Sherry filed the following morning formally with the probate court and, separately, with law enforcement. The falsification of financial records was a criminal matter, distinct from the estate fraud, and more serious. Harwick, facing significant liability, contacted Sherry’s office soon. “They are,” she told Sarah, “very cooperative. They’re giving us everything.”
Everything meant the original brief Diane had given them—written instructions, documented, specifying which account names to alter and how. It meant the unmodified records they’d pulled before the falsification, which matched Sherry’s subpoenaed records exactly. It meant emails. It meant a paper trail so complete and damning.