Richard stared at the page. He could see his own signature at the bottom. He recognized the shape of it. He recognized the small curl he always put at the end of the second letter of his last name. He did not remember signing it. This is mine, he said quietly, but I do not remember this. I expected that, Marcus said. The signature was witnessed by a notary in a small office in Greenwich. The notary's name is on the second page.
I made some calls this morning. The notary retired 4 months ago and moved to Arizona. He has not answered his phone in 2 weeks. Richard set the page down slowly. Vivian was in Greenwich 14 months ago, he said, for the Hadley fundraiser. I remember because she came home and showed me the photographs. Yes, Marcus said, and the day before the fundraiser, according to the notary's log, you signed this document. I was in Tokyo that day.
I know. The two men looked at each other across the small table. The coffee shop hummed quietly around them. Someone laughed at the counter. A spoon clinked against a cup. Marcus, Richard said, I want to know everything. Who he is, where he comes from, how long this has been planned, and I want to know it before she does. Marcus closed the leather folder and looked at Richard with the steady patience of a man who had spent his career delivering bad news in measured doses.
I already started, he said. I have a private investigator who has worked for me for 15 years. Her name is Hannah Reyes. She is very good and very quiet. I called her before I left my house this morning. She is already pulling records. "Good," Richard said. "What else?" "The insurance company will not pay out a claim without a body. Even with the accidental death rider, even with the simplified beneficiary clause, there has to be a death certificate or in the absence of one, a court order declaring legal death after a missing person's case has been opened for a specified period. In this state that period is 5 years. So, whatever they are planning, it does not end with you simply disappearing. It ends with you being found dead in a way that looks accidental."
Richard absorbed this. "The road outside Hartwick." "The road outside Hartwick." Marcus confirmed. "Where it bends along the reservoir, there have been seven fatal accidents on that stretch in the past 9 years. The water there is deep. The current pulls toward the spillway. Cars have been recovered weeks later, sometimes months. It is exactly the kind of location a man would choose if he wanted an accident to look like an accident." Richard did not say anything for a moment.