Chapter 12 - The Woman Who Signed Nothing
Sloan recommended that Mom spend a few nights with her sister while the housing dispute was handled.
Mom resisted at first.
“I won't be chased out of my own home,” she said.
“You aren't surrendering it,” Sloan replied.
“You're choosing where you feel safe while we take the legal steps.”
That distinction helped.
I drove her to Aunt Diane's house after we documented the condition of the rooms and secured essential papers.
Martin sent seventeen messages before midnight.
Some were apologetic.
Some accused her of betraying him.
One promised to tell the entire town she was losing her memory.
Mom stared at that one longer than the others.
“He used to say that whenever I forgot where I'd put something,” she told me.
“He said he was protecting me.”
Diane put her hand over Mom's.
“Protecting you from what, making your own choices?”
The bluntness made Mom smile sadly.
The next day Sloan obtained a copy of another filing bearing Mom's purported consent.
This one attempted to authorize the charity to use her residential address as a mailing location.
Mom hadn't signed it.
She prepared a written statement explaining the discrepancy.
We did not pretend we could prove who had made the signature yet.
That determination belonged to people examining the records and their origins.
I returned to the house briefly, accompanied by the person permitted to perform a scheduled maintenance inspection.
Martin was absent, although his belongings remained.
A neighbor told us she'd seen an unfamiliar blue sedan at the property twice that week.
She had written down part of the plate because the driver had parked across her driveway.
I gave her the investigator's contact information rather than taking over the inquiry.
Near the front steps we found a flyer for another Heritage fundraiser.
It listed a new speaker and removed Martin's title.
The organizer was still Graham Ellis.
May you like
The event was scheduled for Saturday.
And the contact address had changed to my mother's house.
