The beneficiary was Rebecca Wilson.<\/p>\n
My father's older sister.<\/p>\n
My aunt.<\/p>\n
The woman whose funeral I had attended twelve years earlier.<\/p>\n
I could still remember the rain striking the church windows that day. I remembered my father's face beside the closed coffin. He had cried so openly that I had never forgotten it.<\/p>\n
Rebecca had supposedly died when her boat exploded during a storm off the coast of Maine.<\/p>\n
Authorities found pieces of the vessel, her coat, and enough evidence to declare her dead.<\/p>\n
They never found her body.<\/p>\n
Mom had always said Rebecca was unstable.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was running from something,\u201d she used to tell relatives.<\/p>\n
Now an account carrying Rebecca's identity was moving $2.4 million, and my father was heading toward a marina with a case full of documents.<\/p>\n
Detective Grant examined the account history.<\/p>\n
Rebecca's name, date of birth, and Social Security number all matched.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould someone have stolen her identity?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
She opened the transaction records.<\/p>\n
The account had been established fourteen years earlier.<\/p>\n
I was nineteen.<\/p>\n
The first deposit was $50,000.<\/p>\n
Two years later, three days before Rebecca supposedly died, another $700,000 entered the account.<\/p>\n
After that, the amounts became larger.<\/p>\n
Property transactions.<\/p>\n
Investment distributions.<\/p>\n
Payments from companies I had never heard of.<\/p>\n
My name appeared throughout the records.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never did this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you sign financial paperwork when you were nineteen?\u201d<\/p>\n
A memory surfaced.<\/p>\n
My father visiting my college apartment with a stack of documents.<\/p>\n
He told me they related to an education fund my grandfather had established.<\/p>\n
I had been studying for an exam.<\/p>\n
I barely looked at the pages.<\/p>\n
He pointed to the places where I needed to sign.<\/p>\n
I signed.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you receive fifty thousand dollars?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid your father control your mail?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant wrote something down.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe may have used your identity to create the account.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before I could answer, my phone rang.<\/p>\n
The number was hidden.<\/p>\n
Grant gestured for me to put it on speaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wind hissed through the connection.<\/p>\n
Then my mother's voice came through.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmily, you need to stop the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father is trying to fix this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy moving $2.4 million?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat money doesn't belong to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe account is in my name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn't make it yours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant leaned toward the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs. Wilson, this is Detective Sofia Grant. Tell us where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom went quiet.<\/p>\n
Then she gave a bitter laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have no idea what you're interfering with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you forged my daughter's signature,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n
Mom ignored her.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmily, your father isn't trying to hurt you. Everything he has done was meant to protect this family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the marina.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is he meeting?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Then Mom's voice dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you see Rebecca, don't believe anything she tells you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room seemed to shrink.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me Rebecca was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe should have stayed dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
Grant and I looked at each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother just said if I see Rebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means she's alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means your mother believes she could be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
A uniformed officer entered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarbor patrol located Wilson. Pier fourteen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs he alone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. He's with a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer brought up a security image.<\/p>\n
My father stood at the end of a pier holding the black document case.<\/p>\n
Beside him was a tall woman with silver hair.<\/p>\n
Her face was turned away.<\/p>\n
A private boat waited nearby.<\/p>\n
She wore a dark-blue coat.<\/p>\n
Rebecca had owned one exactly like it.<\/p>\n
I remembered that coat from childhood photographs.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you stop them?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarbor patrol is already moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant ordered me to stay in the vehicle when we reached the marina.<\/p>\n
I agreed.<\/p>\n
Mostly.<\/p>\n
Police vehicles blocked the road when we arrived.<\/p>\n
Officers surrounded Pier Fourteen.<\/p>\n
The boat engine had stopped.<\/p>\n
My father stood near the railing with his hands visible.<\/p>\n
The woman was gone.<\/p>\n
The black case remained beside him.<\/p>\n
Grant approached with two officers.<\/p>\n
They searched the boat.<\/p>\n
Below deck.<\/p>\n
Storage compartments.<\/p>\n
Every accessible space.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
No woman.<\/p>\n
No hidden compartment.<\/p>\n
No second vessel.<\/p>\n
Grant ordered the black case opened.<\/p>\n
Dad suddenly lunged toward it.<\/p>\n
Three officers restrained him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don't understand what's inside!\u201d he shouted.<\/p>\n
Grant opened the case.<\/p>\n
Folders.<\/p>\n
Statements.<\/p>\n
Property records.<\/p>\n
Insurance documents.<\/p>\n
Then she stopped.<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
I knew immediately that the contents were worse than I had imagined.<\/p>\n
Dad was taken into custody.<\/p>\n
Grant returned to the vehicle carrying several documents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was in it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginal bank records. Property documents. Insurance papers.\u201d<\/p>\n
She paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd a private trust agreement signed by your grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandfather died sixteen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does the trust say?\u201d<\/p>\n
She handed me the first page.<\/p>\n
My name was beside my grandfather's.<\/p>\n
