Chương 13
“For the notary.”
“Which notary?”
“I don’t know.”
“There are two.”
Another silence.
“What?”
Charlotte heard Gertrude in the background.
“What is she talking about?”
Brandon said, “Mom, give me a minute.”
Charlotte stood.
“There is a second recorded document.”
“I never saw a second document.”
“Someone signed my current signature on it.”
Brandon did not answer.
“Did you sign my name?”
“No.”
The answer came so quickly that Charlotte believed he had expected the question.
“Did your mother?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because after the first one she refused to do it again.”
Charlotte looked toward Hailey.
Hailey’s eyebrows rose.
“Again?”
Charlotte said.
“There was another request?”
Brandon exhaled.
“Curtis said there was a correction.”
“What correction?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Try.”
“He said the first instrument had a title problem.”
“What kind?”
“Something about priority.”
Charlotte wrote the word on the grocery flyer.
“And he needed another signature from me.”
“Yes.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That you wouldn’t sign.”
Charlotte almost could not process the sentence.
“You told him I wouldn’t sign.”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell him why?”
“Because you didn’t know about any of it.”
The room seemed to tilt very slightly.
“So Curtis knew explicitly that I had not authorized the first signature.”
Brandon went quiet.
Charlotte’s hand tightened around the pen.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
Evan swore softly.
Hailey leaned back in her chair.
Charlotte continued.
“And after you told him I wouldn’t sign, a second document appeared with my current signature.”
“I didn’t know about it.”
“Who had my license?”
“Curtis.”
“Who gave it to him?”
“I did.”
“Who gave him examples of my signature?”
“I didn’t.”
“Think.”
“I am thinking.”
“Tax returns.”
“No.”
“Checks.”
“No.”
“Insurance forms.”
“No.”
“Mortgage documents.”
Brandon hesitated.
Charlotte caught it.
“What?”
“He asked for a copy of our homeowners insurance declaration.”
“That doesn’t have my signature.”
“I know.”
“What else?”
“He wanted proof of occupancy.”
“How did you prove it?”
“I sent a utility bill.”
“No signature.”
“I know.”
“Brandon.”
“I’m trying.”
Gertrude spoke in the background again.
“Tell her about the folder.”
Charlotte froze.
“What folder?”
Brandon said nothing.
“Brandon.”
Gertrude’s voice came closer.
“At the house.”
Charlotte looked around.
“What folder at the house?”
“A blue folder from the refinance.”
Charlotte’s eyes moved toward the living room desk.
They kept old property papers in several places because neither of them had ever organized them properly.
“Where?”
Gertrude answered.
“Bottom desk drawer.”
Charlotte walked there while keeping the phone to her ear.
The drawer stuck halfway out.
She pulled harder.
Pens rolled forward.
There were stamps, old school pictures, instruction manuals, expired coupons, and two folders.
One yellow.
One blue.
Charlotte took out the blue one.
It contained copies from their refinance five years earlier.
She flipped through them.
Several pages carried her old signature.
Then she found a more recent sheet tucked into the back.
A beneficiary update from eighteen months ago.
Her current signature appeared at the bottom.
Charlotte stared at it.
“Why is this here?”
Brandon said, “What?”
“A beneficiary form.”
“I don’t know.”
“It should be with retirement paperwork.”
“I must have put it there.”
“Did Curtis see this folder?”
Silence.
Charlotte felt the answer before it came.
“Yes.”
Hailey stood.
Evan muttered, “Jesus Christ.”
Charlotte kept her voice steady.
“Why?”
“He wanted to review the refinance package.”
“You brought him into our house?”
“No.”
“Then how did he see it?”
“I took the folder to him.”
Charlotte closed her eyes.
“When?”
“About two months ago.”
“Before or after the first forged document?”
“Before.”
“And you never thought to mention that.”
“I forgot.”
“No.”
The word came out flat.
“You didn’t forget.”
Brandon said nothing.
“You left it out because it made everything worse.”
His breathing came through the phone.
“Yes.”
Charlotte sat on the edge of the couch.
The blue folder rested in her lap.
She no longer felt shocked.
Shock required enough distance between discoveries for the body to reset.
Now each new fact simply attached itself to the previous one.
“Did you get the folder back directly from Curtis?”
“No.”
“Who returned it?”
“His assistant.”
“Name?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Man or woman?”
“Woman.”
“Where?”
“She dropped it at my office.”
“What office?”
“My work.”
Charlotte pressed two fingers to her temple.
“Did she sign in?”
“Probably.”
“Security cameras?”
“Probably.”
“Date?”
“I can find it.”
“Do that.”
Brandon hesitated.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Give it to my lawyer.”
“Charlotte.”
“What?”
His voice changed.
It became smaller.
“I’m scared.”
For one ugly second, part of her wanted him to be.
Then she pictured the man who reminded Skylar to charge her school tablet and made terrible pancakes on Sundays and once drove forty minutes back to a restaurant because Charlotte left her scarf.
That man had done this too.
Both things were true.
“So am I,” she said.
“I didn’t know Curtis would do this.”
“You knew enough to hide him from me.”
“I know.”
She stared at the blue folder.
“That sentence doesn’t help anymore.”
“I know.”
Charlotte nearly laughed.
Instead she asked, “Did you ever meet the woman who returned the folder before that day?”
“No.”
“Did she give you a card?”
“I think so.”
“Find it.”
“And find the exact date.”
“Okay.”
She ended the call.
Hailey was standing near the window.
Evan had gone pale.
Charlotte set the blue folder on the table.
“Curtis had this.”
Evan did not touch it.
“He had a current signature sample.”
“Yes.”
“And your license.”
“Yes.”
“And he knew you wouldn’t sign.”
“Yes.”
Hailey wrapped her arms around herself.
“That’s not subtle.”
“No.”
Charlotte opened the folder again.
One page had a faint crease near the corner she did not remember.
Another had been placed backward.
Meaningless things, probably.
She stopped treating them as clues.
Marisol had told her not to decide before evidence existed.
May you like
Charlotte photographed the folder exactly as she found it.
Then she put it in a clean grocery bag because she had nothing better and wrote the date on a sticky note attached to the outside.
