Chapter 7: The Son He Didn't Expect
The attorney's name was Patricia Howe.
She arrived at Sandra's house at nine-thirty with a leather briefcase and the unhurried manner of someone who had heard worse on a Tuesday.
She read the letter, examined the photograph, and asked Sandra forty minutes of precise, quiet questions while Marcus, Lily, and Robert sat at the kitchen table and listened.
When Patricia finished, she closed her notepad.
"The will is a matter of public record," she said.
"I can pull the filing tomorrow morning.
If the trust condition exists as Robert described, we'll know within twenty-four hours." She looked at Marcus.
"A DNA test between you and Robert will take ten to fourteen days for standard results.
I can request expedited processing — five to seven days.
That's the first step."
"What about Daniel?" Marcus asked.
"Daniel Croft sending an anonymous photograph with an implicit threat is not nothing.
It's not enough on its own, but combined with the estate context, it establishes a pattern." She set her pen down.
"Has he contacted you directly?
Phone, email, in person?"
"No," Sandra said.
"Has anyone approached Marcus at school, at work, anywhere outside this house?"
Marcus thought about it.
Then stopped thinking.
"Three weeks ago," he said slowly.
"A man came to the school parking lot.
Said he was a photographer, doing a project on local students.
He asked if he could take my picture." He looked at Lily.
"I thought it was weird but I didn't think—"
"Did you let him?" Patricia asked.
"No.
I walked away."
"Did you get a look at him?"
"Tall.
Maybe fifty.
Gray at the temples.
He was driving a black SUV." Marcus paused.
"He had a scar on his right hand.
Like a burn."
Patricia wrote that down.
"That's enough to include in the documentation," she said.
"Don't go anywhere alone for the next few days.
Not until we know what we're dealing with." She stood and looked at Robert.
"You said you ran into Daniel at a conference.
Do you have any record of that — a registration list, a badge, a photograph?"
"I can get the attendee list.
I registered through my firm."
"Get it." She picked up her briefcase.
"I'll call you tomorrow when I have the will filing.
In the meantime, don't contact Daniel Croft.
Don't acknowledge the photograph to anyone outside this room.
And keep that envelope exactly as it is."
She left.
The four of them sat in the kitchen.
Lily was the first to speak.
"He sent someone to photograph Marcus," she said.
"Before the will question even came up for us.
He's been building a file."
"He needed to confirm Marcus existed," Robert said.
"And that Marcus didn't already know about the estate."
"So what changed?" Marcus asked.
"Why send the warning now?"
Sandra looked at her hands.
"Because of the conference," she said quietly.
"Six months ago, Daniel saw Robert.
And Robert — without knowing it — confirmed that he and I had a connection.
Just by being there.
Just by being the kind of man Daniel's father had described in whatever notes he left." She looked at Robert.
"Daniel saw you and he started adding things up."
"And when Marcus showed up at your address tonight," Lily said, "Daniel may have had someone watching.
Someone who sent word."
Robert looked at his daughter.
"You're thinking very clearly for someone who was supposed to be at prom two hours ago."
"I'm thinking very clearly because I'm terrified," Lily said.
She didn't say it with drama.
She said it the way people state facts when they need to stay calm.
"And because if Daniel Croft decides Marcus is a problem, Marcus is standing right next to me."
Marcus reached across the table and took her hand.
She looked at him.
Seven months of dating.
A prom they never made it to.
A corsage on a kitchen counter.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said.
"I know," she said.
"That's what scares me."
May you like
Outside, a car passed slowly on the street.
Nobody moved until its headlights were gone.
