Chương 4
“That changes the urgency, not the ownership.”
“I know.”
“Walter, listen carefully.”
“I am.”
“I’m contacting the title company listed on the recorded deed and the county recorder’s fraud unit.”
“There’s a fraud unit?”
“Some counties have dedicated staff, some route it through law enforcement, but I’m starting with the recorder and title chain.”
She paused.
“Do not sign anything anyone gives you.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Do not agree to let Greg and Brenda stay temporarily.”
I looked at Brenda.
She had heard that.
Her eyes dropped.
“I wasn’t planning that either.”
“Good.”
“What about Hannah?”
“Has she contacted you?”
“No.”
“Then give her a little time.”
“What if she warns Shawn?”
“She may.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“It bothers me.”
Evelyn’s tone stayed level.
“But Hannah is your daughter, not an evidence locker.”
I closed my eyes for a second.
That was why I paid Evelyn.
She had a way of saying unpleasant things without enjoying them.
“Where are you right now?”
“Still at the cabin.”
“Stay there until the deputy finishes.”
“All right.”
“And Walter?”
“Yes?”
“I checked something else.”
I waited.
“The notarization.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“What about it?”
“The deed shows it was acknowledged before a notary named Celeste Warren.”
I did not know the name.
Evelyn continued.
“Her commission number is valid.”
“So the notary is real.”
“Yes.”
“That’s worse.”
“Maybe.”
“What do you mean, maybe?”
“The commission is real, but I haven’t confirmed she performed this notarization.”
I looked at the printed deed in Miller’s hand.
A legitimate name on a fraudulent document was one more layer I had not been prepared for.
“How long does that take?”
“I’ve already left a message with her office.”
“Office?”
“She’s a mobile notary and also works at a real-estate closing service in Cumming.”
That stopped me.
“What service?”
“Peachtree Settlement Partners.”
I had heard the name before.
Not recently.
It floated somewhere just outside reach.
Then Greg dropped another box in the truck and swore when something inside it broke.
The sound triggered it.
Christmas dinner.
Two years earlier.
Shawn complaining about a refinancing closing that had been delayed because somebody at a settlement company had entered the wrong parcel number.
Peachtree.
He had mentioned the company because one of his friends worked there.
“Evelyn.”
“Yes?”
“Shawn knows somebody at Peachtree.”
“How do you know?”
“He said so at Christmas a couple years ago.”
“Name?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Think.”
“I’m trying.”
I pictured my dining room.
Susan’s chair empty at the end of the table.
Hannah bringing the mashed potatoes.
Shawn talking with his mouth half full because he was always less careful at family dinners.
A college friend.
Golf.
Something about a guy who could get closing fees discounted.
“Daniel.”
I said it aloud before I knew I had found it.
“Daniel something.”
“Last name?”
“No.”
“Was he an attorney?”
“I don’t know.”
“Title agent?”
“I don’t know that either.”
Evelyn exhaled.
“Good enough for now.”
She hung up to make more calls.
Miller was taking a statement from Brenda when my phone rang again almost immediately.
I expected Evelyn.
It was Hannah.
I answered.
She said, “Dad, Shawn is gone.”
I straightened.
“What do you mean?”
“I went to his office.”
“You were supposed to call Evelyn.”
“I did.”
Her voice was shaking now.
“She told me not to confront him, but I thought if I just saw whether his car was there—”
“Hannah.”
“I know.”
She spoke faster.
“I know, okay?”
I waited.
She pulled in a breath.
“His boss said Shawn called in sick this morning.”
“Did you call him?”
“Twenty-three times.”
I looked toward Miller.
He saw my face and started walking over.
“Where are you now?”
“In the parking lot.”
“Stay there.”
“I’m not a child.”
“Then stop chasing him.”
Silence.
I regretted it before the words finished leaving my mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I am.”
“He emptied our checking account.”
For a moment I could not speak.
Hannah continued before I could ask anything.
“Not everything.”
Her voice cracked.
“There was twelve thousand four hundred dollars in the joint account.”
“How much is there now?”
“Forty-three.”
“Forty-three hundred?”
“Forty-three dollars.”
Miller was standing close enough to hear.
His expression changed.
“When?” I asked.
“This morning.”
“How?”
“Transfer.”
“To where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can the bank tell you?”
“They said it went to an external account linked to his name.”
I sat down again.
Hannah said, “Dad, I think he knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That you were coming to the cabin.”
I looked at the roof.
The damaged section was visible from where I sat, one dark line beneath the shingles.
“I didn’t tell him.”
“I did.”
The words were barely audible.
“When?”
“Sunday.”
“Why?”
“He asked what you were doing this week.”
I said nothing.
“I didn’t know, Dad.”
“I know.”
“He said he might come by and help you.”
A laugh escaped me.
It sounded wrong enough that Miller glanced at me.
Hannah began crying again.
“I gave him the date.”
“You didn’t give him anything he had a right to use.”
“I did.”
“You told your husband where your father was going.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
I pressed my thumb against my temple.
“Hannah, where is Shawn’s passport?”
“What?”
“His passport.”
“I don’t know.”
“Check when you get home.”
“He wouldn’t leave the country.”
“Maybe not.”
“He wouldn’t.”
Her certainty sounded less like knowledge than a request.
Miller quietly asked me to put the phone on speaker.
I did.
“Hannah, this is Deputy Miller with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.”
She stopped crying immediately.
People do that around authority even when authority has not changed what hurts.
He asked whether she believed Shawn had access to weapons.
“No.”
“Any reason to think he might harm himself?”
A long pause.
“No.”
“Any reason to think he might harm someone else?”
“No.”
“Do you know where he could have gone?”
Another pause.
May you like
Then Hannah said, “His brother.”
Greg turned around from inside the truck.
