Chapter 6 - THE SIGNATURE THAT WASN’T MINE
The forged signature looked enough like mine to fool a stranger.
It did not fool me.
My name curved downward at the final letter on the document.
I had always finished it with an upward stroke.
The copy was dated fourteen months earlier, on a day I had been hospitalized for a minor procedure.
Robert brought my medical records and my old bank signatures to an attorney who did not work for his corporation.
Her name was Evelyn Price, and she treated me as her client, not as Robert's wife.
“Your son may be a participant or he may have signed without understanding the transaction,” she said.
“Neither possibility can be resolved by guessing.”
The document was linked to a line of credit secured against Wade's house.
It identified me as a guarantor.
I had not authorized it.
For the first time, my son's choices were threatening more than my pride.
They were threatening my financial safety.
At lunch Wade arrived uninvited.
He looked as though he hadn't slept.
“Fallon says you've hired a lawyer.”
“I have.”
“Against me?”
“To protect myself.”
He sat without permission.
“Mom, this is being blown out of proportion.”
“Did you sign my name?”
“No.”
“Did you know it was there?”
He looked at the wall.
“Fallon handled the paperwork.”
“Then tell me what she handled.”
He dragged a hand over his face.
“Business has been complicated.”
“Which business?”
“The vendor arrangements. The refinance. Everything.”
He lowered his voice.
“If the board freezes my accounts, we could lose the house.”
“You mean the house I helped you buy.”
He flinched.
“Mom, please don't say that.”
“Why not? It's true.”
He leaned forward.
“Because Fallon says you're trying to take it back.”
I felt an astonishing sadness.
He still trusted her description of me more than the woman sitting in front of him.
“I don't want your house, Wade.”
“Then drop the complaint.”
“I can't drop a complaint I didn't make against you. I reported what happened to me.”
He rose angrily.
“If you won't help me, maybe you were never on my side.”
The words landed like a door slamming.
After he left, Evelyn called with another discovery.
The mortgage document had been witnessed by an employee of Northbridge Advisory.
It was the same company that had sent money to Wade's household.
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And its registered director was Fallon's brother.
