Part 2: The Librarian Who Catalogued Lies

Mercer secured an exhumation order within the week, the county coroner agreeing to reexamine Cordelia Ashgrove's remains given the mounting suspicious circumstances surrounding her estate.

"Toxicology wasn't standard procedure for her original ***** certificate," Mercer explained, reviewing the initial report with Odalys. "She was eighty-three, after all. Natural causes seemed entirely reasonable at the time."

"But if Bertram was already spending money he shouldn't have had access to," Odalys said, "that suggests he anticipated her ***** well before it actually happened."

The exhumation results arrived nearly two weeks later, confirming exactly what both investigators had begun suspecting trace amounts of a slow-acting poison, undetectable without specifically testing for it, present in Cordelia's remains.

"She was murdered," Mercer said grimly, reviewing the toxicology report. "Slowly, deliberately, over what appears to have been several months."

Odalys felt a chill settle through her chest. "Bertram."

"Almost certainly," Mercer agreed. "Though we'll need considerably more evidence before securing an arrest warrant. Motive and opportunity alone won't properly hold up in court."

They returned to the mysterious second will, examining it more carefully for clues about its authenticity and the elusive Rosalind Fenn. Odalys, drawing on her archival expertise, noticed something the initial review had missed entirely.

"The paper," she said, studying the document under proper magnification. "It's genuinely aged, consistent with the date written on it. If this were a recent forgery, the paper itself would show different aging characteristics."

"So the will is authentic," Mercer said slowly. "Which means Rosalind Fenn was a real, intended beneficiary at some point, even if she's since vanished from all official records."

Odalys continued examining the document, additional details surfacing under careful scrutiny. "There's a partial fingerprint here, in the margin. Whoever handled this most recently before it was hidden."

Mercer's expression sharpened with renewed hope. "That could potentially match Bertram, if he discovered this will and deliberately concealed it rather than properly honoring its terms."

The fingerprint analysis, completed several days later, confirmed exactly that suspicion a partial match to Bertram Ashgrove, placing him definitively in contact with the hidden will at some point before Odalys discovered it herself.

"This gives us considerably more to work with," Mercer said, reviewing the mounting evidence. "Poison in his aunt's system, financial spending inconsistent with his claimed timeline, and now direct evidence he'd discovered and deliberately concealed a will that would have excluded him from inheritance entirely."

"What was his motive for hiding it, specifically?" Odalys asked. "If Rosalind Fenn was the intended beneficiary, why murder his aunt at all, rather than simply destroying the will and waiting for natural inheritance?"

Mercer considered the question thoughtfully. "Perhaps he discovered the will's existence only after already beginning to poison her, unable to properly stop the process once started. Or perhaps," he added grimly, "he needed her dead swiftly, before she had opportunity to properly execute the second will through legal channels."

to be continued... 📜🚨