Chapter 10 - The House With Two Owners
The broker's name was Celia Grant, and by ten o'clock we were sitting across from her in a small conference room.
Emmett had asked me to come because he did not want to walk into another meeting alone.
Celia placed copies of the listing documents on the table.
The signature on the authorization looked like Emmett's, but he identified two letters that were formed differently from the way he wrote them.
“I didn't sign this,” he said.
Celia nodded.
“We're suspending the listing pending review.”
She opened another page.
“The intake sheet also identifies Claire as a co-owner.”
“That isn't true,” Emmett replied.
“Not according to the deed I have.”
I looked at the page.
Someone had written that the house was jointly owned by Emmett and Claire through marriage.
They had married only the previous evening.
No deed or transfer document was attached.
Celia explained that her agency had relied too heavily on the information provided during intake and was now checking the public records and its internal communications.
Emmett asked for copies and a written confirmation that no showing or offer would proceed.
She agreed.
As we left, he looked older than he had the day before.
“How much else did I miss?” he asked.
I wished I could give him a reassuring answer.
Instead I told him the only honest thing I knew.
“We'll look at one fact at a time.”
On the sidewalk, my phone rang.
It was Mara.
She had remembered another file in Claire's office, a spreadsheet titled Transition Plan.
It contained dates for moving, changing Margot's school, and reducing contact with me to one supervised visit a month.
“Supervised by whom?” I asked.
“Claire,” Mara said.
The spreadsheet had never been shown to Emmett.
Mara was working with her own lawyer to determine what records she could appropriately provide.
She didn't want to mishandle confidential information or make claims she couldn't prove.
I thanked her and hung up.
At that moment Emmett received a call from the county clerk's office.
His voice tightened while he listened.
Afterward he looked at me in disbelief.
Someone had made an appointment to record a new property document on Monday morning.
The name on the appointment was Claire's.
May you like
And the notary listed in the appointment was Vivian.
