Chapter 5: The Signature That Looked Like Mine
At nine the next morning, Helen and I sat across from Grace Patel, a property attorney.
Vanessa placed her phone beside Grace’s files.
Grace examined the loan document.
“This signature is convincing.”
“It isn’t mine,” I said.
“Convincing and genuine are not the same thing.”
Helen slid my passport across the desk.
“Claire was in Toronto on the signing date.”
Grace checked the stamps.
“The lender will argue she signed remotely.”
“I never approved remote signing.”
“The notary says you appeared by video.”
“Which notary?”
Grace turned the page.
“Patricia Lowe.”
Helen stiffened.
“Mother’s oldest friend.”
Vanessa opened a message from Daniel.
“He said Patricia was helping with paperwork.”
Grace stood.
“The closing is scheduled for ten.
We need to reach the title office now.”
Twenty minutes later, Daniel and Margaret were seated in a glass conference room with Patricia and the buyer’s attorney.
Daniel smiled when I entered.
“You always did enjoy making a scene,” he said.
Grace laid an emergency objection on the table.
“This sale involves a disputed deed and a forged authorization.”
Patricia’s pen stopped moving.
Margaret pointed at me.
“Claire is angry about Daniel’s relationship.
She’s inventing fraud to punish him.”
Vanessa stepped through the doorway.
“Did I invent the ninety thousand dollars too?”
Daniel’s smile disappeared.
“You have no right to be here.”
“I have the right to ask where my mother’s savings went.”
The closing officer raised both hands.
“Until this is resolved, no one signs anything.”
Daniel opened his briefcase and removed a laptop.
“Here are the electronic logs.
Claire’s password, her home address, and her computer.”
Grace studied the screen.
“The login came from her home internet.”
“I was in Toronto,” I said.
Margaret leaned back.
“Then perhaps you gave Daniel permission and forgot.”
“I didn’t forget losing my home.”
The closing officer looked at Patricia.
“Did you verify Mrs.
Bennett’s identity?”
Patricia’s eyes moved toward Margaret.
“Yes,” she said softly.
“Look at me,” I told her.
“Did you see my face?”
Patricia swallowed.
“The image froze several times.”
“Did you hear my voice?”
“Daniel explained there were connection problems.”
Grace pushed the laptop toward her.
“And you accepted that?”
Margaret struck the table with her palm.
“Patricia followed the rules.”
“Let her answer,” Helen said.
Patricia twisted her wedding ring.
“A photograph of Claire’s identification was displayed.”
“Displayed by whom?” Grace asked.
Daniel closed the laptop.
“This interrogation is over.”
His phone rang.
He answered and walked to the window.
“Yes,” he said.
“Release it.”
Grace stood.
“Release what?”
Daniel ended the call.
“The bridge funds.
The buyer signed electronically before you arrived.”
The closing officer opened her system.
Her face tightened.
“That authorization should have been suspended.”
“But it wasn’t,” Margaret said.
“Rose Cottage has been sold.”
My phone vibrated.
A message from the lender filled the screen.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
Daniel buttoned his jacket.
“You wanted a public fight, Claire,” he said.
“Now everyone can watch you lose.”
Grace caught my arm before I followed him.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
“Not yet.”
“That was my father’s home.”
“I know.”
“He took it while I was standing here.”
Grace stared at the transfer record.
“No,” she said.
“Someone moved the money before the buyer’s payment arrived.”
She turned the screen toward us.
The receiving account carried the name of a company I had never seen.
Helen read it aloud.
“Bennett Family Holdings.”
May you like
Then she looked at me.
“That company was dissolved twelve years ago—when our father found out Daniel and Mother were using it.”
