Chương 15
He did not send it to Hargrove.
Not yet.
Nora watched.
"You don't trust it."
"I don't trust Dad either."
"Fair."
Ryan folded the note again.
The handwriting stirred memories he did not want.
Thomas teaching him to change brake pads.
Thomas missing Paige's eighth-grade graduation.
Thomas buying all four children cheap gas-station candy after promising not to come empty-handed.
Thomas leaving one morning with two suitcases.
Marla standing on the porch saying, "There he goes."
Ryan had remembered hatred in her voice.
Now he wondered if it had been fear.
Or relief.
Or triumph.
Memory was becoming unreliable in places he had believed were concrete.
The doorbell rang at 9:46.
Ryan stood immediately.
Nora did too.
"Sit."
She stared at him.
"Sorry."
He checked the peephole.
A uniformed police officer stood outside.
Ryan opened the door.
The officer introduced herself as Officer Elena Park.
She looked to be in her forties, with tired eyes and the patient expression of someone accustomed to hearing complicated family stories before lunch.
Ryan invited her in.
She glanced at the apartment.
"Anybody else here?"
"My wife."
Nora stepped into view.
Officer Park noticed the bruises on her arm.
Her attention sharpened.
"Are those related?"
"Partly."
Ryan regretted the word immediately.
There was no partly about bruises.
Officer Park took out a small notebook.
"Start wherever makes sense."
Ryan almost said he did not know where that was.
Instead he started with the forged disclaimer.
He showed her Hargrove's email.
The PDF.
The notary block.
His work schedule.
Brooke's messages.
Officer Park read without commenting.
When she finished, she looked at Ryan.
"You know Denise Caldwell?"
"Family friend."
"Relationship to your mother?"
"Close friend."
"How long?"
"Twenty years, maybe more."
"Could Caldwell have reasonably believed you appeared before her yesterday?"
"No."
"Could anyone have used your identification?"
Ryan stopped.
Officer Park noticed.
"Mr. Mercer?"
"My mother may have a copy."
"Of your driver's license?"
Ryan remembered refinancing Marla's car.
He had texted her a photograph of his license because the lender needed identification from the co-signer.
"Yes."
"When?"
"June."
Officer Park wrote something.
"Does she have the physical license?"
"No."
"You're sure?"
He touched his wallet.
"Yes."
Officer Park nodded.
"Now tell me about your wife."
Ryan looked at Nora.
Nora answered herself.
"His sister grabbed me yesterday."
Officer Park turned toward her.
"Which sister?"
"Paige."
"Full name?"
"Paige Mercer."
Nora gave the details.
The bedroom search.
The blue envelope.
Marla's instruction not to leave marks.
Officer Park's face did not dramatically change.
That steadiness helped.
She asked whether Nora wanted to make a report regarding the grabbing.
Nora looked at Ryan.
He looked away deliberately.
This had to be hers.
Nora rubbed her thumb over the edge of the table.
"I don't know."
Officer Park nodded once.
"That's okay."
Ryan looked up.
"You don't need an answer right this second."
Nora exhaled.
Officer Park continued.
"If you decide later, the hospital documentation may help."
Ryan said, "They photographed it."
"Good."
Nora flinched slightly at the word good.
Officer Park corrected herself.
"I mean useful, not good."
Nora nodded.
"I know."
Officer Park turned back to Ryan.
"The forged estate document is a separate issue."
"Can you arrest them?"
The question escaped before he could soften it.
Officer Park raised one eyebrow.
"Who is them?"
Ryan stopped.
His mother.
Denise.
Maybe Paige.
He did not actually know.
"Right."
Officer Park closed the notebook.
"This is why we investigate."
Ryan rubbed the back of his neck.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
She looked at the PDF again.
"We need the original electronic submission from the attorney if possible."
"I can ask."
"Do that."
"Metadata?"
Officer Park looked at him.
"You've been talking to a lawyer."
"All night."
"Yes, metadata, email headers, whatever he can preserve."
She pointed at Brooke's screenshots.
"And don't edit these."
"I won't."
"Does your mother know you've reported this?"
"No."
"Keep it that way for now."
Ryan almost laughed.
"Apparently that's today's theme."
Officer Park stood.
"What happens after that?"
"Could be assigned for follow-up."
"Could be?"
"Depends on what we can corroborate."
Ryan's frustration showed.
She saw it.
"I know that's not satisfying."
"No."
"But a document with a disputed signature and a notary acknowledgment placing you somewhere you can prove you weren't is not nothing."
Ryan nodded.
That was enough.
For now.
Officer Park paused at the door.
"One more thing."
Ryan waited.
"Change passwords if your mother has ever had access to your email, bank accounts, phone plan, cloud storage, anything like that."
Ryan glanced at Nora.
They had both forgotten.
His mother was still the recovery contact on one old email account.
Maybe more.
"Do it today," Officer Park said.
Then she left.
Ryan locked the door behind her.
Nora leaned against the wall.
"How many passwords do you have?"
"I don't know."
"Excellent."
Ryan opened his laptop.
For the next hour, the crisis became deeply boring.
Passwords.
Security questions.
Two-factor authentication.
Recovery emails.
Bank logins.
Phone account PIN.
Apartment portal.
Storage facility account.
His old email.
His current email.
Nora sat beside him with a notebook because Ryan kept forgetting which accounts he had changed.
At one point he discovered his recovery question for an ancient email account was the name of his childhood dog.
"That's terrible security."
"I was nineteen."
"What was the dog's name?"
"I'm not telling you."
"I'm your wife."
"Exactly."
She stared at him.
"Rusty."
Ryan froze.
Nora smiled.
"Your mother told me."
He looked at the laptop.
Then at her.
"Changing that one."
"Definitely."
It was almost funny.
Until it wasn't.
Ryan opened his phone provider account.
There were four authorized users.
Ryan.
Nora.
Marla.
Paige.
He stared at the screen.
"What?"
Nora asked.
Ryan turned the laptop toward her.
Her expression hardened.
"When did that happen?"
"I added Mom years ago."
"And Paige?"
"I don't know."
Ryan opened the account history.
Paige had been added as an authorized user fourteen months earlier.
May you like
The request originated through customer service.
The verification method listed the account PIN.
