Chapter 2 - The Signature
I waited until everyone had started eating before I spoke again.
“What exactly are you refinancing?”
Melissa sighed dramatically.
“Rachel, please don't start interrogating people at dinner.”
“I'm asking a simple question.”
Derek cleared his throat.
“We're exploring some options.”
“What options?”
He avoided my eyes.
Melissa answered for him.
“A home-equity loan.”
My mother dropped her fork.
The sound was small.
But I heard it.
I looked at her.
“Mom, did you know about this?”
Melissa laughed.
“Why would she need to?”
Every nerve in my body tightened.
I turned toward Derek.
“Why wouldn't she need to?”
Patricia leaned back in her chair.
“Because Derek manages the family finances now.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Melissa's smile thinned.
“You've been living overseas for six years.”
“And?”
“And some of us stayed here and dealt with real life.”
I stared at her.
Real life.
I had spent six years in military hospitals and intensive-care units overseas, often working fourteen-hour shifts.
I had wired money home every month.
I had paid the property taxes.
I had paid for major repairs.
I had covered the roof replacement eighteen months earlier.
And Melissa was explaining real life to me.
I looked at Derek again.
“Whose name is on the loan application?”
Silence.
Then Patricia spoke.
“Honestly, Rachel, why are you being so hostile?”
I ignored her.
“Derek?”
He rubbed his forehead.
“We haven't finalized anything.”
“That doesn't answer me.”
Melissa pushed back her chair.
“Fine.”
She walked to the sideboard and opened a drawer.
Then she returned with a folder.
She dropped it in front of me.
“Since you obviously don't trust your own family.”
I opened it.
There were renovation estimates.
Loan projections.
Property-value assessments.
Then I found a photocopy of a document titled Power of Attorney.
My mother's name was at the bottom.
So was Derek's.
I looked at Mom.
“When did you sign this?”
Her eyes filled with confusion.
“Sign what?”
The room changed.
Derek whispered, “Mom.”
I turned the document toward her.
She stared at the signature.
Her face drained of color.
“I never signed that.”
Melissa immediately laughed.
“Don't be ridiculous.”
“I didn't.”
“You probably forgot.”
Mom looked at me desperately.
“I would remember giving Derek control over the house.”
Melissa snapped.
“You forget things constantly.”
“No, she doesn't,” I said.
Melissa looked at me.
“You've been here for six hours.”
“And I've already seen enough.”
I studied the signature more carefully.
It looked like Mom's handwriting.
But something was wrong.
Then I remembered the bank statements.
Money missing from her account.
Monthly withdrawals.
Cash transfers.
A fake power of attorney would explain a lot.
I closed the folder.
“Who prepared this?”
Derek stood.
“Rachel, leave it alone.”
“No.”
“This is family business.”
I almost smiled.
“It certainly is.”
Melissa crossed her arms.
“If you don't like how we run our home, you can get a hotel.”
Our home.
There it was again.
I looked around the dining table.
Every guest was watching now.
Nobody was pretending not to listen.
I could have ended it right there.
I could have told Melissa that the property deed was held by a trust I controlled.
But I wanted to know how deep the fraud went.
So I looked at my mother.
“Where are your original documents?”
She whispered, “The blue box.”
“What blue box?”
“Your father's lockbox.”
Derek went pale.
Melissa's eyes moved toward him.
That was enough.
I stood.
“Where is it?”
Nobody answered.
I looked at Derek.
“Where is Dad's lockbox?”
His mouth opened.
Before he could respond, a sharp electronic beep came from Melissa's purse.
She snatched up her phone.
For half a second, I saw the message across the screen.
APPRAISER CONFIRMED.
MONDAY 9:00 A.M.
May you like
And beneath it were four words that made my stomach turn.
OWNER SIGNATURE ALREADY SECURED.
