Chapter 5 - Teresa’s notary book
Teresa Bennett denied forging anything.
Through her attorney, she claimed Audrey signed the family settlement voluntarily nine years earlier.
Audrey replied with one fact.
The settlement date was June 18.
She had been in Italy with David.
Their honeymoon.
Passport records proved it.
Flight receipts.
Hotel check-in.
Photographs.
Teresa’s notarization stated:
Personally appeared before me in Pennsylvania.
Impossible.
Rebecca presented the evidence.
Teresa changed her story.
Maybe the document was signed earlier.
The notary date could have been an administrative error.
Then Samuel Price produced the original fax Teresa sent his office years ago.
Cover note:
Audrey signed today.
No mistake.
No ambiguity.
Teresa had lied.
Why?
The explanation came from her old notary journal.
Police obtained it under subpoena.
Several pages were missing.
But one surrounding entry showed Richard visited her office the same afternoon.
Claudia remembered that office.
It was inside Bennett Construction.
Teresa once handled payroll.
She routinely notarized company papers.
Richard had easy access.
Rebecca asked Audrey:
“Did your mother ever ask you for a blank signed page?”
Audrey thought.
“No.”
Then remembered something.
At twenty-seven, she was applying for business financing.
Richard offered to “help.”
He asked her to sign several blank signature cards for an insurance application.
Could one have been reused?
Forensic examination might show.
The settlement signature was an image inserted digitally, not wet ink.
So they did not even need paper.
Someone scanned her real signature.
Teresa had notarized an electronic copy as though Audrey appeared personally.
The fraud looked simpler now.
And uglier.
Then financial records explained Teresa’s motive.
Richard’s construction company was nearly insolvent when Charles Bennett died.
Debt:
$3.7 million.
The Ridge parcels secured emergency refinancing.
Without control of them, Bennett Construction might have failed.
Teresa had co-signed loans.
Their home was collateral.
She forged Audrey’s settlement not to become wealthy initially.
To avoid losing everything.
Years passed.
The company recovered.
But instead of correcting the fraud, Richard built more transactions on top of it.
One lie became structure.
Then greed.
Now Northstar.
Audrey sat silently.
Rebecca asked:
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
That was enough.
Then police informed them Ethan had requested a deal.
He denied participating in the original settlement fraud.
He was nineteen then.
Likely true.
But he admitted knowing for the last two years that Richard’s title was questionable.
“Why stay involved?”
“Dad said Audrey would never use the land.”
“So?”
“He said it should stay with people who built the family company.”
Audrey listened to the recorded interview.
Ethan continued:
“David made everything complicated.”
“By discovering the truth?”
“He always thought he was smarter than us.”
“Did you threaten him?”
“No.”
“Did you know he had the second will?”
“I knew he was looking.”
“Did you enter his house?”
“No.”
“Did you take documents after his death?”
Silence.
Detective Hayes leaned forward.
“Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“A folder from his office.”
“When?”
“Funeral morning.”
Audrey froze.
Her brother had entered her home the morning she buried David.
“How?”
“Mom had a key.”
Teresa.
Of course.
Audrey had given her mother an emergency spare years ago.
“What did you take?”
“David’s Northstar folder.”
“Why?”
“Dad said it belonged to the family company.”
“It was found in the Mercedes.”
“Yes.”
“Why put it there?”
“I was going to take it home.”
“Why steal the car?”
“I thought Audrey would give it to me.”
“But when she didn’t?”
Ethan looked down.
“I took it.”
No excuse.
Then Detective Hayes asked:
“Did you enter David’s study?”
“Yes.”
“What else did you take?”
Ethan hesitated.
“A white envelope.”
Audrey’s heart pounded.
“What envelope?”
He described:
David’s handwriting.
FOR AUDREY ONLY.
“Where is it now?”
Ethan looked toward his attorney.
“I gave it to Dad.”
Audrey stood.
Richard had a letter David wrote specifically for her.
Possibly explaining everything.
Police sought the envelope.
Richard’s attorney claimed no knowledge.
Search warrant.
Richard’s home.
Office.
Safe.
No envelope.
But Teresa’s handbag contained torn white paper fragments.
Forensics reconstructed part:
Audrey—
If Richard tells you Ridge Three was meant to save the company, remember that was true once. It is not why he needs it now.
The rest was missing.
Then another fragment:
…do not sign the Claudia release…
Audrey stared.
“Claudia release?”
Claudia went pale.
“I don’t know what that means.”
The letter seemed to involve her too.
Then final fragment:
…because Claudia is not merely a witness. She is—
The rest was torn away.
Everyone looked at Claudia.
She looked terrified.
“What was David going to say about me?”
May you like
No one knew.
👉 David’s destroyed letter warned Audrey not to sign something called the “Claudia release” and suggested her sister’s role in the inheritance dispute was far more important than anyone realized.
