Carson met us at the sheriff's office just after noon.
Victor was being held in a small interview room.
Through the glass, he looked nothing like the confident man who had smirked at me in the cabin. His shirt was wrinkled. His hair was uncombed. His hands were folded tightly on the table.
“He asked for a lawyer,” Carson said, “but he also asked to speak to you.”
Sarah immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Carson looked at me.
“I agree with her.”
I watched Victor through the glass.
“Then why is he asking for me?”
“Because he knows you're the person who can tell whether his story makes sense.”
Sarah's expression remained firm.
“You don't owe him an audience.”
I nodded.
But I also knew something else.
Victor had been close to the scheme for years.
If he was finally talking, I wanted to know why.
“I'll listen,” I said. “With everyone present.”
Sarah didn't like it.
Neither did Carson.
But they agreed.
Victor entered the room with his attorney.
He sat down and looked at me.
“I didn't expect you to come.”
“You asked.”
He glanced toward Sarah.
“She won't let me talk to you privately.”
“She shouldn't.”
A faint smile appeared.
“Fair enough.”
Carson sat opposite him.
“Start with the cabin.”
Victor looked at his attorney, then back at me.
“I knew it was valuable.”
“You knew before Eleanor died.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
“Because Derek had debt.”
That answer was too simple.
“Derek's debt doesn't explain photographs of my wife.”
Victor looked down.
“No.”
“Then explain those.”
His jaw tightened.
“Derek wanted the property.”
“And you?”
Victor didn't answer.
Carson leaned forward.
“Mr. Hayes, we already have financial records connecting you to North Ridge, the loan applications, the appraisal requests, and the transfers to Derek. We're not asking because we have no idea what happened. We're asking because we want your account.”
Victor exhaled.
“I wanted the property too.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought I could develop it.”
The words landed heavily.
He explained that years earlier, he had been looking at lakeside properties for a small development project. Eleanor's cabin had been unsuitable at first because the trust made the ownership complicated.
“But then the market changed,” he said. “The road improved. Nearby parcels sold. The value went up.”
“And you saw an opportunity.”
“Yes.”
“What about Derek?”
“He saw the same thing.”
Victor admitted that he had begun discussing the cabin with Derek long before Eleanor died.
The conversations became more serious after her death.
Derek believed Claire would eventually inherit the property.
Victor believed that was too slow.
“So you decided to pressure me.”
Victor looked away.
“Derek said you would never sell.”
“He was right.”
“I know that now.”
Sarah slid a copy of the developer's email across the table.
“Why did the buyer ask for confirmation of Arthur's health?”
Victor stared at it.
“Because Derek told them you were getting worse.”
“When?”
“Months ago.”
“Before the forged medical document?”
“Yes.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“So the health story was already being used to justify a sale.”
Victor nodded.
“Derek told the developer that Claire would soon have control.”
“And the developer believed him?”
“He believed the paperwork would be clean.”
Carson asked, “Who created the paperwork?”
Victor hesitated.
“Martin.”
Sarah's eyes narrowed.
“Martin Cole?”
“Yes.”
“Did he create the forged medical certification?”
Victor shook his head.
“Not directly.”
“Who did?”
Victor looked at his attorney.
His attorney whispered something.
Victor finally said, “A man Martin knew.”
Carson wrote something down.
“Name?”
Victor gave it.
Carson's expression didn't change.
But Sarah's did.
I didn't recognize the name.
Apparently it was a former records contractor who had worked with medical offices and document-scanning companies.
Victor said the man was paid through North Ridge.
“Where did the doctor's signature come from?”
“Old records.”
“And Dr. Barrett?”
“He was already dead.”
Victor's voice was barely audible.
“You knew that?”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“You used a dead man's signature to declare me incapable.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Then I asked the question that had been bothering me since the fingerprint report.
“Why was your fingerprint on the document?”
Victor looked genuinely surprised.
“I touched it.”
“Why?”
“Derek brought it to my office.”
“When?”
“Two weeks before the deed was recorded.”
“What did you do?”
“I checked it.”
“Checked whether it looked real?”
“Yes.”
That admission was enough to make Sarah sit back.
Carson asked about the forged power of attorney.
Victor denied creating it.
But he admitted knowing about it.
“Derek said he needed authority to handle things while you were supposedly incapacitated.”
“Did you tell him that wasn't legal?”
Victor looked at me.
“I told him he needed better paperwork.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
It was almost unbelievable.
Almost.
Carson placed another document on the table.
It was the letter Derek had left at the cabin.
Victor read it.
“He wrote this after everything started falling apart.”
“He says you told him I would never agree willingly.”
Victor nodded.
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Because you wouldn't.”
That was the first honest answer I believed.
Victor then revealed something I hadn't expected.
“The resignation document was supposed to be signed before the deed.”
I frowned.
“What resignation?”
“The trustee resignation.”
“We found the draft.”
Victor nodded.
“Derek wanted you to sign it at the cabin.”
“Why didn't he just forge that too?”
Victor's eyes shifted.
“Because he thought you might sign if Thomas and Barbara were already there.”
Sarah's expression hardened.
“Pressure.”
Victor nodded.
“He wanted it to look like a family decision.”
The word made me feel sick.
Family.
They had used that word to dress up coercion.
Carson asked about Eleanor.
Victor's face changed.
“What about her?”
“She knew you were watching the property.”
Victor didn't answer.
“She wrote about you.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Victor looked down.
“Because Martin showed me one of her notes.”
My hands tightened.
“Why would Martin do that?”
“To prove she wasn't going to cooperate.”
Sarah stared at Victor.
“Did you threaten her?”
“No.”
“Did you approach her?”
“Yes.”
“What did you ask?”
“Whether Arthur would ever sell.”
“And what did she say?”
Victor gave a bitter smile.
“She told me the cabin wasn't mine to buy.”
That sounded exactly like Eleanor.
Then Victor leaned back.
“There is something else.”
Carson stopped writing.
“What?”
“The night before Derek recorded the deed, he called me.”
“What did he say?”
Victor looked directly at me.
“He said the original trustee appointment had been found.”
My heart stopped.
“Where?”
“At your daughter's house.”
“Derek had it?”
“Yes.”
“And he knew the original didn't match the recorded version.”
Victor nodded.
“That's why he panicked.”
I looked at Sarah.
She was already reaching for her phone.
“Claire,” she said.
But before she could dial, her phone rang.
It was Claire.
Sarah answered.
Her face changed within seconds.
“What do you mean he's there?”
She listened.
Then she looked at me.
“Derek is at Claire's house.”
My chest tightened.
“What happened?”
Sarah ended the call.
“Claire says Derek has been asking for the original trustee appointment.”
“And?”
Sarah's eyes met mine.
“She says he brought a suitcase.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 15: The Suitcase Derek Thought He Could Hide
The U-Haul Was Already Half Empty When I Reached the Cabin, and the Man on My Porch Told Me the Property Was No Longer Mine
Part 14 of 40
