Chapter 8 - The Sister Who Collected the Money
Rebecca had not been extorting us.
Someone was using her accounts.
Pike knew because he met her once.
Three years earlier.
She arrived terrified, with bruises on her wrists and no access to her own phone.
She told him someone had forced her to maintain the Clara Mercer identity.
Someone who wanted the trust.
“Who?”
“She wouldn't say.”
Pike started the fake mortgage-payment stream because he needed predictable money entering the controlled account.
He embedded tracking transactions inside.
The goal was to follow where funds moved.
I stared.
“You used my savings as forensic bait.”
“Yes.”
“You could have used ten dollars.”
He looked uncomfortable.
“The recipient demanded the full amount.”
“And you paid with mine.”
“Yes.”
I stood.
He stepped backward.
Good instinct.
I didn't hit him.
I wanted to.
“You all gamble with other people's lives because you think your reason is special.”
Nobody argued.
The money trail led to a company called Alder Crest Management.
Director:
Robert Vale.
My father froze.
“That’s not mine.”
Mom stared at him.
Pike nodded.
“We know.”
Someone had used Robert’s identity too.
Duplicate identities were not limited to me.
The pattern became clear.
Whoever controlled Rebecca was creating legal doubles.
Clara Mercer.
Robert Vale.
Possibly others.
Why?
To move money and property while making genuine family members appear responsible.
Exactly how Jonathan had been framed decades ago.
Same method.
Maybe same architect.
Walter whispered:
“Jonathan thought it was Marjorie.”
Mom snapped:
“I never did this.”
Pike looked at her.
“Jonathan stopped believing it was you five years ago.”
“Why?”
“He found the original forged deeds.”
Who signed them?
A woman named Evelyn Mercer.
Walter froze.
“My mother.”
Jonathan’s mother.
My grandmother.
Dead twenty-two years.
Or believed dead.
I almost laughed.
“Please don’t tell me another person faked their death.”
Walter shook his head.
He had seen his mother's body.
Natural illness.
Verified.
But Evelyn Mercer had a business partner.
Her younger sister.
Margaret Crane.
Identical twins.
Of course.
Margaret occasionally signed documents for Evelyn when Evelyn became ill.
At first legally.
Then perhaps not.
After Evelyn died, someone continued using her identity.
Margaret.
Walter hadn’t seen his aunt in twenty-seven years.
She disappeared shortly before Jonathan was framed.
Pike whispered:
“We think Margaret built the duplicate-identity system.”
Then Serena’s fiancé, Nathan, quietly stood.
“I should go.”
Every head turned.
Serena frowned.
“Why?”
He looked nervous.
“Family issue.”
Pike stared at him.
“What’s your full legal name?”
Nathan hesitated.
“Nathan Crane.”
Walter went white.
“Crane?”
Serena looked between them.
“What?”
Nathan backed away.
Then Pike said:
“Margaret Crane had one son.”
May you like
Nathan whispered:
“My father.”
