Chapter 5 - Margaret’s Signature
Margaret disappeared from the hospital for six hours.
Police found her in Emma’s kitchen.
She was sitting at the table holding a pen she had not used.
In front of her lay copies of three documents.
The first was a temporary medical power of attorney.
The second authorized emergency guardianship of Emma’s unborn child if Emma became incapacitated.
The third transferred control of a private family account into a temporary continuity trust.
All three contained Margaret’s signature.
Jack arrived with Ruiz.
Margaret did not deny it.
“I signed them.”
Jack stared at the pages.
“When?”
“The night before the funeral.”
His anger rose so quickly that he had to turn away.
“You thought Emma was dead.”
Margaret began crying.
“No.”
Jack turned back.
“No?”
“I knew she was alive.”
The room seemed to lose sound.
Ruiz pulled out a chair.
“Start at the beginning.”
Margaret folded her hands together.
“Richard came here the night before they said Emma died.”
“She was still in the house?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
“That Emma had found something she wasn’t supposed to find.”
Jack’s face tightened.
“What?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
Richard showed Margaret a video on his phone.
Emma was lying unconscious on a narrow bed.
Her face was pale.
An oxygen tube rested beneath her nose.
The camera moved down.
Her pregnant belly.
Then back to her face.
Richard said Emma was alive.
For now.
He placed documents on the table.
Sign them.
Margaret refused.
Richard played a second video.
A hand pressed against Emma’s abdomen.
A monitor showed the baby’s heartbeat.
Then Richard said:
“You can have both of them breathing tomorrow, or you can have two funerals.”
Margaret signed.
Jack stood so suddenly the chair fell behind him.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I tried.”
“There are no calls.”
“He took my phone.”
“The police?”
“He said Emma was being moved every two hours. He said if anyone came to the wrong location, she would disappear.”
“You believed him?”
Margaret’s voice broke.
“I saw my daughter unconscious.”
Jack paced to the window.
“You still arranged the funeral.”
“I had to make him think I was cooperating.”
“So you requested a closed casket.”
“Yes.”
“You let everyone believe she was dead.”
“Yes.”
Jack turned.
“And the ring?”
Margaret’s expression changed.
Ruiz noticed.
“What about it?”
Margaret whispered:
“I put it in Emma’s hand.”
Jack froze.
“What?”
The night before the funeral, Richard had allowed Margaret to see Emma for less than a minute.
Not at a hospital.
In the back room of the funeral building.
Emma was unconscious inside the casket.
Alive.
Margaret heard breathing.
She touched Emma’s cheek.
Richard pulled her away.
During the struggle, his ring slipped partially from his finger.
Margaret snatched it.
Richard did not notice.
“I thought if someone opened the coffin…”
“You left evidence.”
“I didn’t know if Emma would wake up. I didn’t know if I would get another chance.”
She forced the ring into Emma’s limp hand and folded the fingers closed.
Jack remembered Emma’s hand slowly opening.
For twelve hours Margaret had believed her daughter might be taken somewhere after the funeral.
The burial was a lie.
There had never been a cemetery permit.
The casket was scheduled for transfer to a private vehicle after the service.
Margaret had planned to follow.
Then Jack arrived.
Early.
Unexpected.
Everything broke open.
Jack looked at Margaret differently.
Not innocent.
She had still lied.
Still helped build a funeral around a living daughter.
But perhaps not because she wanted Emma buried.
“Why did Emma look afraid of you?”
Margaret’s face collapsed.
“Because she woke up once.”
“When?”
“When Richard let me see her.”
“What happened?”
“She opened her eyes.”
Margaret had whispered:
Emma, don’t move. I’m trying to help you.
But Richard stepped behind her.
Emma’s eyes drifted toward him.
Then back to Margaret.
The sedative took her again.
“She didn’t know whether I was helping him.”
That explained the fear.
Almost.
But not the word.
Mom.
Jack asked:
“Why did she say your name when she woke at the funeral?”
Margaret looked at the signed documents.
“Because there was one thing Richard made me do that I haven’t told you yet.”
She slid the guardianship form forward.
Beneath Margaret’s signature was the name of the person who would control Emma’s unborn child if both parents were unavailable.
Margaret Ellis was not listed.
Richard Cole was not listed.
May you like
The proposed guardian was:
Lena Cross.
