Chapter 14 - THE NOTARY
Her name was Sheila Brooks.
She had worked with Deline for six years.
Not at the bank.
At the flower shop.
Sheila handled payroll, vendor accounts, and occasional paperwork.
She also held a notary commission.
According to the statement she gave investigators, Deline brought her the cabin document and asked her to notarize my signature after the fact.
Sheila refused.
Two weeks later, she discovered her notary stamp had been used anyway.
“Why didn’t she report it?”
Callum asked.
Claire looked at him.
“She depended on Deline for her job.”
That sentence silenced him.
Fear.
Dependency.
Avoidance.
Different forms of the same structure.
Sheila had quit the flower shop the previous spring.
When investigators contacted her, she decided to cooperate.
She provided emails.
One was from Deline.
Need this cleaned up before renewal.
Another said:
Ev won’t care as long as Callum doesn’t make it dramatic.
I read that line three times.
Ev won’t care.
Deline had mistaken my patience for permission.
She had mistaken my desire for family peace as evidence that I did not have boundaries.
She had been wrong.
The credit union formally removed me from the disputed guarantee pending resolution.
The cabin lender suspended additional draws.
Mason’s contractor threatened to stop work.
The flower shop lost access to part of its revolving credit.
None of those things happened because I took money away.
They happened because businesses built on unauthorized guarantees had finally been asked to stand on their own.
Deline arrived at Margaret’s house two nights later.
Margaret called Callum afterward.
“She smashed one of your father’s picture frames.”
Callum closed his eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“She wants me to tell Evelyn to withdraw everything.”
Callum looked at me.
“What did you say?”
“I told her Evelyn is not the problem.”
It may have been the first time Margaret had said those words aloud.
The next morning, Deline’s attorney sent Claire a letter.
It accused me of malicious interference with business relationships.
Claire read it once.
Then smiled without humor.
“This is pressure.”
“Should I be worried?”
“About the letter?”
“No.”
“About everything else?”
“Yes.”
That honesty steadied me more than reassurance would have.
Before I left, she handed me one additional document.
“What’s this?”
“Your home equity records.”
I looked at her.
“I didn’t request those.”
“I did.”
My stomach dropped.
There was an open home equity line associated with our property.
Balance:
$73,418.
I had never seen it before.
May you like
And unlike the other documents, this one had been opened only six months earlier.
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