Chapter 3: The Plan Behind the Papers
Brenda’s mother, Elaine, pressed both hands against her mouth.
Brenda turned on her so quickly that her chair nearly tipped over.
“Be quiet, Mom.”
“No,” I said.
“I want her to finish.”
Elaine lowered her hands.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“How did you mean it?” Brandon asked.
“Because it sounded like you knew about the signature.”
Brenda snatched the application from me, but Mrs.
Gable caught her wrist.
“That belongs to Catherine,” she said.
“Take your hand off me,” Brenda hissed.
Mrs.
Gable released her and stood beside my chair.
“Then put the paper down.”
Brenda’s father, Martin, looked from his wife to his daughter.
“Elaine, what have you two done?”
“It was supposed to protect the family,” Elaine said.
“Catherine was going to leave the house to Brandon eventually.”
“Eventually is not today,” I replied.
“And helping my son does not mean surrendering everything I own.”
Brandon picked up one of the bank statements.
“Brenda, did you take this money?”
“We took it,” she said.
“You benefited too.”
His face tightened.
“I never saw forty-five thousand dollars.”
“You enjoyed the new television.
You enjoyed the vacation.”
“That trip cost three thousand.”
“And the rest?” I asked.
Brenda folded her arms.
“Investments.”
“What investments?”
She stared at me.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
I took out my phone and called my lawyer, Daniel Mercer.
“Daniel, could you come to the house now?”
Brenda laughed.
“Go ahead.
Call every lawyer in the city.
We live here, and I’m carrying your grandchild.”
“A baby is not a deed,” I said.
Her smile disappeared.
Daniel arrived twenty minutes later carrying a leather folder.
He examined the transfer application without sitting down.
“This signature is not Catherine’s,” he said.
“Who prepared this?”
“No one here,” Elaine answered.
Martin reached for the page.
His finger stopped over the notary stamp.
“That’s my office seal.”
Everyone looked at him.
“I keep it locked in my desk,” he said.
“Elaine, you have the spare key.”
“You’re blaming your own wife?” Elaine demanded.
“I’m asking why my seal is on a document I never witnessed.”
Brenda grabbed her purse.
“This conversation is over.”
Daniel stepped away from the doorway but held up another document.
“Before you leave, this is formal notice that Catherine is revoking permission for you and Brandon to occupy her home.
You are not to remove, sell, or destroy anything else.”
“You can’t do that,” Brenda said.
“I already did,” I replied.
My phone rang before she could answer.
The caller identified herself as a fraud officer from Southwest Community Bank.
“Mrs.
Hale, did you apply for a loan against your property?”
“No.”
There was a pause.
Daniel leaned closer as I put the call on speaker.
“The application is for one hundred and eighty thousand dollars,” the woman said.
“It includes the same transfer document, a medical letter declaring you incapable of handling your finances, and a request to release funds tomorrow morning.”
Brandon slowly sat down.
“I didn’t sign any medical letter,” I said.
“The physician’s name is Dr.
Leonard Vale,” she replied.
“Do you know him?”
Elaine’s cup slipped from her hand and struck the table.
Martin stared at his wife.
“That’s your brother’s doctor.”
May you like
The bank officer continued, “Mrs.
Hale, someone is trying to take control of your house before you can stop them.”
