He did not need to.
“May I see that?”
Campbell passed him the note.
Martin studied it, then looked at Evelyn.
“Where did you obtain this?”
“From Clare’s doctor.”
“Which doctor?”
“The name is there.
Dr.
Samuel Larkin.”
Martin’s expression hardened.
“Samuel Larkin died three years ago.
His clinic closed before Mrs.
Hoffman became pregnant.”
Evelyn’s lips parted.
Derek stopped struggling.
Martin turned the paper toward the detective.
“The letterhead is also outdated.
Someone copied it from an old document.”
Detective Campbell took the note back by its edges.
“Mrs.
Hoffman, do you recognize this?”
Clare shook her head.
“I’ve never seen it.
My obstetrician is Dr.
Mehta.
Derek knew that.”
The detective placed the note inside an evidence sleeve and radioed the officer waiting outside.
When the door opened, she instructed him to detain Evelyn separately and prevent her from contacting anyone.
Evelyn’s composure shattered.
“You cannot arrest me because of a piece of paper.
I was trying to protect my family.”
Clare finally looked directly at her.
“You closed the curtains.”
Evelyn went silent.
It was the smallest accusation Clare could have made, but it carried the weight of everything else.
Evelyn had not panicked.
She had not run outside.
She had not called an ambulance.
She had closed the curtains so the neighbors would not see what her son was about to do.
Martin opened the sealed folder he had brought into the room.
The first document he removed was a life insurance policy worth twelve million dollars.
Derek’s name appeared as the sole beneficiary.
Clare stared at the date.
The policy had been issued four months earlier, when she was already pregnant.
She had never applied for it.
She had never undergone the medical examination listed in the file.
Detective Campbell read the application twice.
“The insured’s signature appears on every page.”
“It isn’t mine,” Clare said.
Martin nodded.
“We expected that answer.”
He placed a second document beside it: a report from a forensic document examiner.
The signatures had been compared with samples from Clare’s trust records.
The expert concluded that they had likely been traced.
