Chapter 9 - The Listing Nobody Approved
Emmett showed me a private listing on a real-estate website.
There was my daughter's yellow kitchen, photographed in afternoon sunlight.
There was Margot's bedroom, with her stuffed rabbit on the pillow.
And there was the framed photograph of Phoebe on the mantle, carefully removed for the staging images.
The listing described the home as vacant upon closing.
“Did you authorize this?” I asked.
“No.”
“Did you know an agent had entered the house?”
“Claire said she was arranging a surprise renovation consultation.”
I remembered the way she had dismissed every question as an intrusion.
Emmett called the agency's after-hours number and left a message stating he had not approved the listing.
He also emailed the broker asking for an immediate hold on all showings and preservation of the transaction records.
It was nearly midnight by the time he finished.
Margot stirred and came into the kitchen carrying her blanket.
“Daddy?”
He opened his arms, and she ran to him.
He held her a long time before speaking.
“Tomorrow we're going to get some breakfast,” he said.
“Just us, and Grandpa if you want him there.”
She nodded against his chest.
“Can we have heart pancakes?”
“We absolutely can.”
Then she asked him whether the wedding pictures were gone forever.
Emmett looked at me.
“No, sweetheart,” he said.
“Tomorrow we'll make new ones.”
After he settled her again, he told me he would call a family-law attorney in the morning.
I suggested he also consult a real-estate attorney about the listing.
We agreed not to accuse anyone of a crime based on drafts and unanswered questions.
Instead, we would preserve what we had and find out who had done what.
At breakfast, the first call came from the broker.
She sounded alarmed.
According to the authorization form in her file, the seller had signed in person at her office three days earlier.
She named the person who had witnessed the signature.
It was Richard, Claire's father.
Emmett said he had never been there.
The broker went silent.
May you like
Then she said, “Mr. Bennett, there is something else you need to see.”