The trust had originally been worth more than eight million dollars.<\/p>\n
Half belonged to me.<\/p>\n
The other half belonged to Rebecca.<\/p>\n
My father had been named temporary trustee until I turned twenty-five.<\/p>\n
I was thirty-three.<\/p>\n
He should have transferred control years ago.<\/p>\n
Instead, the money had been moved through companies and accounts established under my identity.<\/p>\n
I stared at the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stole my inheritance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe appears to have controlled it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much is left?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought about every time Dad had told me to help Jackson.<\/p>\n
Every time Mom had said my brother needed support more than I did.<\/p>\n
They had not merely spent what I earned.<\/p>\n
They had apparently been spending what my grandfather had left me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Greenwich house,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Grant nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cPurchased with trust money.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Jackson knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is part of our investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad was being escorted toward another police vehicle when he called my name.<\/p>\n
I stepped toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Rebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to let me explain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs she alive?\u201d<\/p>\n
He closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
Then nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer hurt more than I expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou made us bury an empty coffin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the only way to keep her alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlive from whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward the black case.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was already dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the people connected to him weren't.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Rebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI won't tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is connected to an attempted transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was trying to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who initiated the $2.4 million transaction?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom told me you were fixing this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wanted you to believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy transfer money to an account naming Rebecca as beneficiary?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the beneficiary designation is false.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe money would have passed through another company.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
His answer was quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything inside me went still.<\/p>\n
Dad explained that Mom had controlled hidden companies for years. She had used accounts carrying my identity to move trust money without exposing where it came from.<\/p>\n
He had helped her in the beginning.<\/p>\n
Then the amounts grew.<\/p>\n
Six months earlier, Rebecca had contacted him and threatened to expose everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca has been alive all this time?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada. Then Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn't she contact me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe sent letters every year.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered Mom collecting my mail.<\/p>\n
Even after I moved away, there had always been an explanation for missing envelopes.<\/p>\n
A letter had gone to her house by mistake.<\/p>\n
Something had been returned.<\/p>\n
A package had been damaged.<\/p>\n
I had never questioned it.<\/p>\n
Now I understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe took them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother destroyed every letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant asked where Rebecca was now.<\/p>\n
Dad looked toward the marina office.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe went inside through the side entrance while officers were approaching.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police searched the building.<\/p>\n
A blue sedan had left minutes earlier.<\/p>\n
Rebecca had escaped.<\/p>\n
Before Dad was placed in the police car, he called me again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe black case contained a red folder.\u201d<\/p>\n
I moved closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was inside?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRead it before you believe your mother again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant searched the case.<\/p>\n
There was no red folder.<\/p>\n
Dad insisted Rebecca had removed it.<\/p>\n
According to him, it contained the complete trust records.<\/p>\n
It also contained recordings Rebecca had made before disappearing.<\/p>\n
One recording supposedly identified the person who ordered the fraudulent transfers.<\/p>\n
Another explained why my grandfather had removed Mom from his will.<\/p>\n
And there was something else.<\/p>\n
A handwritten letter addressed to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never opened it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca said you had to read it yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before I could ask anything else, Grant's department phone rang.<\/p>\n
Her face changed while she listened.<\/p>\n
Then she looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone just entered a downtown bank using your passport.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat can't be true.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe woman claimed to be Emily Wilson.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy passport is in my apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bank sent over security footage.<\/p>\n
A woman in sunglasses and a scarf walked through the lobby.<\/p>\n
I recognized her immediately.<\/p>\n
My mother.<\/p>\n
She was carrying the missing red folder.<\/p>\n
Jackson followed behind her and held the door.<\/p>\n
Then another alert arrived.<\/p>\n
Two plane tickets had been purchased using my credit card.<\/p>\n
One was in Mom's name.<\/p>\n
The other was in mine.<\/p>\n
The flight was leaving in less than three hours.<\/p>\n
But when Grant enlarged the passport photograph attached to my ticket, the woman in the image was not my mother.<\/p>\n
It was Rebecca.<\/p>\n
My supposedly dead aunt was preparing to leave the country using my identity.<\/p>\n
And she had the evidence that could finally explain what my family had done with my inheritance.<\/p>\n
The beneficiary was Rebecca Wilson. My father's older sister. My aunt. The woman whose funeral I had attended twelve years earlier. I could still remember the rain striking the church … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33307,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33261\/revisions\/33307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}