Chapter 8: What They Found When They Looked Back Further
The bar association complaint against Daniel Hargrove was filed the following morning.
The fraud report to the State Attorney's office was filed the same afternoon, with the printer logs, the bank transfer documentation, Simone's phone location records — which confirmed her presence at Loretta's address on all four dates — and a formal statement from Loretta, signed and notarized by a notary Marcus selected himself.
Three days later, Patricia called Andre at work.
"The State Attorney's office has opened a formal investigation," she said.
"Both of them?"
"Both.
They're treating it as coordinated financial elder fraud.
That's a felony charge in this state.
Hargrove's two prior bar disciplinary actions will be part of the record." She paused.
"And there's something else.
When the investigators pulled Hargrove's client records under the warrant, they found three other cases with a similar pattern.
Elderly women.
Power of attorney documents.
Shell accounts."
Andre sat down slowly in his office chair.
"He's done this before," he said.
"At least three times that we can confirm so far.
The investigators believe Simone was not present in those cases.
But they are examining whether she had prior knowledge of his methods before she approached him."
"She went to him because she knew what he did."
"That is what the investigators believe," Patricia said.
"It means this was not impulsive.
She chose him specifically."
Andre looked out his office window at the street below.
Ordinary people.
An ordinary Tuesday.
"Will they be arrested?" he said.
"The warrant for Hargrove has already been executed this morning.
He was taken into custody at his office." A pause.
"Simone's warrant is pending.
It may be today.
It may be tomorrow."
"Does she know?"
"She will by now.
Hargrove's arrest is already on the local news."
Andre let that sit for a moment.
He thought about the wedding.
The reception hall.
Simone smoothing the front of her dress and saying he was making a scene.
The untouched glass.
The careful eyes.
He thought about Loretta on the floor.
"Patricia," he said.
"Is there anything else I need to do right now?"
"Go see your mother," she said.
"That's all."
He drove to Loretta's house in twenty minutes.
She was in the kitchen — the same chair, the same table — but this time she was reading.
She looked up when he came in and searched his face.
"Hargrove was arrested this morning," he said.
She closed her book.
Set it on the table.
Folded her hands on top of it.
"And Simone?"
"Soon."
Loretta nodded once.
"Sit down," she said.
"I'll make coffee."
He sat.
She moved around the kitchen.
The same small motions — the same cabinet, the same mugs, the mugs with the painted rim that had been there since he was a child.
She poured and brought both cups to the table and sat across from him.
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
"I want to tell you something," Loretta said.
"And I want you to hear it and not argue with me."
He waited.
"When she was sitting in this kitchen — either time, all four times — she was kind to me." Loretta looked at her hands.
"She listened when I talked about your father.
She asked questions.
She laughed at things that weren't even that funny." She paused.
"And I thought: this is a woman who loves my son.
Because why else would she work so hard to make me feel seen?"
"Mom—"
"I'm not finished." She looked up.
"The worst part isn't that she fooled me.
I've been fooled before.
The worst part is that she used the love I had for you against me.
She knew I'd sign something if I thought it was for you." She pressed her lips together.
"That's what I want you to understand.
It wasn't my confusion she exploited.
It was my love."
Andre set down his cup.
"I know," he said.
"Good." She picked up her coffee.
"Because it means she understood us.
She studied us.
She knew exactly how we work, and she used it." A pause.
"And she still lost."
He looked at his mother — at the ring on her right hand, at the steadiness in her face, at the woman who had cut his sandwiches into triangles and then watched a stranger eat them without flinching from the table where it had happened.
"She still lost," he agreed.
Loretta nodded.
May you like
"Now drink your coffee.
It'll get cold."
