Chapter 3 - THE WILL WITH A PAGE MISSING
Grandpa hired attorney Nora Bennett the next morning.
She had handled Grandma’s estate years earlier and knew the Williams family company better than most outsiders.
Williams Residential Group owned apartment buildings, assisted-living properties, and several parcels Arthur planned to develop with his fiancée’s family.
Mom had worked as the company’s internal accountant until her illness worsened.
Nora obtained Mom’s will.
It named Grandpa as our preferred guardian if Arthur became unwilling or unable to care for us.
Arthur’s attorney argued that being cruel at a funeral did not make him legally unable.
The judge agreed that a permanent decision required evidence.
Then Nora found something strange.
Mom’s will referred to an attached financial schedule.
The probate file contained the cover sheet and signature page.
The middle page was missing.
Arthur claimed Mom removed it herself.
Grandpa asked whether the sealed envelope might contain the missing page.
Nora refused to open it casually.
The handwriting on the front said:
TO BE OPENED WITH CHARLES, MY THREE DAUGHTERS, AND INDEPENDENT COUNSEL PRESENT.
Arthur petitioned the court to seize it as company property.
That petition told us the envelope frightened him enough to create a public record.
Meanwhile, he released a statement claiming Grandpa manipulated us during Mom’s final days.
Funeral video spread online.
People saw Arthur’s orphanage comment, but his attorney called it an edited moment of grief.
At school, Rachel heard another child say our father had thrown us away because we were difficult.
She punched a locker and bruised her hand.
I found her crying in the nurse’s office.
“We weren’t difficult,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“Then why didn’t he want us?”
I had no answer gentle enough for a nine-year-old.
That evening Nora received records from Mom’s hospice.
Three weeks before her death, Mom had requested a private legal visit.
Arthur canceled it, claiming she was too sedated.
The nurse’s notes said Mom was alert.
The lawyer Mom requested was never allowed inside.
His name was Daniel Mercer.
He had represented the independent trust that once held Grandpa’s company shares.
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Daniel Mercer disappeared from professional records two days after Mom’s funeral.
His office had been emptied overnight.
