Chapter 2 - Daniel Was The Backup
Mr. Hayes made us sit down.
Nobody liked it.
We did it because he threatened to leave with every document in the folder.
My stained dress stuck to my skin.
Margaret sat at the far end of the table.
Daniel took the chair opposite me.
Mr. Hayes remained standing.
“Rebecca signed a beneficiary deed two years ago.”
Daniel stared at the centerpiece.
Mr. Hayes continued:
“She remained in full control of the property while alive. Upon her death, ownership transferred to Emma.”
“If Emma survived her,” Margaret said.
Mr. Hayes looked at her.
“Yes.”
I turned.
“You already knew that.”
Margaret didn't answer.
Daniel did.
“She told us.”
My anger sharpened.
“Mom told both of you and not me.”
“She tried to tell you plenty of things,” Daniel said.
I looked at him.
“Don't.”
He leaned back.
“You didn't answer her.”
That landed because it was true.
Not useful enough to save him.
Mr. Hayes continued before we could start again.
“The deed named Daniel as alternate beneficiary if Emma died before Rebecca.”
“So the date matters.”
“Yes.”
“March eighth means Daniel gets the house.”
“If the certificate were valid and the filing accepted without challenge, Daniel would have an argument.”
Daniel looked at him.
“An argument?”
Mr. Hayes's voice hardened.
“You are looking at a living woman.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“I didn't make that paper.”
I turned.
“No one accused you.”
“You were about to.”
“I am now.”
Margaret said:
“Emma.”
“Not you.”
Her face changed.
Good.
Mr. Hayes took the death certificate back.
“This copy was submitted to the county recorder along with paperwork asserting that Emma predeceased Rebecca.”
“Who submitted it?”
“I don't yet know who physically delivered the packet.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
Mr. Hayes turned.
“You should be less eager for details.”
Daniel stopped.
Interesting.
I noticed Mr. Hayes had said physically delivered.
Not who initiated it.
“What do you know?”
Mr. Hayes sighed.
“The filing references a title challenge opened through a private probate-document service.”
“Name?”
“Hollis Estate Services.”
Margaret looked confused.
Daniel didn't.
I saw it.
“So you know them.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“I called them.”
Margaret turned.
“You what?”
Not acting.
She genuinely had not known.
Daniel looked irritated that she was making this harder.
“I called to understand the deed.”
“You have Mr. Hayes.”
“Mr. Hayes represented Rebecca.”
Mr. Hayes said:
“And answered every legal question you asked me.”
“You answered as her lawyer.”
“She was dead.”
Daniel laughed once.
“Exactly.”
I watched my brother.
“When did you call Hollis?”
“Months ago.”
“How many?”
He hesitated.
“Daniel.”
“October.”
Two months before Christmas.
Not three days ago.
“What did you ask?”
“What happened if you never came back.”
I stared.
“Back where?”
“Here.”
“I attended Mom's funeral.”
“For ninety minutes.”
My throat tightened.
I had left before the family reception.
Because Margaret cornered me beside the casket and asked whether I had enjoyed making my mother die disappointed.
Daniel had stood ten feet away.
He hadn't stopped her.
I said:
“You knew I was alive.”
“In March, yes.”
“So asking what happens if I ‘never came back’ is not asking whether I died.”
“No.”
“Did you ask what happens if I died?”
He looked at Mr. Hayes.
Mr. Hayes answered for him.
“Yes.”
Daniel's head snapped toward him.
I stared.
“When?”
“April.”
A month after Mom died.
Mr. Hayes continued:
“He asked me whether the alternate beneficiary provision still mattered if you died after Rebecca.”
Daniel said:
“Normal question.”
“Why?”
“Because Emma wouldn't answer anybody.”
I laughed.
“My silence was not a terminal diagnosis.”
Daniel's voice sharpened.
“You changed your number.”
“After Margaret sent me thirty-six messages in two days.”
Margaret said:
“You were running away.”
I turned.
“I was going home.”
“To Chicago.”
“Yes.”
“This is your home.”
“No.”
The word landed harder than I expected.
Margaret's face changed.
Mr. Hayes waited until the silence settled.
Then:
“Emma, your death after Rebecca would not have transferred the property to Daniel under the beneficiary deed. Once Rebecca died, the house became yours.”
I looked at Daniel.
“So somebody needed me dead first.”
“Yes.”
Daniel's mouth tightened.
“And you asked exactly how the deed worked.”
“Ten months ago.”
“Then hired a private probate service.”
“In October.”
“And three days ago a certificate appears saying I died two days before Mom.”
“I didn't make it.”
Maybe.
I turned to Margaret.
“What did you know had been filed?”
She stared at the Christmas tree.
“A statement.”
“What statement?”
“About when we last heard from you.”
Mr. Hayes went very still.
I caught it.
“Who asked you to sign it?”
Margaret looked at Daniel.
This time he did not look back.
I asked again.
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
He pushed his chair away from the table.
“It wasn't a death certificate.”
“What did it say?”
Margaret answered:
“That Emma had been unreachable before Rebecca died.”
My skin went cold.
“I spoke to you in February.”
“You didn't speak to me in March.”
“You saw me at Mom's funeral.”
“After.”
“That is the point.”
Daniel stood.
“I told her it was for a title hearing.”
Mr. Hayes said:
“You told me nothing about an affidavit.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“You weren't helping.”
“I told you the deed was valid.”
“That isn't helping.”
I stared at him.
There it was—not proof of forgery, but something close to motive stripped of politeness.
Mr. Hayes pulled out his phone.
“What?”
I asked.
“I’m checking one thing.”
He stepped toward the window and made a call.
Daniel headed toward the foyer.
I stood.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
I looked around.
He almost smiled.
“You know what I mean.”
Mr. Hayes turned from the window.
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
Mr. Hayes held the phone away from his ear.
“Hollis Estate Services opened a title file on December twentieth.”
Not October.
Daniel's face changed.
Mr. Hayes continued:
“Three hours after my office notified the household that Emma would be here tonight.”
Nobody spoke.
May you like
Daniel had known exactly when I was coming back.
And whatever he began on December twentieth had produced my death certificate forty-eight hours later.
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