Chapter 5: The Witness at the Door
Vanessa moved first, but Dad reached the front door before she did.
A gray-haired woman stood outside holding a thick envelope against her chest.
“Mr.
Carter?” she asked.
“I’m Helen Mercer.
My seal is on a deed involving this address.”
Vanessa pushed beside Dad.
“You should not be here.”
Helen looked at her.
“That is exactly what you said on the phone.”
“I never called you.”
“You called me six times.”
Dad opened the door wider.
“Please come in.”
Helen placed the envelope on the table.
“Mrs.
Carter brought me a deed six weeks ago.
She said you were waiting in a car because you had injured your ankle.”
“I was in Chicago,” Dad said.
“That’s what your attorney told me tonight.”
Vanessa laughed.
“This woman notarizes hundreds of documents.
She’s confused.”
Helen removed a printed photograph.
“I installed a doorbell camera after packages disappeared from my porch.
This is you arriving with the unsigned deed.”
The photograph showed Vanessa carrying Dad’s passport and a folder.
Brianna stepped closer.
“That’s the folder from Mom’s closet.”
“Quiet,” Vanessa said.
Helen took out another page.
“I refused to stamp it without Mr.
Carter present.
You became angry and left.”
Dad tapped the filed deed.
“Then how is your seal on this?”
“My stamp disappeared that afternoon.
I reported it the next morning.”
Vanessa grabbed for the envelope.
Helen pulled it against her chest, and Dad stepped between them.
“Do not touch her,” he said.
“I want this stranger out of my home.”
Helen met Vanessa’s eyes.
“You told me this home would soon belong to you.”
“That is a lie.”
Helen reached into her pocket and pressed her phone screen.
Vanessa’s recorded voice filled the kitchen.
“Once the deed is filed, Daniel won’t be able to throw me out.
His daughter’s trust won’t matter if the property is tied up for years.”
Vanessa knocked the phone from Helen’s hand.
It slid under the table.
Brianna dropped to her knees and grabbed it.
“I’ve got it.”
“Give me that phone,” Vanessa ordered.
“No.”
“I am your mother.”
“And I’m the daughter you took to a bank to impersonate Emma.”
Vanessa’s face went still.
“If I fall, you fall with me.”
Brianna began to cry.
“You promised I was only confirming the account.”
“You wore Emma’s coat.
You carried her identification.
Who do you think they will blame?”
Brianna’s grip loosened around the phone.
Vanessa held out her hand.
“Come with me now,” she said.
“I can still protect you.”
I took Brianna’s other hand.
“Don’t give it to her.”
Vanessa turned on me.
“You want Brianna punished because you hate her.”
“I want her to tell the truth.”
“You heard your stepsister,” Dad said.
“Brianna, what happened at the bank?”
Brianna wiped her face with her sleeve.
“Mom told the clerk Emma had injured her hand.
She signed Emma’s name, then made me say the signature was genuine.”
“Where did the money go?” Helen asked.
“To an account Mom opened for a luxury rental business.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“She’s inventing this because Daniel frightened her.”
Brianna unlocked the phone.
“Then why did you send me these?”
She opened a string of messages.
One read: Wear Emma’s coat.
Keep your head down.
Another said: Once the money clears, delete everything.
Vanessa lunged across the table.
Brianna stepped away and sent the messages to Dad, Helen, and me.
“You just ruined your life,” Vanessa said.
“No,” Brianna replied.
“I stopped helping you ruin Emma’s.”
Vanessa’s own phone rang inside her handbag.
Dad answered it on speaker before she could reach him.
A man’s voice said, “Vanessa, the bank rejected the withdrawal.
If you can’t release the forty-eight thousand by midnight, the car dealership is taking everything back.”
Dad slowly turned toward her.
“What car dealership?” he asked.
May you like
Brianna covered her mouth.
“Mom bought me a car with Emma’s college money.”
