Chapter 77 - The Grandson’s Confession
Julian quickly went to work on the rusted padlock with his set of heavy lockpicks, the steel scraping against the weathered brass in the silence of the cellblock. I stepped forward, gripping the cold bars of the cell, looking down at my grandson.
"You played a very dangerous game, Tyler," I said, my voice steady despite the trembling of my frozen hands. "You almost burned the archives to ash, and you let Vance’s men surround Mercer Hall."
"I had to burn the duplicate deeds in the crypt," Tyler said, lowering his feet to the damp floor and standing up slowly, his tall frame shivering beneath his ruined clothes. "Dad brought Vance’s appraisers into the study three weeks ago while you were in town at the apothecary. They found Donald’s second will, the one that left the entire estate to the Mercer County Land Trust instead of Richard. Dad was going to destroy it, sign the receivership, and pocket twelve million dollars in offshore credits."
"So you stole the county ledger," Julian said, the padlock finally giving way with a dull, heavy click.
"I didn't steal the ledger," Tyler stepped out of the cell, rubbing his wrists where the zip-ties had left angry red furrows in his skin. "The ledger was already compromised. Sheriff Vance had the Mercer County courthouse records altered twelve years ago when Richard lost his first fortune in the real estate crash. The only real document left isn't a ledger at all. It's the original baptismal registry and the hospital release form from the Sisters of Mercy Infirmary in Scranton, dated August 14, 1961."
I stared at him, the chill in the air suddenly feeling razor-sharp. "The Infirmary was demolished in 1982."
"The hospital was," Tyler said, looking me dead in the eye with an intensity I had never seen in him before. "The records weren't. Donald paid the Mother Superior twenty thousand dollars to transfer the vault documents to the crypt at St. Jude's parish before the wrecking balls came. That’s where the real birth certificate is, Grandmother. Richard isn't Donald's son at all. He was adopted off the books from a destitute family in coal country to secure the Mercer family covenant after Donald’s first child was stillborn."
Julian let out a sharp breath. "If Richard isn't Donald’s biological heir, every property transfer, every mortgage, and every covenant deed Richard signed in the last thirty years is legally void from the moment of execution."
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"Including the receivership Vance is using right now to seize the manor," Tyler whispered. "The whole dynasty is built on air."
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