Chapter 10 - The Treasurer Who Never Agreed
My mother looked as if she'd been struck.
“I've never been treasurer of anything called Heritage Service Consulting,” she said.
The investigator asked to speak in the living room.
I stayed only after Mom requested my presence.
He explained that the title had appeared on a filing associated with a local charitable event.
He wasn't accusing her of wrongdoing.
He needed to establish who had submitted the information.
Sloan joined the conversation by telephone.
Mom provided copies of her identification and the documents she had actually signed.
One filed form included an electronic signature that resembled hers.
She had never seen the form.
Martin entered during the interview and stopped in the doorway.
“What's going on?”
The investigator introduced himself.
Martin made a little show of being helpful.
“Of course I'll cooperate.”
Then he looked at Mom.
“Did you call them?”
“No,” she answered.
“Then who did?”
“Someone who had questions,” I said.
Martin smiled at the investigator.
“My girlfriend's daughter is military intelligence.”
He paused.
“She's trained to interrogate people.”
It was a calculated attempt to make me seem like the aggressor.
I let the investigator observe it without interruption.
He asked Martin whether the organization had permission to list Mom as treasurer.
“She helps with the books,” Martin said.
“That's not what I asked,” the investigator replied.
Martin looked at Ellis's name on the folder and shifted in his chair.
“I'd need to see the records.”
After the investigators left, Martin turned on Mom.
“You've made us look guilty.”
“I didn't put my name on that form,” she said.
“Then you should be grateful someone included you.”
The sentence was so absurd that I almost thought I'd misheard it.
Mom stood up.
“I want you to move out.”
Martin stared at her.
Then he laughed.
“You think it's that simple?”
Sloan had already warned us that an occupant's rights and the process for ending them could depend on local law and the details of the arrangement.
We weren't going to improvise an eviction.
Mom repeated the request calmly and said her attorney would handle written notice.
May you like
Martin's laugh disappeared.
“Before you put me out,” he said, “you'd better ask Claire what she did overseas.”
