Chapter 6: Nine O'Clock
Paul's office was on the fourth floor of a building that smelled like old carpet and good coffee.
His assistant brought two cups without being asked.
I wrapped both hands around mine.
Dennis was already there when I arrived.
He'd written four pages overnight.
I'd written three.
Paul read both sets of notes without speaking.
Then he listened to the audio file twice, using the small speaker on his desk.
When it finished the second time, he set his pen down.
"All right," he said.
"Here's where we are."
He turned to face us both.
"The document itself — the property transfer — was fraudulent in its presentation.
It was given to you as something pre-agreed, which it was not.
That's misrepresentation at minimum.
Depending on intent, it could be construed as attempted fraud."
"Can we prove intent?" I said.
"The audio helps significantly.
Brianna's statement that you were 'softer than expected' and that she thought you'd 'do it' suggests she was not operating under any genuine belief that you had agreed.
She was assessing your emotional state." He picked up his pen again.
"Combined with Evan's call to Dennis about the will and the property values, there's a pattern."
"What does the pattern give us?"
"Grounds to pursue civil action.
Potentially criminal referral, depending on what the document examination shows." He looked at me.
"But Richard, before we go down that road, I want to ask you one question."
"Go ahead."
"What do you want the outcome to be?"
I looked at my coffee cup.
"I want the house protected," I said.
"I want documentation that this happened, so that if anything like this is ever attempted again, there's a record.
And I want Brianna to understand — clearly, specifically, with no room for reinterpretation — what she did."
Paul nodded slowly.
"And Evan's family?"
"Henry brought that folder into my daughter's wedding.
He stood in that room and told me I'd already agreed to something I'd never discussed.
He was either deceived by Brianna or he was part of it."
"We'll need to find out which."
He reached for his phone and made a call.
He asked someone named Grace to pull the property records on my address and to run a search on any transfer filings submitted in the last ninety days.
He hung up and looked at me.
"Grace will have something by this afternoon.
If Brianna or Evan's family attempted to file anything ahead of tonight — any preliminary transfer, any power of attorney, any change of beneficiary — it will show."
Dennis leaned forward.
"Would they have done that?
Filed something before he signed?"
"Some people do," Paul said.
"They file the paperwork and hope the signature follows.
Or they file it with a forged signature and hope it isn't challenged." He paused.
"We'll know by three o'clock."
My phone buzzed on the table.
I turned it over.
A text from Brianna.
*Dad, I think last night got out of hand.
Can we talk today?
Just the two of us?*
Paul read it from across the desk without me showing him.
He'd seen the screen angle.
"Don't reply yet," he said.
I set the phone face-down.
"She's moving," Dennis said quietly.
May you like
"Yes," Paul said.
"She is."
