Chapter 7 - WHY MARTIN TURNED PALEMartin was not secretly working for Richard.
That would have made my anger easier.
The truth was less satisfying.
He had made a professional mistake.
After Dad died, Richard called him repeatedly.
Martin met Richard at the Vale family office without notifying me or the independent trustee.
Not illegal by itself.
Poor judgment.
Richard showed him the codicil.
Martin immediately noticed a problem:
The paper stock of page two did not match page one perfectly.
Slightly brighter.
Could be nothing.
Printer change.
Replacement paper.
Then he noticed the staple holes.
The three pages had been restapled.
Again, not proof of fraud.
But enough to pause.
Instead of immediately delivering the original to independent forensic custody, Martin kept it in his office safe for forty-eight hours while he tried to contact the purported drafting lawyer and witnesses.
During those forty-eight hours, Richard pushed him to file the petition.
Martin refused.
But he also told Richard:
“If paternity goes your way, the petition becomes easier.”
That sentence haunted him.
Because Richard apparently interpreted:
DNA is the last barrier.
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So when he saw my sealed laboratory envelope at the funeral, Martin knew Richard knew exactly what it could do to the disputed codicil.
He turned pale because he finally understood the funeral confrontation was connected to a document he had treated too long as a technical probate problem.
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