Chapter 3: The Ghost in the Machine
For three days, I lay in that hospital bed, fighting off the heavy painkillers because I needed my mind sharp. I used my one functioning hand to dial Grandmother Rose’s estate lawyer, Mr. Sterling—the only man I could trust.
Sterling arrived secretly at midnight, bypassing my parents' strict visitor list.
"They file for the conservatorship hearing on Friday," Sterling whispered, pulling up a chair. "Bridget, it doesn't look good. Dr. Winters gave a statement saying you've been showing signs of severe paranoia since the will reading."
"Dr. Winters is on my father's payroll," I spat. "Sterling, I need you to hire a private investigator. Today. Use my personal accounts—the ones Rose transferred before she died. I want Tyler's friend Marcus investigated. I want his bank records pulled."
"Without the security footage, it's a he-said-she-said," Sterling warned.
I closed my eyes, picturing the house. The cameras Marcus installed last fall. My grandmother had despised Marcus. She had called him a "greasy little opportunist."
My eyes snapped open. "Grandmother owned that house."
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"Pardon?" Sterling asked.
"My parents' house. It was technically owned by Rose's real estate LLC. She paid the bills. She paid for that security system!" I grabbed Sterling's sleeve. "Rose was deeply paranoid about data breaches. She never trusted local hard drives. She backed up the company's servers to a private cloud. Find out if she linked the house cameras to her corporate cloud!"
