Chapter 9 - The note Owen actually wrote
The handwriting was Owen’s.
I knew before the expert confirmed.
Short.
Blue ink.
Found in an old notebook Dad possessed.
Date:
Four years earlier.
Glenn put 150 into the house/company mess. Need to make him whole eventually.
Dad’s lawyer treated it as victory.
Grace did not.
“Make him whole how?”
Exactly.
Bank records:
Dad transferred $150,000 to Mercer Restoration.
Company repaid $125,000.
If Owen’s note referred to the original amount:
Twenty-five thousand potentially remained.
If “house/company mess” meant part of money went toward our house indirectly?
Need tracing.
Company had paid a renovation subcontractor who also worked on our house.
Amount:
$38,000.
Did company pay personal expense?
Owen later reimbursed company from our joint account:
$38,000.
Recorded.
So no outstanding house contribution there.
Dad’s equitable lien claim weakened further.
Then title judge ruled.
The survivorship deed made me sole owner upon Owen’s death.
Dad had not established a secured interest.
His notice against the property was discharged.
He could pursue an unsecured creditor claim against Owen’s estate for any legitimate unpaid balance.
No lien.
No right to occupy.
No ownership.
One major question settled.
Dad appealed? Not immediately.
His lawyer advised against emergency appeal because record poor.
Then the protection order remained.
Dad was prohibited from house.
Paige moved out of Dad’s apartment? Wait they had their own home? We haven't set. They lived in a condo. Fine.
Then June.
Two weeks old.
Still tiny.
Still waking every two hours.
My entire body hurt.
Postpartum bleeding.
Breastfeeding problems.
Grief.
Legal calls.
I made one mistake.
Margaret called about an audit interview.
I said:
“Whatever you think.”
She stopped.
“No.”
“What?”
“You do not approve business settlements because you are tired.”
“I trust you.”
“That is different from informed consent.”
I almost cried.
“Then what do you want?”
“Sleep. We reconvene tomorrow.”
Owen had chosen her well.
Then Margaret told me they recovered an encrypted folder from Owen’s company laptop.
Not hidden treasure.
Audit workpapers.
Draft termination letter to Dad.
And one recorded voice note Owen made for himself after a meeting.
Could it matter?
Maybe.
He recorded business memos all the time.
The voice note said:
“Glenn knows Fenwick is coming in Monday. He keeps asking what happens if I’m not around. Weird wording. Need Margaret to finalize death protocol and trust access before we confront him.”
My skin chilled.
“Did Owen think Dad would hurt him?”
“No.”
“Then why ‘if I’m not around’?”
“Probably succession planning. Owen had just learned about his heart rhythm issue?”
I stared.
“What heart rhythm issue?”
Margaret froze.
Then:
“Owen had an abnormal monitor result three days before he died.”
I had not known.
He had a cardiology appointment scheduled.
He did not tell me because I was pregnant and he thought it was probably nothing.
My anger shifted.
Different story.
Different secrecy.
Owen had hidden health fear from me.
Dad had hidden money.
Everyone thought withholding information was protection.
Then Margaret said:
“There is more in the folder.”
“What?”
“A draft email Owen never sent to Glenn.”
“What does it say?”
May you like
Margaret looked at me.
“It says the audit found enough that Glenn would need to choose between repayment and litigation.”
