Chapter 7
Rebecca told me not to respond.
Detective Ellis from the financial crimes unit told me the same thing.
By evening, the situation had moved beyond a messy divorce.
The forged deed.
The home-equity loan.
The corporate resolution.
The attempted transfer.
The fake medical documentation.
The stolen hard drive.
And now a threat.
Detective Ellis sat in the Hartwell conference room across from me.
He was in his forties, calm, and careful with every question.
“When did you first meet Lauren Price?”
“Three months ago.”
“How?”
“Daniel introduced her as a real-estate attorney.”
“Why did you need one?”
“Daniel said we should review whether refinancing our home could free up capital for renovations.”
“Did you agree?”
“To discuss it. Not to borrow four hundred thousand dollars.”
“Did you give Ms. Price identification documents?”
I thought.
“She asked for copies of my driver’s license and passport for a preliminary lender file.”
Megan muttered something angry.
Detective Ellis nodded.
“So she had your identification.”
“Yes.”
“Did Daniel have access to your electronic signature?”
That question made my stomach drop.
Hartwell Interiors used digital signatures for contracts.
“My business signature, yes.”
“How?”
“I signed documents from our home computer sometimes.”
“Saved password?”
I hated myself before I answered.
“Yes.”
Detective Ellis didn’t judge me.
“Very common.”
“It feels stupid.”
“Trusting your spouse with a password isn’t permission to commit fraud.”
Rebecca glanced at me.
She had said almost exactly the same thing.
Maybe they could tell how much I blamed myself.
My phone rang.
Mom.
I let it vibrate.
Megan looked at me.
“Answer her.”
“Not now.”
“She’s been calling all day.”
“She also signed papers for Daniel.”
“Because he lied.”
“She chose to believe him.”
Megan leaned toward me.
“Sarah, we need evidence. Mom might have it.”
She was right.
I answered.
“Hi.”
My mother’s voice was small.
“I found something.”
“What?”
“The papers Daniel brought me.”
I sat upright.
“You still have copies?”
“One.”
“Why?”
“I thought it was strange.”
My anger loosened slightly.
“What did you keep?”
“He accidentally left a page inside the folder. I found it after they left.”
“What page?”
“I don’t understand it.”
Rebecca held out her hand.
“Can she send a photo?”
Mom did.
Thirty seconds later, Rebecca opened the image.
Her expression changed.
“This is a notary journal entry.”
Detective Ellis moved closer.
Lauren was a licensed attorney, but the forged deed had been notarized by a woman named Nina Caldwell.
The page listed my supposed appearance.
Date.
Time.
Identification type.
Signature.
Then something interesting.
A handwritten note in the margin.
Signer not physically present — per L.P.
Detective Ellis stared.
“Someone wrote that?”
Rebecca nodded.
“If authentic, it’s devastating.”
I called Mom again.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Don’t leave.”
“Why?”
“We’re coming.”
We arrived forty minutes later with Detective Ellis.
My mother opened the door.
The second I saw her, anger and love collided so hard inside me that I couldn’t speak.
She looked older than she had two days earlier.
“Sarah.”
I walked past her.
Not because I wanted to hurt her.
Because if she hugged me, I might collapse.
She brought the page from her desk.
Detective Ellis photographed it, bagged it, and asked where it had come from.
Mom explained.
“Daniel brought a folder. Diane was with him. Lauren came about ten minutes later.”
“What did they tell you?”
“That Sarah was overwhelmed.”
My mother glanced at me.
“That her marriage was falling apart. That she’d been behaving strangely.”
“Did you observe Sarah behaving strangely?”
“No.”
“Then why did you believe them?”
The question landed harder than anything I could have asked.
Mom’s eyes filled.
“Because Daniel had been calling me for months.”
I stared at her.
“Months?”
She nodded.
“He would say you were working too much. Not sleeping. Forgetting things.”
“I wasn’t.”
“I know that now.”
“When did he start?”
“January.”
Six months.
Again.
Everything pointed to January.
“What happened in January?”
Mom looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
I did.
At least I remembered something.
In January, I had changed my will.
Daniel had complained when I told him.
My original will left most assets to him.
But after Hartwell Interiors grew, my business attorney suggested separating company succession from personal inheritance.
I created an employee continuity trust.
If I died, Daniel would receive my personal estate and insurance.
But the company would not pass to him.
It would be managed for employees and eventually sold under strict conditions.
Daniel had smiled when I explained it.
He said it was smart.
I suddenly couldn’t breathe.
Rebecca noticed.
“What?”
“My will.”
I explained.
Detective Ellis wrote something down.
“Did Daniel know the company used to pass to him?”
“Yes.”
“And after January it didn’t.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca’s voice became careful.
“That could explain the timing.”
Megan looked horrified.
“You think this was about inheriting the company?”
“No.”
I answered before anyone else could.
“Not exactly.”
Daniel couldn’t inherit Hartwell Interiors anymore.
But if he convinced people I was incompetent while I was alive, he could gain control through a power of attorney.
Then move assets.
Then divorce me after everything valuable had been transferred.
My mother covered her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
Detective Ellis asked, “Did you execute a power of attorney?”
“No.”
“Have you seen one among these documents?”
“Not yet.”
Mom suddenly stood.
“I have.”
Every person in the room turned.
She rushed to a cabinet.
“I didn’t sign it. That’s why Daniel got angry.”
She pulled out a photocopy.
At the top were the words DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY.
My name appeared as principal.
Daniel as agent.
The signature looked like mine.
The document gave him authority over property, investments, banking, contracts, and business interests.
Nearly everything.
My mother pointed to a witness line.
“He wanted me to sign there.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because you would have told me if you were giving Daniel that much control.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I should have realized everything else too.”
I didn’t answer.
Detective Ellis took the document.
“Who was the other witness?”
Mom looked at the signature.
“Diane.”
Of course.
Then Mom added something else.
“Daniel said if I didn’t sign, they had another person who would.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
The doorbell rang.
Mom flinched.
Megan went to the window.
Her face changed.
“It’s Diane.”
I stood.
Diane had no idea Detective Ellis was inside.
Mom whispered, “What do I do?”
The detective raised one finger.
“Open the door.”
Diane walked into my mother’s house smiling.
Then she saw me.
The smile vanished.
May you like
Then she saw Detective Ellis.
And the folder she was carrying slipped from her hands.
