\u201cYou brought him?\u201d<\/p>\n
My voice carried farther than I intended.<\/p>\n
Susan woke on the sofa.<\/p>\n
She sat up, disoriented.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders didn\u2019t answer her.<\/p>\n
He kept staring at Thomas Bell\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n
I put the phone on the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad says you brought the second witness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan came closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichael?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders removed his glasses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to think.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cYou need to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
There was no defensiveness in his face.<\/p>\n
That frightened me.<\/p>\n
\u201cOctober fourteenth was chaotic. Eleanor\u2019s condition had worsened. Arthur had threatened litigation if she changed the estate structure. We wanted independent witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was Thomas Bell?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he was hospital administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou thought?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPriya told me someone could witness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPriya Shah?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she bring him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan folded her arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur apparently does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders looked toward the dark window.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe may be bluffing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew exactly which signature to circle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was tired of anger.<\/p>\n
It consumed energy without producing facts.<\/p>\n
\u201cFind Priya.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders nodded.<\/p>\n
That we could do.<\/p>\n
Dr. Priya Shah still practiced internal medicine in Pasadena.<\/p>\n
At 3:46 in the morning, calling her would have been unreasonable.<\/p>\n
At 3:49, Sanders called anyway.<\/p>\n
Voicemail.<\/p>\n
He left a message identifying himself and Eleanor.<\/p>\n
Then another number appeared on his phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gave me her personal number years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiane.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s four in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father is attempting to invalidate my dead mother\u2019s will with a mystery witness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cCall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Priya answered after six rings.<\/p>\n
Her voice was thick with sleep.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichael?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPriya, I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to ask about Eleanor Reynolds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
When Priya spoke again, she sounded awake.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders explained only enough.<\/p>\n
Estate challenge.<\/p>\n
October 14.<\/p>\n
Thomas Bell.<\/p>\n
Priya interrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
We all looked at one another.<\/p>\n
Sanders put her on speaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas Bell. Second witness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou signed beside him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI signed Eleanor\u2019s capacity certification.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd witnessed the estate instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders froze.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not a testamentary witness.\u201d<\/p>\n
He opened the document.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour signature is here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen send it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He emailed a photograph.<\/p>\n
We waited.<\/p>\n
Priya returned thirty seconds later.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is my signature.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you did witness it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPriya.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI signed a separate acknowledgment page.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders enlarged the document.<\/p>\n
The pages had been scanned as a single packet.<\/p>\n
Priya continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cEleanor signed in front of me. I remember that. But I was there as a physician. You said you would bring two independent witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember asking the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey sent a social worker.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was her name?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMarianne something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not Thomas Bell.<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas she there when Mom signed?\u201d<\/p>\n
Priya heard me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDiane.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her voice softened.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiane. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t be. Just tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. A woman from social services was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour grandmother. Michael. Dr. Mercer came in and out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father?\u201d<\/p>\n
Priya hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was outside for part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he enter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Eleanor signed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey argued.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout Magnolia?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
Priya continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother told Arthur the house would never belong to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sentence sounded like Mom.<\/p>\n
Direct.<\/p>\n
Specific.<\/p>\n
No melodrama.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Dad do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said she was making a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe threatened to challenge everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders whispered, \u201cI remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
We looked at him.<\/p>\n
He stared at nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018If you want lawyers involved, we\u2019ll see which paper survives.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
Paper survives.<\/p>\n
Dad had been thinking about documents even then.<\/p>\n
\u201cPriya,\u201d Sanders said, \u201cdo you remember the social worker\u2019s surname?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept notes on difficult family consultations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease.\u201d<\/p>\n
We heard movement.<\/p>\n
A drawer.<\/p>\n
Papers.<\/p>\n
Then Priya said, \u201cMarianne Cole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders searched.<\/p>\n
Marianne Cole had retired from Huntington Hospital six years earlier.<\/p>\n
Public directory.<\/p>\n
Phone number.<\/p>\n
At four in the morning, we stopped pretending etiquette mattered.<\/p>\n
No answer.<\/p>\n
We left a message.<\/p>\n
Then Sanders returned to the scanned estate packet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Marianne was the second witness, why does the document say Thomas Bell?\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan asked the obvious question.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas the page replaced?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody answered.<\/p>\n
Sanders pulled the original execution record from his archive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original should be in secure storage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy firm\u2019s records facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we get it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot until morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Dad\u2019s email.<\/p>\n
He wanted us focused on Thomas Bell.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
If the witness were fraudulent, that could invalidate the document.<\/p>\n
But Dad was the one pointing us toward the flaw.<\/p>\n
A person hiding fraud usually concealed weaknesses.<\/p>\n
Dad was advertising this one.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants us to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he thinks it helps him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr because it distracts us.\u201d<\/p>\n
That thought changed the room.<\/p>\n
I looked at the black ledger in Lily\u2019s photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransfer history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders followed my gaze.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiane.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re thinking about going after that ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thinking Dad wants us arguing about a witness while he has the financial record Mom hid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe Thomas Bell is bait.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n
\u201cPossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
At seven, nobody had slept except Lily.<\/p>\n
At seven fifteen, Marianne Cole returned our call.<\/p>\n
Her voice was brisk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember Eleanor Reynolds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you present on October fourteenth?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you witness her estate documents?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI witnessed a signature.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you sign?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder what name?\u201d<\/p>\n
She sounded confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy own.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMarianne Cole?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know Thomas Bell?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you still have any record?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot patient records. I retired.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonal notes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you testify?\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Eleanor was alert and understood what she signed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would testify to what I remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest loosened slightly.<\/p>\n
