Chapter 5 - My Name On Their Paper
The forged signature wasn't perfect.
My first name slanted upward, the way it had when I was a teenager.
But the final letter of my surname had a flourish I had never used.
Someone had studied an old version of my handwriting.
Someone who'd had access to my school papers and birthday cards.
My mind went immediately to Hazel.
She used to rifle through my desk while pretending to borrow pens.
Daniel would not let me jump to a conclusion.
"Suspicion isn't proof," he reminded me.
He obtained the public filing and sent preservation requests to the title company and relevant financial institutions.
The paperwork identified an acknowledgment before a notary, but the date placed me in Dallas for a college entrance workshop.
I found the attendance certificate buried in an old email.
It wasn't conclusive, but it was a start.
Meanwhile, Dad insisted the transfer had been a routine restructuring.
"Maria handled the paperwork," he said.
"Did you read what you signed?"
"I trusted her."
I laughed once, bitterly.
He could distrust his own daughter for asking to cut her birthday cake, but he had trusted Maria with property my mother had meant for me.
Tessa came with me to the café after our meeting.
I needed to work, to make something ordinary with my hands.
Then my phone lit up with a message from an unfamiliar number.
A photograph of my apartment door.
Under it, five words.
Stop digging, or lose this too.
I showed Tessa.
She told me to save the message and tell the police.
A second notification arrived before I could move.
It was a picture of my mother's photograph on my desk.
May you like
The image had been taken through my living room window.
