Chapter 9 - The Woman Wearing My Face
I watched the kitchen recording twice before I trusted myself to speak.
The woman in the video had my dark hair pulled into a low knot, a navy coat like one I owned, and a careful limp on her right side.
From behind, she could have been me.
When she turned, the resemblance ended.
Her jaw was narrower and her eyes lighter.
She was not Evelyn Carter.
Beside her stood my father, handing her a sheet covered in repeated signatures.
Price paused the image while she practiced signing my name.
The time stamp placed the recording three days before the supposedly executed trust deed.
My mouth went dry.
“They rehearsed it in my kitchen.”
The investigator nodded.
“That appears to be what this shows.”
A second video showed the same woman sitting at the table while a man photographed her hand signing a blank page.
The man wore gloves, but an exposed wrist showed a small compass tattoo.
Mara remembered the tattoo from one of the photographs Mr. Pierce had provided.
The man was Owen Briggs.
Records put Briggs in the area during the relevant period, but Price stressed that the video needed proper forensic authentication.
My father had told the court that I was an ungrateful daughter who no longer cared for the property.
Apparently he still cared enough about appearances to stage my return.
Mom asked to see the recording.
When the imitation Evelyn entered the kitchen, she recoiled.
“Robert told me he had a surprise for you,” she whispered.
“He said you were coming home to sign the trust.”
“Did you see her?”
“No. He made me stay with my sister that weekend.”
Mara asked Mom for the name of the notary whose stamp appeared on the forged deed.
She recognized it immediately.
“Bethany Crowe,” she said.
“She notarized our mortgage refinancing.”
Crowe's commission had expired before the deed's stated execution date.
Her office had shut down after a disciplinary proceeding.
That did not by itself identify the forger, but it added another impossible detail to Dad's paperwork.
Later that evening, Price told us investigators had located the imitation Evelyn.
Her name was Allison Reed, an actor who had responded to a private casting advertisement.
She claimed she was hired for a corporate training film about signature verification.
Then Price read the final line of the casting contract.
The client had requested one particular feature.
May you like
“Applicant must convincingly imitate a woman recovering from right-knee surgery.”
