Nora didn’t stop at the ledger. She spent a week submerged in dusty, labyrinthine archives, which still held the Calloway case files from 1921. Her fingers stained gray with soot, she sifted through legal filings, internal memos, and, finally, a cache of private correspondence that had never seen the inside of a courtroom.
The solicitor who had suppressed Edward’s will was George Hartley. Buried deep in the archives, Nora found the original legal objection—a document arguing that the paternity clause was void because it referred to a “non-existent entity.” The language was cold, precise, and entirely fraudulent. The firm had known exactly who Eleanor was.
Three generations later, the current Hartley was in charge. When Douglas Peel had come to claim the estate eight months ago, Hartley must have stumbled upon Edward’s original will. He must have seen the name Eleanor, and yet, Peel was inheriting the estate. She had to know more and soon.