Chapter 6: The Lawyer in the Living Room
Ray arrived at two in the afternoon.
He drove a plain gray sedan and wore a jacket without a tie, which I had specifically asked for.
He looked like a friend stopping by.
Nothing more.
I met him at the door before he could knock.
"Good to see you standing," he said, gripping my hand.
"Good to be standing." I stepped back to let him in.
"They're in the back of the house.
We have maybe twenty minutes before someone comes to check."
We sat at the dining room table.
Ray opened his laptop.
I spread out what we had — the bank transfer screenshots, the property document photos, a handwritten timeline Gwen had put together that morning while I kept Margaret occupied with questions about the renovation contractors.
Ray looked at everything without speaking for a long time.
Then he looked up.
"Okay," he said.
"The account redirection is the main event.
Two digits transposed on the destination account.
That's not a clerical error — the account she redirected to was opened in Margaret's name four months before your first deployment.
Someone set this up deliberately."
"Can you prove that?"
"The bank can.
I'm going to file a formal fraud complaint this week.
They'll pull the account opening records, the authorization signatures, all of it." He tapped the property document.
"This is the second problem.
This transfer would have been valid if signed.
Your name is on the deed, but there's a joint ownership clause from when you purchased the property.
Did you know about that?"
"No."
"Margaret is listed as a co-owner.
A small percentage — ten percent.
Enough to give her legal standing to initiate a transfer petition with a cooperative buyer." He paused.
"Garrett isn't just Paige's boyfriend.
He's the buyer.
He was going to purchase your house at a price well below market value, with Margaret's ten percent interest used to satisfy the minimum co-owner consent requirement."
I sat with that for a moment.
"They were going to sell my house out from under me while I was deployed."
"And pocket the difference between the sale price and market value.
Yes." Ray closed the document photo.
"The fraud complaint covers the money.
For the property, I'm going to file an injunction to freeze any transfer activity on this address.
That kills the Saturday meeting before it starts."
Gwen, sitting across from me, put both hands flat on the table.
"Will they know?" she asked.
"When the injunction is filed — will Margaret be notified?"
"She'll find out when Garrett tries to move forward and hits a wall," Ray said.
"Probably Friday at the earliest."
"She'll come after David."
"She'll try." Ray looked at her directly.
"That's actually what we want.
When she confronts him, we need her to say as much as possible.
Admissions made in anger are still admissions."
Gwen looked at me.
I could see her thinking through it.
"There's one more thing," she said.
She reached into the pocket of her sweatshirt and pulled out her phone.
She opened the photo gallery and slid it across the table to Ray.
He looked at the screen.
His expression didn't change, but he went very still.
"When was this taken?"
"Seven months ago.
I set my phone against the spice rack on the counter.
Margaret didn't see it." Gwen's voice was steady.
"I had asked her to give me access to the account.
She refused.
I pushed back.
She—" Gwen stopped.
"I wanted a record."
Ray looked at the video for another moment.
Then he set the phone down carefully.
"This changes the scope significantly," he said.
"This isn't just fraud anymore."
The back hallway door opened.
Margaret's footsteps crossed the kitchen floor.
Ray closed his laptop in one smooth motion.
I reached across and picked up Gwen's phone and slid it into my jacket pocket.
Margaret appeared in the dining room doorway.
She looked at Ray.
She looked at me.
Her expression arranged itself into something pleasant and curious.
"I didn't realize we had company," she said.
"Old friend," I said.
"Ray, this is my mother Margaret.
Ray and I served together."
Ray stood and extended his hand.
"Ma'am.
David's told me a lot about you."
Margaret shook his hand.
Her eyes moved to the closed laptop.
To the papers on the table.
"Just catching up," I said.
"Ray's in town for a few days."
"How nice." She smiled at him.
Then at me.
"I'll leave you to it."
She went back down the hallway.
Ray sat down slowly.
Neither of us spoke for a moment.
"She counted the papers," Gwen said quietly.
Ray and I both looked at her.
"When she was standing in the doorway," Gwen said.
"Her eyes moved across the table.
She was counting."
Ray looked at me.
"Friday," he said.
May you like
"Not Saturday.
We need to move everything up."
