He didn’t answer right away. He clicked a few times on his mouse.

“An email from an encrypted server,” Richard said, his voice dropping an octave.

“Is it from Margaret?”

“No,” Richard said, staring at the screen. “It is an automated alert from Michael’s old personal email account. It just went active.”

My heart stopped. “Michael’s account? He has been dead for two years.”

Richard turned the monitor toward me.

On the screen was a notification showing a login attempt from an IP address registered to Thomas Vale’s law office.

Below the notification was a line of text that had just been drafted in the account’s cloud storage.

It was a message addressed to me, dated today.

I read the words on the screen.

My hands began to shake, and I had to press them against my knees to stop the trembling.

The draft was addressed to me, but the language was cold, dry, and formal.

“To Emily,” the screen read. “In the event of my passing, you must understand the depth of the obligations we carry. My mother has carried our burdens. You must cooperate with Thomas Vale to settle the balances.”