James fast-forwarded to another part of the recording.
“This one’s from about five weeks before he died,” he said quietly. “This is the one that matters most.”
Andre’s voice.
“Melissa. Look at this. It came in Dad’s mail. From some law firm called Patterson and Associates.”
Paper rustling.
“It says, ‘Enclosed please find a copy of your executed will dated February twelfth, for your records.’ Executed will. Dad made a new will.”
“Where’s the copy?”
“It’s right here. I took it before he saw the mail.”
A long pause.
Then Melissa’s voice. Very calm.
“Then nobody saw it. Shred it. We use the old one. The one in his desk. It’s signed, it’s witnessed. Sterling can handle the rest.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“Your son knew, Mrs. Hathaway,” James said gently. “He knew there was a newer will. He intercepted my letter. He hid it. And he took you to probate with an old will that he knew had been revoked.”
“Is that a crime?” I whispered.
“In Connecticut,” James said, “knowingly offering a revoked will to steal an inheritance is fraud. And larceny. Robert Sterling’s voice is on another recording. He knew too.”
He took a second document out of the folder.
“This is your husband’s real last will and testament. Signed in this office on February twelfth. Witnessed properly. Notarized. With letters from three separate doctors confirming he was completely competent.”
He slid it across the desk to me.
“It revokes every prior will. And it leaves you everything. The house on Maple Ridge. The investment accounts. The business interests. And several accounts Randall set up over the last few years that Andre never knew existed.”
“How much?” I asked.
“Approximately eight million, seven hundred thousand dollars.”
Eight million, seven hundred thousand dollars.
The number was so big I couldn’t even hold it in my head.
Andre had taken two and a half million from me. Never knowing his father had quietly put away more than six million more.
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