Chapter 4 - Sign Where I Put Your Finger
Elise lifted Madeline’s favorite blue-flowered coffee cup.
“What about the documents?”
Andrew opened a kitchen drawer.
“Almost ready. She signs tomorrow.”
“What will you tell her?”
“That it’s the apartment insurance renewal. She always signs where I place her finger.”
Madeline stopped breathing.
Elise lowered her voice.
“And her mother’s inheritance?”
“Already transferred into the management account. Once the permanent power of attorney is filed, nothing stays in Madeline’s name.”
“The apartment?”
“Gone.”
“The Cape house?”
“Gone.”
“The gallery shares?”
“Those too.”
Madeline’s late father had left her a controlling interest in a small Boston art gallery. Her mother had transferred additional family property into Madeline’s name before the accident.
Andrew had managed the paperwork after she lost her vision.
He described himself as her protector.
Now she saw what protection meant to him.
He controlled the mail.
Selected the documents.
Placed her hand on signature lines.
Explained every transaction afterward in the voice she trusted.
Andrew and Elise had not simply stolen her marriage.
They had prepared to erase her legally, financially, and socially.
Madeline could have screamed.
She could have walked into the kitchen and forced them to look at her.
Then she noticed the small brown bottle beside the coffee maker.
Her evening eye drops.
Andrew gave them to her every night.
He claimed they prevented inflammation after the preparatory procedures.
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The previous afternoon, Dr. Bell had asked whether Madeline was taking any medication not listed in her records.
Her blood tests showed traces of a compound he had never prescribed.
