a boy, he could break a window and somehow leave our mother apologizing for placing the window too close to his baseball.
But there was something different in his voice now.
Fear had stripped away the charm.
Penelope placed one hand on the metal case.
“Ask him whether he came alone.”
“Are you alone?” I called.
“Yes.”
“Where’s your car?”
“On the service road.”
“Why didn’t you use the driveway?”
He hesitated.
“Because Calvin has someone watching the house.”
Penelope and I exchanged a glance.
I unlocked the door but kept my foot braced against it.
Kyle stood outside in jeans and a wrinkled button-down shirt. He had lost weight since the funeral. Dark circles sat beneath his eyes, and the expensive watch he usually wore was gone.
He looked from me to Penelope.
“You found it.”
“What did you do, Kyle?”
His jaw tightened.
“I was trying to fix things.”
“That is not an answer.”
He pushed a hand through his hair.
“Calvin knows I owe money.”
“Dad’s recording said that. How much?”
“Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
I stared at him.
“You told me it was forty thousand.”
“It started at forty.”
“What kind of debt grows to nearly three hundred thousand dollars?”
“The kind you owe to people who don’t send polite reminders.”
Penelope’s tone remained cold.
“And Calvin offered to help?”
Kyle nodded.
“He said he would cover everything if I convinced Dad that Paige planned to sell the property.”
My stomach turned.
“You told him that?”
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You could have told me the truth.”
“You had just lost your marriage. Dad was dying. I thought I could manage it.”
“So you betrayed both of us instead.”
“I never thought Calvin would forge anything.”
Penelope stepped closer.
“What did you sign?”
Kyle looked at the ground.
“A statement saying Dad understood a proposed change to his estate.”
“Were you present when he signed the will?”
“No.”
“Did you witness his signature?”
“No.”
“But your name appears as a witness.”
Kyle went pale.
“I didn’t know that.”
“Who was the second supposed witness?”
“Dad’s night nurse. Mallory.”
Penelope’s expression hardened.
“Mallory was in Toronto visiting her sister on the date listed.”
Kyle closed his eyes.
“God.”
I wanted to scream at him.
Instead, I heard my father’s voice in my memory.
Firmly, daughter, but never cruelly.
“What does Calvin believe is in the greenhouse?” I asked.
“I don’t know. But he asked me yesterday whether Dad ever mentioned a blue key.”
Penelope lifted the metal case.
“We leave now.”
The following morning, the will reading took place in the formal library at Hart and Levinson, the law firm where Penelope had spent most of her career.
Calvin arrived wearing a navy suit and the solemn expression of a man attending his own coronation.
Tabitha walked beside him in cream-colored silk.
She smiled when she saw me.
Kyle entered several minutes later and sat near the door, avoiding everyone’s eyes.
Penelope took her place at the head of the table.
Two additional attorneys were present, along with a probate clerk and a court-appointed estate representative. Penelope had insisted on having every step witnessed.
Calvin leaned back in his chair.
“Can we please avoid unnecessary theatrics? Everett wanted this handled privately.”
Penelope opened the file.
“Mr. Mercer, you forfeited the right to speak for Everett when you divorced his daughter.”
Tabitha placed a manicured hand on Calvin’s arm.
“We all understand this is emotional for Paige.”
“I’m not emotional,” I said. “I’m listening.”
Penelope began reading.
The document was dated March eleventh, six days before my father died.
It revoked all prior wills.
It gave Calvin the house, forty acres of surrounding land, my father’s investment portfolio and controlling interest in Bennett Agricultural Holdings.
Kyle was given four hundred thousand dollars.
I was given my mother’s jewelry, my father’s books and thirty days to vacate the property.
Tabitha watched me throughout the reading.
She wanted tears.
She wanted rage.
I gave her nothing.
When Penelope finished, Calvin folded his hands.
“Everett knew I would preserve the property properly.”
“You’re planning to remove the roses,” I said.
Tabitha smiled.
“Some changes are overdue.”
The estate representative cleared his throat.
“Mrs. Mercer, the property cannot be altered until probate is completed.”
“Of course,” she replied. “We’re only discussing possibilities.”
Penelope lifted another document.
“The submitted will contains two witness affidavits. One attributed to Kyle Bennett and one attributed to Mallory Greaves.”
Kyle’s face turned gray.
Calvin did not move.
“Mr. Bennett,” Penelope continued, “did you witness your father sign this document?”
Everyone looked at Kyle.
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Tabitha’s fingers tightened around Calvin’s sleeve.
Finally, Kyle said, “I signed several papers for Calvin. I don’t know whether this was one of them.”
Calvin turned toward him.
“Be careful.”
The warning was quiet, but every person at the table heard it.
Kyle swallowed.
“I did not see my father sign that will.”
Tabitha leaned forward.
“Kyle has been under enormous stress. His memory is unreliable.”
Penelope looked at her.
“How would you know the condition of his memory?”
“We’re family.”
“No,” I said. “You married my ex-husband. That does not make you my family.”
Penelope then produced airline records proving Mallory Greaves had been in Canada on March eleventh.
For the first time, Calvin’s confidence cracked.
“This is absurd,” he said. “Everett arranged the witnesses himself.”
“Then we have a problem,” Penelope replied, “because one witness denies being present and the other was outside the country.”
Calvin stood.
“My attorney will respond formally.”
“He should.”
Tabitha rose beside him.
“This changes nothing. Everett wanted Calvin to have the estate.”
Penelope folded her hands.
“Perhaps. But before the court decides that, there is another matter.”
She removed the sealed document from the metal case.
Calvin stared at it.
His reaction lasted less than a second, but I saw it.
Recognition.
Penelope saw it too.
“This is a contingent estate protocol executed by Everett Bennett and notarized eight weeks before his death.”
Tabitha’s smile vanished.
Penelope broke the seal.
The room became silent.
She read the first paragraph aloud.
If any document dated after February first attempts to transfer my residence, land or controlling business interests to Calvin Mercer, that document shall be presumed the product of fraud, coercion or incapacity unless authenticated by Penelope Hart in person.
Calvin slowly sat down.
Penelope continued.
Upon presentation of such a document, all assets shall transfer immediately into the Bennett Legacy Trust pending investigation.
Tabitha looked at Calvin.
“You said he never signed anything else.”
He did not answer.
Penelope turned to the estate representative.
“Effective immediately, no individual beneficiary controls the house. The property is held by the trust.”
Calvin’s attorney whispered urgently to him.
I thought the trap had closed.
Then the probate clerk examined the final page and frowned.
“There may be a problem.”
“What problem?” I asked.
He turned the paper toward us.
The notarization seal was clear.
The signatures were clear.
But beneath the trust provision was a handwritten clause.
A clause none of us had seen before.
Paige Bennett shall serve as temporary trustee only if she has not been charged with theft, fraud or financial misconduct.
Tabitha’s smile slowly returned.
At that exact moment, two police officers entered the library.
One of them looked directly at me.
“Paige Bennett?”
“Yes?”
“We need to speak with you regarding funds missing from your father’s personal accounts.”
Tabitha leaned back in her chair.
May you like
The triumph in her eyes told me everything.
The forged will had not been their only plan.
