Chapter 5: Everything They Filed and Buried
They kept us in the dining room for two hours.
More officers arrived.
Then a woman in a dark jacket who spoke quietly with Hale near the basement stairs and did not introduce herself to anyone else.
Two officers were stationed at the front and back doors.
Nobody was allowed to make a phone call except through the officers, and every number had to be stated out loud first.
Charles gave his attorney's name and number without being asked.
The officer wrote it down and made the call himself, then handed the phone to Charles for thirty seconds before taking it back.
Adrian sat at the table and did not speak.
He had asked twice to use the bathroom and been escorted both times by an officer who waited outside the door.
Eleanor sat with her hands folded in her lap and her eyes fixed on a point somewhere above the window.
She had the expression of a woman waiting for a train she was no longer certain was coming.
The paramedic had cleaned and dressed my temple.
Four stitches, she said.
I should go to the hospital for a proper assessment.
I told her I would go when I was allowed to leave.
She stayed nearby and checked on me every twenty minutes.
Maya sat beside me.
We hadn't spoken since Hale came back up from the basement.
There had been no opportunity.
But at some point during the second hour, she slid her hand across the table and placed it over mine.
She didn't say anything.
Neither did I.
Around eleven o'clock, Hale came and sat across from us.
"I'm going to need full statements from both of you," he said.
"Separately, and in detail.
Tonight if possible, or first thing tomorrow morning."
"Tonight," I said.
He nodded.
"Mrs.
Voss—" He looked at Maya.
"The documents you described.
The deed transfer and the liability paperwork.
We're going to need the originals or the highest-quality copies you can provide."
"I can send the cloud link right now," she said.
"Please do.
To this address." He slid a card across the table.
Maya took out her phone and sent the link without hesitation.
Hale looked at it on his own phone, scrolled briefly, and set it face-down.
"How long have you known?" he asked her.
Maya was quiet for a moment.
"I suspected for about eighteen months.
I knew for certain after I found the key and went downstairs myself.
That was seven weeks ago."
"What did you find?"
She glanced at me, then back at him.
"Filing boxes.
Twelve of them.
Property documents, financial records, correspondence.
Some of it goes back nine years." She paused.
"There are documents in there with my husband's signature that I don't believe he signed willingly.
And there are documents with Claire's signature that I know she didn't sign at all."
I went very still.
"Which documents?" I asked.
"A second deed transfer," Maya said.
"Dated four months ago.
It moves the condo title from Eleanor's name into a holding company." She looked at me steadily.
"The signature on that document is not yours.
I've seen your signature.
It doesn't match."
"Forgery," Hale said.
Not a question.
"Yes."
I thought about the refinancing papers.
The stack on the kitchen counter.
Adrian explaining quickly, pointing to the lines, telling me the broker was waiting.
"He needed my signature on the first transfer to make it legal," I said slowly.
"But then he needed to move it again, and by then he knew I wouldn't sign anything voluntarily."
"So he signed for you," Maya said.
I looked at Adrian across the table.
He was staring at the surface in front of him.
His jaw was set.
His hands were flat on the table.
"Adrian," I said.
He didn't look up.
"Adrian."
He raised his eyes.
They were not angry anymore.
They were something I hadn't expected.
Exhausted.
"How long?" I asked.
He said nothing.
"How long was this the plan?"
Still nothing.
Charles spoke from the corner.
"Don't answer that."
"His attorney told him the same thing twenty minutes ago," Hale said to me, not unkindly.
"He won't answer tonight."
I nodded.
I hadn't really expected him to.
But Maya answered for him.
"The holding company was registered fourteen months ago," she said.
"Three weeks after your wedding."
The paramedic touched my arm.
"Mrs.
Voss.
Your bp is elevated.
I really need you to come with me."
I looked at Hale.
"Am I free to go to the hospital?"
"Yes.
We have what we need from you for tonight.
I'll contact you tomorrow morning for the full statement."
I stood.
My legs were steadier than I expected.
I walked past Adrian without stopping.
At the doorway I paused, not to look back, but because the paramedic needed to get ahead of me to hold the door.
Behind me, I heard Charles say something low and urgent to Hale.
I heard Hale say, "Sir, I've already told you—"
And then I was outside, and the night air was cold, and the red and blue lights were still turning slowly against the front of the house.
I got into the ambulance.
May you like
The doors closed.
And for the first time since I had sat down at that dinner table, I was alone.
