Chapter 7: The Voice Behind the Signature
Everyone looked at me.
Martin gave a slow, satisfied smile.
“You wanted proof of Margaret’s instability,” he said.
“There it is.”
Daniel took the phone from Sophie.
“An address can be copied.”
“Or Margaret made the transfer and forgot,” Amber said.
“Perhaps the doctor was right.”
I faced her across the table.
“You forged my signature, tried to erase the trust, and now you want me to doubt my own mind.”
“You don’t need my help.”
Steven moved beside me.
“Stop talking to her that way.”
Amber laughed.
“Yesterday you let me send her toward a restroom.
Today you are her protector?”
“No.
Today I’m finally her son.”
The investigator asked to examine my home computer.
Daniel and I accompanied her while the others remained under supervision at the office.
At my house, the back door showed no damage.
The investigator touched the keypad beside it.
“Who has a code?”
“Steven, Daniel, and the cleaning service.”
Steven shook his head.
“My code was canceled last year.”
The investigator entered his old number.
The light turned green.
I looked at him.
“Who knew it?”
“Amber.”
Daniel opened the security application.
“The camera history was cleared at two fifteen.”
“Can it be restored?” I asked.
A voice came from the front doorway.
“Mine can.”
Ellis stood there holding his notary bag against his chest.
The investigator motioned for him to enter.
He placed a dashboard camera on the table.
“I drove Amber here.
She said Margaret had left documents inside.”
Amber had been brought from the office with her father.
She pushed past the officer when she saw Ellis.
“You accepted ten thousand dollars.”
“And you promised I was only verifying a signature your mother-in-law had already made.”
Martin stepped forward.
“Say another word and I’ll make certain you never work again.”
Ellis swallowed.
“That is what he said last night when I tried to leave.”
The investigator connected the camera to her laptop.
The video showed Amber entering my back door at 2:07 and leaving nine minutes later with a folder under her arm.
Amber pointed at the screen.
“It proves I entered.
Nothing more.”
Ellis unzipped his bag.
“Then this proves the rest.”
He removed the original unsigned transfer documents and a plastic tracing sheet bearing a copy of my signature.
Martin moved suddenly, knocking the papers to the floor.
He stamped on the tracing sheet and reached for the camera cable.
Steven blocked him.
“Don’t touch it.”
“You ungrateful fool,” Martin said.
“We gave you a life.”
“You spent my mother’s money and called it yours.”
Amber turned to me.
“Make a deal.
Withdraw the complaint, restore enough money for us to leave, and Steven stays out of it.”
“You are offering me my son as though you own him.”
“He will be questioned with the rest of us.”
“I know,” Steven said.
“And I will answer.”
The investigator collected the documents.
“We have enough to request formal charges relating to forgery, attempted financial deception, unlawful system access, and evidence tampering.”
Martin’s shoulders sagged, but Amber kept staring at me.
“You think this makes you a mother?” she asked.
“You bought Steven’s loyalty once.
Now you’re buying it again with forgiveness.”
I turned to my son.
“I have not forgiven you.”
His eyes reddened, but he nodded.
“She shouldn’t.
Not yet.”
Amber’s smile disappeared.
Two officers escorted Martin and Ellis toward separate cars.
Amber remained on the porch while the lead investigator finished a call.
Diane approached her daughter.
“Tell them the truth now.”
Amber pulled away.
“You chose her over me.”
“No,” Diane said.
“I chose the truth over both of us.”
The investigator closed her phone.
“Amber Vale Hale, the court has approved the warrant.”
Amber looked at Steven as the officer stepped forward.
“You’ll come back,” she said.
“You have never known how to stand alone.”
May you like
Steven picked up the wedding ring from his pocket and placed it in her open hand.
“Then it’s time I learned.”
