Chapter 8 - The Complaint
The bank's compliance officer assured me that an accusation wasn't a finding.
But the review was real, and I could not dismiss it as another unpleasant call from Vanessa.
I provided the preserved logs through my accountant and asked for the proper process to challenge the transactions.
Leah brought every vendor agreement into a locked digital folder.
Our employees still had to be paid on Friday.
Our clients still expected offices clean by morning.
A small business could die from rumor before a court ever settled a fact.
I called my largest client, a regional medical practice, before someone else did.
“We identified transactions that may have been unauthorized,” I explained.
“Our accounting team is reviewing them, and your service has not been affected.”
The manager thanked me for being proactive.
Then she asked whether I would still personally attend the quarterly review.
“Absolutely,” I said.
I arrived at that meeting with a clean audit trail for their invoices and a smile I had to practice in my car.
When I returned to the office, a stranger was waiting in reception.
She introduced herself as Sarah Whitcomb.
Her silver hair was pinned neatly back, and she carried a document tube under her arm.
“Your attorney found me,” she said.
“She said you might need to ask me something about Thomas Parker.”
I led her into the conference room and called Elena to join us.
Sarah explained that she'd worked for my father's attorney and had witnessed signatures when Dad established his trust.
The Fulton warehouse had been placed in trust for me, subject to terms that needed to be verified from the official documents.
After his death, she said, someone had presented an amendment purporting to redirect the property to Margaret.
“Did you witness that amendment?” Elena asked.
“No.”
“Do you know who did?”
“There's a name on the paperwork.
I could never locate the witness.”
She unfolded a certified copy she'd obtained through proper records requests.
The signature resembled Dad's but wasn't accompanied by the witness details I remembered from the original trust.
Sarah tapped a date near the bottom.
“Thomas was heavily medicated in the hospital that day,” she said.
“But I never concluded this was invalid.
I simply couldn't verify it.”
Elena nodded.
“We won't leap to a conclusion.”
Sarah then produced a letter from her old office showing Dad had requested that the original binder be stored separately from any household papers.
“Where is it?” I asked.
“The attorney retired.
His files went to successor counsel.”
She slid me a card with a firm's name on it.
I recognized the address before I recognized the firm.
It was in the same downtown office tower where Trevor's real estate company maintained a suite.
“Is there a connection?” I asked.
Sarah shook her head.
“Maybe none.
But I'd request the chain of custody.”
After she left, my mother called.
“Your grandmother hasn't been sleeping,” she said.
“She's doing fine with Rachel.”
“Rachel is filling her head with nonsense.”
“Mom, did Dad leave me the Fulton warehouse?”
The silence lasted long enough to answer a different question.
May you like
Then Margaret said, “I suggest you stop digging before you lose something you actually care about.”
