Chapter 18 - THE DATES WERE CHANGED
David arranged for Chloe's lawyer to provide any relevant information through the appropriate process.
We were not going to trade accusations in text messages.
Chloe stated that Oscar had shown her paperwork supposedly approved by me.
She admitted that she had not spoken to me about it.
She also admitted that she'd discussed moving into the apartment with Brenda before the dinner.
I was furious that she'd planned my future without inviting me into the conversation.
But her statement complicated the question of who knew about the forgery.
Investigators would have to separate arrogance from criminal knowledge.
That distinction wasn't an excuse.
It was the difference between proving something and merely believing it.
According to the documents Chloe's lawyer produced, one draft bore a date from before the dinner.
Another had the date altered to the Friday I could prove I was in Memphis.
The alteration suggested that someone had tried to make an old form serve a new purpose.
Oscar's explanation was that his assistant had used an outdated template.
David noted the claim without accepting it.
The bank continued its review.
Meanwhile, Brenda began telling relatives that I had abandoned Luke without cause.
An aunt I'd once liked called and asked whether I could please calm down for the sake of the family.
I asked whether she knew about the unauthorized loan.
She went silent.
Then she said Brenda had told everyone it was a misunderstanding about a housewarming gift.
I almost laughed.
Two million dollars of unauthorized debt had become a housewarming gift.
I told her I would not debate private evidence in a family group chat.
She apologized for calling.
Later, David received documents about Brenda's house.
My payments had been applied to renovations and several carrying costs.
The ownership records still showed Brenda and her husband.
That was an important limit: paying for work had not made the house mine.
David explained that any claim for reimbursement would need its own facts and legal basis.
I did not want him to promise me a victory he couldn't guarantee.
I wanted an honest chance.
Then a certified letter arrived for me at Maya's apartment.
The sender was an attorney representing the Ross family trust.
The letter asked whether I had authorized a payment from a legacy account into Cypress Harbor.
I read it twice.
The trust wasn't exhausted.
May you like
And someone had used my name there, too.
