Chapter 9 - The Woman Grant Called Catherine
We watched the clinic recording three times.
Catherine knew the camera was present.
She had positioned her chair so her face remained visible.
Grant believed she was helping him steal the fourth property.
In reality, she encouraged him to document every participant.
“What kind of mother lets her daughters go through this?” Madeline whispered.
I had no answer.
Mom had allowed me to be humiliated.
She had allowed Lily to become a weapon.
She had allowed Grant to create liens, insurance policies, and a possible murder plan.
Even if she intended to expose him, the cost had been paid by everyone else.
The clinic’s director finally agreed to meet us.
Catherine had entered voluntarily four years earlier under a private identity.
After the stroke, she recovered enough to speak but refused to return home.
She believed Robert and Grant would hide the financial records if they knew she survived.
Dr. Lang helped stage her death.
“He committed fraud,” Naomi said.
The director nodded.
“Catherine believed it was the only way to investigate safely.”
“Why not contact law enforcement?” I asked.
“She did. Two investigators warned Robert within hours.”
Mom decided to build a case outside the system.
She monitored Northstar through hidden accounts and allowed Grant to believe he had found a way to manipulate her.
The unknown voice in his messages was Catherine.
She told him which properties appeared vulnerable.
She watched who joined the scheme.
Robert.
Victor.
The broker.
The private lenders.
Several officials.
The fourth transfer was supposed to trigger automatic evidence release before closing.
Grant changed the destination account at the final moment.
The transfer became real enough to threaten the property.
“He nearly succeeded,” I said.
The director looked down.
“Catherine underestimated his willingness to harm you.”
“She should have known after Mom’s stroke,” Madeline said.
“She believed Grant caused the delay but not the medical event itself.”
The clinic security records provided the missing evidence.
On the morning Catherine collapsed, Grant entered the study carrying a bottle of heart medication.
He replaced several tablets.
Toxicology could no longer be performed, but his search history included the effects of combining the medication with Catherine’s prescription.
He may have caused the stroke.
Robert’s eleven minute delay allowed him to remove the bottle and the envelope.
Madeline closed her eyes.
“Dad knew.”
“He knew enough,” I said.
Police arrested Robert for conspiracy, obstruction, and his role in the forged transfer.
He did not resist.
Before leaving, he looked at us.
“Your mother destroyed this family long before Grant.”
“No,” I said. “She revealed what was already there.”
Grant remained in custody, but his attorney argued that Catherine authorized parts of the scheme.
That was true.
Her involvement complicated every charge.
Then Madeline gave investigators one final recording from the morning of lunch.
Grant stood beside her while she practiced Lily’s sentence.
Madeline looked uncomfortable.
“We don’t need to involve her.”
Grant smiled.
“Claire will forgive a child. That is why it works.”
Robert entered the room.
“Once Claire leaves, I sign the deed.”
Madeline asked whether Catherine approved.
Dad answered.
“She will after it is done.”
Then a woman stepped into the frame.
She wore my mother’s face.
But she was not Catherine.
The woman had no mark beneath her left ear.
Her hair parted on the opposite side.
She looked toward Grant.
“Do not make Claire suspicious before the final transfer.”
Madeline stared at the video.
“That woman was at lunch?”
“She entered through the kitchen,” Lily said. “Grandpa called her Aunt Caroline.”
Catherine had never told us she had a sister.
Naomi searched old birth records.
Catherine Mercer had been born a twin.
Her sister Caroline died at three days old.
At least that was what the certificate claimed.
The woman in the video was alive, involved with Grant, and using Catherine’s identity.
Before investigators could locate her, Grant escaped during a courthouse transfer.
Security footage showed him entering a car driven by the woman.
Lily’s location tracker activated from the back seat.
Madeline looked toward the empty chair beside her.
May you like
Her daughter was gone.
Continue to the next part: Grant abducts Lily and heads toward the fourth property with the missing beneficiary page.
