Mom gave you authority willingly.”
“She did.”
“Then why are you threatening her?”
The call ended.
A message immediately appeared in our family group.
Richard had posted a photograph of me and Arthur leaving Mira’s office.
Under it, he had written: “Our confused mother is being manipulated by a man she met on holiday.”
My hands shook as replies from relatives began appearing.
Eleanor reached across the table.
“Look at me, Helen.”
“My own son is telling everyone I’ve lost my mind.”
“He needs them to believe that because the truth frightens him.”
Arthur placed Daniel’s brass key beside my hand.
“We haven’t used this yet.”
Mira examined the number engraved on it.
“It belongs to a private records box at Daniel and Arthur’s old engineering firm.”
Arthur frowned.
“That building closes in an hour.”
We reached the firm as an employee was locking the front door.
Arthur called his
