Chapter 10 - The Woman Who Ran Away
Margaret Vale lived in a small rented house nearly two hundred miles away.
When Mara and Caleb arrived, accompanied by Deputy Ruiz, the former notary looked frightened before anyone said a word.
Margaret was sixty-six, with thin silver hair and deep lines around her mouth.
She had once managed Graham Weatherby's office.
Now she lived alone, keeping her curtains drawn.
"I told your deputy everything over the phone," she said.
Elena nodded.
"We appreciate that. But Mrs. Winslow has some documents you should see."
Mara placed the questionable deed and easement modification on the table.
Margaret stared at the signature page.
Her hands began trembling.
"Where did you get these?"
"The county records office."
Margaret closed her eyes.
"I knew he'd record them."
Mara leaned forward.
"Did you notarize my signature?"
Margaret's face crumpled.
"I signed the acknowledgment. But you weren't there."
The room fell silent.
Mara felt a surge of anger.
"Then why did you do it?"
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
"Graham told me all the landowners had already signed. He said the documents had to be completed before a financing deadline."
"You believed him?"
"At first."
Margaret stared at her hands.
"Then I asked to see the original papers."
"What happened?"
"He told me I'd lose my job if I kept asking questions."
She explained that Weatherby had controlled her employment for nearly twenty years.
After her husband's death, she had depended on that job to support herself and her daughter.
"I was afraid," Margaret whispered.
Mara struggled to remain calm.
"Because you were afraid, he nearly took my farm."
Margaret nodded.
"I know."
Elena asked her to explain Thomas's involvement.
Margaret looked surprised.
"Thomas didn't witness your signature."
"His name is on the document."
"It wasn't there when I completed the acknowledgment."
Mara stared at her.
"Are you certain?"
"Absolutely."
Margaret described how Thomas had confronted Graham after discovering the fraudulent land transfer.
He had obtained copies of invoices and challenged the supposed property sale.
"He came to me afterward," she said. "He asked whether I'd help correct the records."
"Did you?"
Margaret swallowed.
"Not right away."
"Why?"
"Because Graham threatened to report me for the false notarization."
Mara looked away.
The woman had made a terrible choice.
But she had also been frightened into silence.
Margaret continued.
"Eventually, I agreed to speak with Thomas. He brought me a metal box containing documents and photographs. He wanted me to keep copies while he found an attorney."
Mara's heart pounded.
"The metal box from his trunk."
Margaret nodded.
"I still have it."
She disappeared into a back room.
When she returned, she carried a small steel document case.
The scratched lid was secured with a combination lock.
Margaret opened it.
Inside were printed insurance forms, bank correspondence, photographs, and a small digital storage device.
Elena carefully documented the contents.
Mara recognized Thomas's handwriting on several envelopes.
Her eyes filled.
"He trusted you."
Margaret looked down.
"And I failed him."
"He died before you could help?"
Margaret nodded.
"After his funeral, Graham came to my house. He knew Thomas had left something with me."
"What did he want?"
"The box."
"Did you give it to him?"
"No."
Margaret's voice grew firmer.
"That was the one thing I refused to do."
She explained that after receiving threats, she left town.
She had been ashamed to return.
Elena examined the documents.
One insurance payment record showed a forty-eight-thousand-dollar settlement deposited into an account controlled by Weatherby's company.
Another file concerned a second horse.
A chestnut mare named Nell.
The mare had also been reported dead after the fire.
Her insurance claim was for thirty-one thousand dollars.
Mara remembered Thomas's note.
Two horses loaded.
She leaned toward the paperwork.
"So both horses were declared dead?"
Margaret nodded.
"That's what Graham told the insurance company."
Caleb's expression darkened.
"Where is Nell?"
Margaret looked toward Deputy Ruiz.
"I don't know where she is now."
Then she pointed to a document near the bottom of the case.
"But that's the address of the property where Graham sent her after the fire."
Elena read it.
A remote livestock facility beyond the old Sutton quarry.
Margaret lowered her voice.
"Thomas believed both animals were kept there under different names."
Mara stared at the address.
Suddenly, everything became clear.
The missing mare.
The hidden livestock property.
The insurance settlements.
And Weatherby's desperate attempt to buy Slate back.
But then Elena opened another document.
It was a veterinary death certificate.
The signature at the bottom belonged to Dr. Ellen Brooks.
Mara frowned.
"Dr. Brooks examined Slate just weeks ago. She didn't know he'd been alive."
Elena's expression hardened.
"Then we need to ask her something very important."
May you like
She lifted the certificate.
"Did somebody forge a veterinarian's signature to collect nearly eighty thousand dollars?"
