Chapter 7: The Dead Witness
Alicia read the witness's name again.
Her fingers tightened around the paper.
“No.””
Marcus stared at the signature.
“I told you.””
Alicia looked at him.
“You said it wasn't possible.””
“It isn't.””
“Then explain it.””
“I can't.””
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Let me see.””
Alicia handed her the document.
Vanessa's eyes moved across the page.
Her face changed.
“That's her.””
Alicia frowned.
“Who?””
Vanessa looked up.
“My grandmother.””
The room went silent.
Alicia's eyes dropped to the signature.
“But your grandmother wasn't dead twenty-five years ago.””
Vanessa shook her head.
“She was.””
Marcus whispered, “No.””
Vanessa looked at him.
“You knew?””
“I knew she died.””
“When?””
“Before I met you.””
Vanessa's expression hardened.
“Then how could she have witnessed this?””
Marcus had no answer.
Alicia took the document back.
There was something strange about the ink.
The signature was dark and fresh-looking compared with the faded handwriting around it.
She ran her finger over the page.
“This was signed later.””
Marcus stepped closer.
“How do you know?””
“Because the ink isn't the same.””
Vanessa leaned over the document.
“So someone forged her signature.””
Alicia shook her head.
“Maybe.””
Marcus looked toward the door.
“We need to call someone.””
“Who?””
“A lawyer.””
Alicia laughed bitterly.
“You think a lawyer is going to explain why a dead woman signed my grandmother's will?””
“No.””
“Then don't leave.””
Marcus stopped.
Alicia pointed toward the sofa.
“Sit.””
He obeyed.
Vanessa remained standing.
Alicia looked at her.
“You too.””
Vanessa sat slowly.
The emerald ring rested on the coffee table between them.
Alicia opened the original will again.
“Two beneficiaries,” she said.
“Me and Vanessa.””
Vanessa nodded.
“But why was Vanessa hidden?””
“I don't know.””
“You keep saying that.””
“Because my mother never told me the whole story.””
“Then tell me what she did tell you.””
Vanessa stared at the emerald.
“She said Evelyn wanted me gone.””
Alicia's eyes narrowed.
“My grandmother?””
“Yes.””
“She wanted her own granddaughter gone?””
Vanessa nodded.
“She said Evelyn believed my mother stole something.””
“What?””
“The emerald.””
Alicia looked at the ring.
“But the emerald was in my grandmother's possession.””
“Exactly.””
“So your mother stole it and somehow my grandmother got it back?””
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.””
Alicia waited.
Vanessa took a breath.
“My mother said Evelyn never had the emerald.””
Alicia's eyes widened.
“But I remember seeing it in family photographs.””
“That's not the emerald.””
Alicia stared at the ring.
“What?””
Vanessa pointed at it.
“That one is a copy.””
Marcus suddenly stood.
“No.””
Vanessa looked at him.
“Yes.””
Marcus shook his head.
“I saw the original.””
“When?””
“When I was fourteen.””
Alicia turned.
“You saw the original?””
Marcus nodded.
“It was in your grandmother's house.””
“Where?””
“I don't know.””
“Think.””
Marcus closed his eyes.
“She showed it to me.””
“Why?””
“She wanted me to understand what would happen if someone found it.””
Alicia's stomach tightened.
“What would happen?””
Marcus looked at Vanessa.
“She told me the emerald was proof.””
“Proof of what?””
He hesitated.
“That Vanessa was the rightful heir.””
Vanessa looked at him.
“You knew that all these years.””
“I knew what Evelyn told me.””
“And you married Alicia anyway.””
Marcus looked at Alicia.
“I didn't know she was the other heir.””
Vanessa laughed.
“You expect her to believe that?””
Alicia raised her hand.
“Stop.””
She picked up the emerald.
“If this is a copy, where is the original?””
Neither answered.
Then Alicia noticed the wooden box.
The brass key was still lying beside it.
She inserted the key into a tiny lock hidden underneath the box.
It clicked.
A secret compartment opened.
Inside was a small velvet pouch.
Alicia pulled it out.
Vanessa stood.
“Don't.””
Alicia opened it.
Inside was a second emerald.
Larger.
Darker.
Its green center seemed almost black beneath the light.
Vanessa gasped.
Marcus whispered, “That's it.””
Alicia stared at him.
“You've seen this.””
“Yes.””
“When?””
“Twenty years ago.””
Alicia held the emerald up.
A tiny symbol was carved into the stone.
A crown.
Beneath it, two initials.
*E.C.*
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“My mother said the original had that.””
Alicia looked at the will.
Then the emerald.
Then the forged signature.
“Why would someone make a copy?””
Vanessa's face went pale.
“To fool the person who inherited it.””
Alicia slowly lowered the stone.
“Who inherited the real one?””
Vanessa didn't answer.
Alicia looked at Marcus.
He whispered, “Your grandmother never gave it to either of you.””
“Then who has it?””
Marcus looked toward the bookshelf.
“There was another compartment.””
Alicia turned.
“Where?””
Marcus pointed to the lowest shelf.
“Behind the family Bible.””
Alicia pulled it out.
A folded photograph fell from behind it.
She opened it.
The picture showed Evelyn standing beside a younger woman.
Vanessa stared.
“That's my mother.””
Alicia looked closer.
Her grandmother was holding something in her hand.
The original emerald.
But there was another detail.
A small child stood behind them.
A little girl.
Alicia's breath caught.
She recognized herself.
Then she noticed the date.
The photograph had been taken the same year her grandmother supposedly warned Marcus never to trust Vanessa.
Alicia turned the picture over.
A sentence was written there.
*ONE GIRL WAS TOLD SHE WAS AN HEIR. THE OTHER WAS TOLD SHE WASN'T.*
Alicia's heart pounded.
She looked at Vanessa.
“Which one were you?””
Vanessa's lips trembled.
“I don't know.””
Alicia turned to Marcus.
“And you do.””
Marcus stared at the floor.
“Yes.””
“Tell me.””
May you like
He slowly raised his eyes.
“You were the one who was lied to.””
