Chapter 5 - The Forged Transfer
I sat on the closed toilet lid while Caroline explained what she had found.
The property was still legally protected.
The transfer had not been completed.
But someone had submitted a copy of what appeared to be my signature.
A signature authorizing the trust to release the property.
“I never signed anything.”
“I know.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the document is dated March eighteenth.”
“So?”
“You were in Germany.”
She was right.
I remembered the date.
I had worked a twenty-hour shift after a highway pileup sent fourteen patients into our hospital.
I had not been anywhere near North Carolina.
Caroline continued.
“The notarization is questionable too.”
“How questionable?”
“The notary's commission expired before the date on the document.”
I almost smiled.
“So they're incompetent.”
“Dangerously incompetent.”
“Can they still get the loan?”
“Not if we move fast.”
“What do you need?”
“Copies of everything in that house.”
“I can get them.”
“And Rachel?”
“Yes?”
“Do not confront them about the trust yet.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because people who believe they're about to get caught often destroy evidence.”
That changed my thinking.
I ended the call.
When I came out, Derek was waiting in the hallway.
“Who were you talking to?”
“A friend.”
“Which friend?”
I smiled.
“When did you become this interested in my phone calls?”
He lowered his voice.
“Melissa thinks you're here to cause trouble.”
“Melissa thinks everything belongs to her.”
“You don't know her.”
“I watched her slap Mom.”
Derek rubbed his face.
“She shouldn't have done that.”
“That's the strongest thing you've said all night.”
He looked exhausted.
For one moment I saw my brother again.
Not the silent man at dinner.
The teenager who used to protect me from bullies.
Then his expression hardened.
“You left.”
There it was.
“What?”
“You left us.”
“I went overseas for work.”
“You were gone six years.”
“And I sent money.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“It isn't.”
His eyes flickered.
“But leaving doesn't explain what you've done to Mom.”
“You think this is all Melissa?”
“I think you watched it happen.”
He said nothing.
I lowered my voice.
“Where is Dad's lockbox?”
He looked away.
“Gone.”
“Wrong answer.”
I walked past him.
In the laundry room, Mom was sitting on the folding bed.
She quickly hid something beneath the pillow.
I knelt.
“What is that?”
“Nothing.”
“Mom.”
Slowly, she pulled it out.
It was an envelope.
Inside were five hundred dollars in small bills.
“What's this?”
“My leaving money.”
I felt sick.
“How long have you been saving?”
“Eight months.”
“Why didn't you call me?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because Melissa kept saying if I caused trouble, Derek would lose the house.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“She said he had invested everything into it.”
“What else did she tell you?”
Mom hesitated.
“That you didn't want me contacting you.”
My entire body went cold.
“She said what?”
“She told me you were tired of paying my expenses.”
I could barely breathe.
“She said you wanted Derek to handle me from now on.”
“Mom, I never said that.”
“I know that now.”
“No.”
I took her hands.
“You need to understand.”
“I never stopped calling you.”
Her face changed.
“What?”
“I called every Sunday.”
She stared at me.
“My phone never rang.”
I remembered the broken phone.
I stood quickly.
“Where is your old phone?”
“Melissa has it.”
A sound came from the hallway.
I opened the laundry-room door.
Nobody was there.
But lying on the floor was a tiny plastic piece.
May you like
A SIM-card tray.
Someone had been listening.
