Chương 8
“Take photos of every page and email them to the address I’m going to give you.”
“What about the notary?”
“Send that page too.”
“Can somebody really put a lien on a house with a forged signature?”
The assistant paused.
“Ms. Vega will need to review the documents before giving legal advice.”
Charlotte hated how reasonable that answer was.
“Right.”
“We may also want a title report.”
“What should I do until then?”
“Don’t sign anything else and don’t surrender original documents to anyone.”
Charlotte glanced toward the safe.
“That I can manage.”
After Skylar left for school, Charlotte photographed every page on the dining table.
The seafood smell had survived the night despite the trash being taken out.
She cracked a window.
A neighbor somewhere nearby was running a leaf blower, the mechanical whine rising and falling through the quiet street.
Charlotte found herself staring at the soy sauce stain on the table runner.
She had bought it on clearance two Christmases earlier.
Gertrude had called the color depressing.
It was gray.
Charlotte folded it and threw it into the laundry basket.
At nine twelve, Brandon finally replied.
Evan met Curtis before I did.
Charlotte typed, That is not what I asked.
This time Brandon called.
She let it ring twice before answering.
“Where are you?”
“At Mom’s.”
“Why did you tell me you met Curtis through Evan after Evan transferred money to him?”
“I did meet him through Evan.”
“That still doesn’t answer the timeline.”
“Evan invested first.”
“And you knew that.”
“Yes.”
“Last night you made it sound like Evan introduced you to an opportunity he hadn’t entered.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You let me believe it.”
Brandon exhaled.
“Charlotte, I was trying to explain six months of bad decisions in a laundry room.”
“Then explain them now.”
Silence.
She could hear a television in the background at Gertrude’s condo.
Some cheerful morning host was laughing.
“Evan invested in Inland Venture,” Brandon said.
“Curtis told him it owned part of the logistics operation.”
“What part?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ever see ownership documents?”
“No.”
“Financial statements?”
“Some.”
“Real statements?”
“I thought they were real.”
Charlotte closed her eyes.
“Did you invest in Inland Venture too?”
“No.”
“Where did your forty thousand go?”
“Directly to the logistics company.”
“What was it called?”
“WestArc Freight Solutions.”
Charlotte wrote the name down.
“Why is WestArc not on the documents from last night?”
“Because those documents are for the loan.”
“From who?”
“Vane Capital Services.”
Charlotte stopped writing.
“So there are three companies.”
“Yes.”
“All tied to Curtis.”
“I think so.”
“You think so?”
“That’s what he represented.”
Charlotte stared at the list.
“Inland Venture takes Evan’s investment.”
“Yes.”
“WestArc takes yours.”
“Yes.”
“Then Vane Capital loans you seventy-five thousand after WestArc starts failing.”
“Yes.”
“And you use the loan to put more money into WestArc.”
“Most of it.”
“What did you do with the rest?”
A pause.
“Caught up some things.”
“What things?”
“Credit cards.”
Charlotte gripped the phone harder.
“How much credit-card debt do you have?”
“It isn’t huge.”
“Number.”
“Twenty-one.”
She pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead.
“Twenty-one thousand dollars?”
“Some was business-related.”
“You don’t have a business.”
“I was treating the investment like one.”
“That is not how words work.”
“I know.”
“No, Brandon, I am starting to think you genuinely do not.”
He went quiet.
Charlotte regretted the sentence immediately.
Not because it was entirely unfair.
Because cruelty was beginning to feel too easy.
She lowered her voice.
“Did Curtis tell you to use the house?”
“He said the lender needed security.”
“Curtis is the lender.”
“He said Vane Capital had other partners.”
“Names?”
“I never met them.”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That they were passive investors.”
Charlotte wrote passive investors with a question mark.
“Who prepared the documents?”
“A guy Curtis uses.”
“Lawyer?”
“I don’t know.”
“Notary?”
“I don’t know.”
“You signed loan documents without knowing who prepared them.”
“Yes.”
The absence of excuses sounded worse than excuses now.
Charlotte sat down at the table.
“Why did your mother sign my name?”
Brandon did not answer immediately.
“Because I asked her.”
Charlotte stared at the scratched wood near the edge of the table.
“Why would she agree?”
“She thought the house was protected.”
“From what?”
“I told her the paperwork only secured my share.”
“And she believed you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you believe that?”
Another silence.
“At first.”
Charlotte’s throat tightened.
“And later?”
“I knew it might be broader.”
“Might?”
“I didn’t understand all of it.”
“But you knew enough not to show me.”
“Yes.”
There was no useful response to that.
Charlotte heard Gertrude say something in the background.
Brandon covered the phone, but not quickly enough.
“She doesn’t need to hear all this right now,” Gertrude said.
Charlotte stood.
“Put me on speaker.”
“No.”
“Brandon.”
“Charlotte, don’t.”
“Put me on speaker.”
A few seconds later, the background sound widened.
“You’re on.”
Charlotte said, “Gertrude, who notarized my signature?”
Silence.
Then Gertrude answered.
“A man named Neil.”
“Neil what?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You signed my name in front of him?”
“Yes.”
“And he knew you weren’t me?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
Brandon said, “Mom.”
“What?”
Gertrude snapped.
“She asked.”
Charlotte wrote Neil.
“What did Neil look like?”
“For heaven’s sake.”
“What did he look like?”
“Middle-aged.”
“That describes half the county.”
“Brown hair, glasses, maybe fifty.”
“Where did this happen?”
Gertrude hesitated.
Brandon said, “Mom.”
Charlotte’s pulse picked up.
“Where?”
“At Curtis’s office.”
Brandon swore under his breath.
Charlotte stood very still.
“You told me last night it was handled remotely.”
“I was trying to keep you from overreacting.”
“You physically went to Curtis’s office and signed my name in front of a notary.”
“Yes.”
“Was Brandon there?”
Gertrude did not answer.
Charlotte asked again.
“Was he there?”
Brandon spoke.
“Yes.”
Charlotte closed her eyes.
The room seemed to shrink around her.
May you like
“So both of you watched a notary stamp a signature you knew was false.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Brandon said.