Then Marianne said, \u201cBut there was something odd.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA man came back after everyone left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI assumed he worked for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he look like?\u201d<\/p>\n
She described someone younger.<\/p>\n
Dark hair.<\/p>\n
Broad shoulders.<\/p>\n
Expensive watch.<\/p>\n
Susan pulled up Victor Hale\u2019s public photograph.<\/p>\n
We sent it.<\/p>\n
Marianne answered almost immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victor.<\/p>\n
The man Dad had used for the fraudulent signing ten years later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked the unit clerk whether he could retrieve a document left in Eleanor\u2019s room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you tell anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe following week. You called asking whether I had taken an original witness page.\u201d<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did call.\u201d<\/p>\n
Memory returned visibly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought a page had been misfiled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marianne continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told you I hadn\u2019t taken it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened after?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said you found it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders whispered, \u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
He closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy office mail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone mailed the missing page back?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich page?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe witness page.\u201d<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
The flaw.<\/p>\n
Someone removed the original witness page from the hospital.<\/p>\n
A replacement arrived later.<\/p>\n
Sanders had accepted it because the packet otherwise appeared complete.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you verify Marianne\u2019s signature?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked ashamed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believed I had.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it wasn\u2019t Marianne\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas Bell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan swore quietly.<\/p>\n
My father had known.<\/p>\n
Perhaps because Victor had done it for him.<\/p>\n
Maybe Dad had deliberately planted a defective witness page in the later will.<\/p>\n
Not to stop Mom\u2019s plan immediately.<\/p>\n
To create a weakness he could exploit when I turned eighteen.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould that invalidate everything?\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked.<\/p>\n
Sanders answered carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt creates serious litigation risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Mom actually signed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe understood it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have Mercer\u2019s letter, Priya, Marianne, Grandma\u2019s diary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why should a fraudulent witness destroy her intention?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMay.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cCourts care about execution formalities. But they also care about fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Arthur caused the defect, he can\u2019t benefit from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be our argument.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need proof.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Victor Hale\u2019s photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we find Victor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders said, \u201cLaw enforcement will.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad used Victor yesterday. Emily can identify him. Lily saw him. Sterling has evidence connecting him to the attempted power of attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo investigators can question him now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s different from you finding him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
For once, I meant it.<\/p>\n
At 8:22, the fraud investigator called.<\/p>\n
Victor Hale had been contacted.<\/p>\n
He agreed to come in voluntarily.<\/p>\n
At 9:03, he changed his mind.<\/p>\n
At 9:17, his phone went off.<\/p>\n
At 9:40, police found his sedan outside his apartment.<\/p>\n
Victor was gone.<\/p>\n
The envelope we had seen him carrying was not inside.<\/p>\n
Neither was his laptop.<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s plan had lost another piece.<\/p>\n
Or moved it.<\/p>\n
Lily came downstairs at ten wearing yesterday\u2019s dress beneath Mom\u2019s cardigan.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou all look terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan handed her coffee.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re eighteen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t drink coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lily sat beside me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you figure it out?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Dad going to jail?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody answered.<\/p>\n
She looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if I want him to.\u201d<\/p>\n
That hurt because I understood.<\/p>\n
Wanting consequences was easy when Dad was an abstract villain.<\/p>\n
Harder when I remembered him teaching me to ride a bicycle.<\/p>\n
Bringing soup when I had the flu.<\/p>\n
Sleeping beside Mom\u2019s hospital bed.<\/p>\n
People did not become simple because they did terrible things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what I want either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lily nodded.<\/p>\n
Then her phone buzzed.<\/p>\n
She read the message.<\/p>\n
Her expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
She turned the screen.<\/p>\n
Carol had written:<\/p>\n
Come home. Your father is gone.<\/p>\n
Susan took the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cGone where?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lily typed.<\/p>\n
Carol responded almost immediately.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
Then another message.<\/p>\n
He emptied the safe.<\/p>\n
My pulse jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lily looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cCall Carol.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lily did.<\/p>\n
Carol answered crying.<\/p>\n
Not the controlled tears she used during arguments.<\/p>\n
Real panic.<\/p>\n
\u201cLily, where are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Diane.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPut her on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lily handed me the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarol?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did this.\u201d<\/p>\n
My jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe left.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does everything mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCash. Files. Passports.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe black ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarol.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere would he go?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve been planning this with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was planning paperwork.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hired Emily.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know what Arthur intended.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the property should have been ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOurs?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother cut your father out when she was sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was competent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carol started crying harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen explain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said the reserve was money he had put into the property.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you believe him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you still?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
That answer mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarol, where is Victor?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she said something unexpected.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe took my passport too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan and I looked at each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he take Lily\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lily went pale.<\/p>\n
Dad had taken three passports.<\/p>\n
His.<\/p>\n
Carol\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Lily\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Not mine because mine was with me.<\/p>\n
Sanders whispered, \u201cIdentity package.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
Passports were not just travel documents.<\/p>\n
They were identification.<\/p>\n
Proof of family relationships.<\/p>\n
Potential tools.<\/p>\n
Carol said, \u201cThere\u2019s one place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a storage unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCarol.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI genuinely don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho does?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
Then:<\/p>\n
\u201cVictor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The missing man.<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Dad and Victor had vanished at the same time.<\/p>\n
With the original will.<\/p>\n
The ledger.<\/p>\n
Passports.<\/p>\n
And whatever other documents Dad had collected for ten years.<\/p>\n
Then Carol whispered, \u201cDiane, Arthur said something before he left.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said if he couldn\u2019t have Magnolia, nobody would.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou brought him?\u201d My voice carried farther than I intended. Susan woke on the sofa. She sat up, disoriented. \u201cWhat happened?\u201d Sanders didn\u2019t answer her. He kept staring at Thomas … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4474,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4456\/revisions\/4474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}