Chapter 6 - More Than One ThiefPatrice ended the call before Sloan could answer.
Then Nolan said, “She sounded scared.”
“No. She sounded angry that I found something.”
“Those can be the same thing in this family.”
Sloan closed Adrien’s laptop. “We need Meredith.”
They met the attorney at her downtown office an hour later. Detective Ruiz joined by phone, and Sloan forwarded the ORCHARD files through an encrypted link.
“This changes the shape of the case,” she said.
“How?” Nolan asked.
“Until now, Warren looked like the central actor. These messages suggest Patrice may have been moving money without his full knowledge.”
Sloan almost laughed. “So they were stealing from me and from each other.”
“Possibly. Do not confuse betrayal between conspirators with innocence.”
Meredith tapped the draft family settlement.
“This document is especially important. If Patrice expected Sloan to sign after the funeral, the forged funeral release may have been part of a larger plan to create pressure while Sloan was vulnerable.”
Ruiz’s voice came through the speaker. “And missing cremated remains create enormous pressure.”
Sloan felt sick again.
“They took Adrien so I would sign?”
“We don’t know that,” Meredith said. “We know the timing is suspicious.”
Nolan stood at the window.
“There’s something I haven’t told you.”
Sloan looked at him.
He kept his back turned.
“Three weeks ago Dad asked me to get Sloan’s signature specimen from the trust portal.”
The room went still.
“What?”
“He said the bank needed it to correct a formatting problem on old documents.”
Sloan stared at her brother.
“You gave it to him?”
“Yes.”
Nolan turned around. His face was gray.
“I logged in through the company administrator account. I downloaded two signature pages and emailed them to Dad.”
Meredith’s voice sharpened. “Do you still have that email?”
“I think so.”
“Do not delete anything.”
Sloan rose from her chair.
“Nolan.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You never know.”
He flinched.
The words came out harsher than she intended, but she did not take them back.
“You sign whatever Dad puts in front of you. You download whatever he asks for. You tell yourself you’re helping with paperwork. How many times does not knowing become choosing not to know?”
Nolan swallowed.
“I don’t have an answer.”
“Adrien was dying, and he was still doing more to protect my future than my own brother.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Sloan grabbed her coat and walked into the hallway.
Meredith followed.
“Give yourself five minutes before you drive.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“Good.”
Sloan leaned against the wall.
“I want to hate him.”
“Nolan?”
“Yes.”
“That would be easier.”
“He helped them.”
“He may have. Intent matters legally. Consequences matter emotionally.”
Sloan closed her eyes.
Meredith lowered her voice. “Adrien did not clear Nolan in his notes because he loved him. He wrote ‘likely unaware’ because the evidence led him there.”
“That doesn’t make me less angry.”
“It shouldn’t.”
When Sloan returned, Nolan had found the email.
He had sent Warren two PDF signature pages at 7:42 p.m. on October 11.
Warren replied: Got them. Don’t mention this to Sloan. She has enough on her plate.
Sloan’s chest tightened.
Adrien had been admitted to hospice the previous morning.
Nolan went pale.
Then Meredith noticed something else.
“October eleventh,” she said. “The forged funeral authorization was created October twelfth.”
Nolan sat down.
Sloan felt anger become something colder.
“Dad used what Nolan sent him.”
“Maybe,” Ruiz said. “We still need metadata and device evidence.”
“But that’s what it looks like.”
“Yes.”
A second email sat beneath Warren’s reply.
From Patrice.
Subject: Re: signatures.
Patrice wrote:
Good. Warren thinks this is for the bank cleanup. Send me the originals too. Graham needs clean samples before the settlement packet is finalized.
Nolan read it aloud.
Then again.
“Dad didn’t ask for the signatures for the funeral form,” he said.
Sloan understood.
“He asked for some other reason.”
“And Mom had her own reason.”
Meredith leaned toward the screen.
“This suggests Patrice knew about the settlement forgery before Warren did, or at minimum wanted signature samples for it.”
Nolan rubbed his face. “So which one forged the funeral release?”
“We don’t know.”
His phone rang.
Warren.
Nobody moved.
“Answer it,” Ruiz said through the speaker. “Do not provoke him. Ohio generally permits recording when one party to the conversation consents, but I want you to follow my direction. Put it on speaker only if you’re comfortable.”
Nolan answered.
“Dad.”
“Where are you?”
“Out.”
“With Sloan?”
Nolan looked at her. “Yes.”
Warren exhaled.
“You need to stop this before your sister ruins everything.”
“What exactly is she ruining?”
“The company. Your inheritance. Forty years of work.”
“Did you take Adrien’s ashes?”
Silence.
Then Warren said, “You sound like her now.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I protected this family while your sister let that man crawl through our private records.”
“Did you forge her signature?”
Another pause.
“No.”
“Did Mom?”
Warren’s breath changed.
Sloan saw Meredith straighten.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Because I found emails.”
This time the silence was different.
Not caution.
Shock.
“What emails?”
“Between Mom and Graham Voss.”
Warren’s voice became quiet.
“Nolan, listen carefully. Do not tell your mother what you found.”
Sloan looked at Meredith.
Warren continued.
“And do not go home.”
Nolan’s face tightened. “Why?”
“Because if Patrice knows you have those emails, she will destroy whatever is left.”
The call ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then Meredith’s desk phone rang.
Her receptionist said Detective Ruiz had another line coming in from Celeste Rowan at the funeral home.
Meredith connected it.
Celeste sounded breathless.
“I found the inventory photograph from yesterday. The sealed box had a tamper label with a serial number.”
“Yes?” Sloan said.
“I checked the strip police found under Warren’s car.”
Celeste inhaled.
“It doesn’t match.”
Sloan’s heart stopped.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the tape under your father’s car came from a different box.”
Meredith looked at the ORCHARD files.
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Nolan whispered, “Someone planted it.”
And Sloan realized Adrien’s trap had caught more than one person.
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