Chapter 17 - WayneI couldn't speak.
Wayne had been dead for eleven years.
I had attended his funeral.
I had watched them lower his coffin.
I had seen his name on the death certificate.
Agent Mercer placed another document on the table.
The death certificate.
Forged.
My vision blurred.
“Then who was in the coffin?”
“A body belonging to a man whose identity was never verified.”
Sarah looked furious.
“And Wayne?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“Until three years ago.”
My heart stopped.
“Three years?”
Mercer nodded.
“He died in Switzerland.”
I stared.
“So why continue after his death?”
“Because Voss took over.”
Arthur Voss.
The real architect.
Mercer explained that Wayne had been a middleman.
He recruited hospital staff.
Falsified records.
Moved money.
But Voss had created the system.
“The money in your flour tin was emergency cash,” Mercer said.
“From Mama?”
“Yes.”
“How did she get it?”
“She stole it back.”
I almost laughed.
“Mama stole money from Voss?”
“Over several decades.”
That explained the amount.
But not why $18,940 remained.
Mercer gave me another document.
“Your mother was planning to expose him.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“Why didn't she?”
“She was killed.”
I froze.
“What?”
Mercer looked at me.
“Her death was not natural.”
The room exploded in silence.
Mama had been seventy-eight.
Her doctor said heart failure.
I remembered her last week.
Tired.
Shaking.
She had told me she was ready to rest.
I had believed her.
“You're saying she was murdered.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Poison.”
Emily covered her mouth.
Russell looked destroyed.
“Can you prove it?”
Mercer nodded.
He removed a sealed pathology report.
Toxicology.
A substance was listed.
Digoxin.
My hands trembled.
“Who had access?”
Mercer answered:
“Her medication.”
I looked at Russell.
He shook his head.
“No.”
I didn't accuse him.
I couldn't.
Not yet.
Mercer continued.
“There's another problem.”
“What?”
“Your mother left the poison trail intentionally.”
“What?”
“She wanted us to find it.”
He handed me a final note.
Mama's handwriting.
Linda,
If they tell you my death was natural, don't believe them.
I knew they would come.
The money isn't the inheritance.
I read the final line.
Then everything inside me went cold.
The inheritance is the proof that you are his daughter.
I stared at Agent Mercer.
“Whose daughter?”
He looked at me.
May you like
Then at the three sisters.
“Mine.”
