Two development deals he had put personal money into had collapsed in 2022.

He had covered the first hole with a loan, and the second hole with a second loan, and by the time he ran out of banks he had moved on to private lenders at rates that Margaret had to have explained to her twice.

The total exposure, when the forensic accountant finished, was seven hundred and forty thousand dollars.

Roughly a hundred and ninety thousand of that had been borrowed against documents bearing Emily’s signature.

She had signed some of them.

Others she had not, and two experts said so.