Chapter 13 - The woman who had every reason to hate me
Katherine Donovan was seventy-two.
She lived in Wisconsin.
She knew about me.
Always had.
Daniel had left her before meeting Laura, but their divorce stalled over property disputes.
Katherine blamed Laura.
Then Daniel died suddenly from an aneurysm.
His estate became chaos.
Katherine received significant assets as legal spouse.
I had potential rights as his child.
Grandpa tried to settle both sides.
Richard exploited the conflict.
For decades, Katherine believed Laura had tried to steal Daniel’s fortune.
Laura believed Katherine was helping Richard conceal assets.
Both women were partly wrong.
Richard had played them against each other.
Katherine’s company receiving trust money appeared suspicious.
But investigators discovered those transfers were repayments.
Grandpa had documented them.
Richard later altered descriptions to make them look illicit.
Why?
Because if I ever discovered the trust, Katherine would appear to be another thief.
Another enemy.
Richard built layers of blame around himself.
Katherine agreed to meet me.
She brought one thing.
A sealed envelope Daniel had written before his death.
Addressed:
For Emily, when she is old enough.
Richard told everyone it had been lost.
Katherine kept it because she did not trust him.
Why never give it to me?
Her eyes filled.
“Because I hated your mother more than I loved doing the right thing.”
Painfully honest.
She pushed it toward me.
“I’m sorry.”
Inside was a letter from a father I could not remember.
He described holding me as a baby.
How I grabbed his finger.
How he intended to finish the divorce and publicly acknowledge me.
How he wanted me never to believe I was unwanted.
I read the final paragraph three times.
You were not a mistake between complicated adults. You are my daughter. Whatever happens between the rest of us must never become your burden.
Too late.
But still.
I folded the letter.
Then Katherine told me something investigators had not discovered.
Daniel had owned a private warehouse property outside Chicago.
After his death, Richard took control.
Grandpa later demanded it returned.
Richard claimed it had been sold.
Katherine knew that was false.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel built a private records room underneath it.”
My heart tightened.
“Records of what?”
“Everything.”
The second ledger might prove financial theft.
The bank records might prove trust abuse.
But Daniel’s archive could show how long Richard’s scheme had existed.
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Then Katherine said:
“And if Richard hasn’t emptied it, there’s something down there you need to see about Laura’s accident.”
