She looked toward the window.
“Maybe because he didn’t trust the people around you.”
I didn’t answer.
By noon, Eleanor called.
She had uncovered something important.
The Vale development company’s financing package contained a document that appeared to grant preliminary access through Hawthorne Ridge.
It bore Thomas’s signature.
The date was four months before his death.
I stared at the phone.
“That’s impossible.”
“We believe so.”
“Thomas was in the hospital that week.”
“Exactly.”
“Then who signed it?”
“We’re investigating.”
I looked toward the blue folder on my desk.
“Is it legally valid?”
“That document alone does not transfer the property rights they need.
But it may have been used to persuade lenders that access had been secured.”
I closed my eyes.
“Whoever did this knew Thomas was dying.”
“Yes.”
“And they used that?”
Eleanor’s voice softened.
“I’m afraid that’s what it appears to be.”
