Chapter 6: What Ruth Found
Ruth called at exactly twelve minutes past noon.
I stepped away from Jordan into the hallway.
He was on the sofa watching the window in the way a person watches weather they cannot stop.
"Say it," I said.
"Derek Paulson," Ruth said.
"I didn't recognize the name.
But I recognized the face."
I pressed the phone closer to my ear.
"You've seen him."
"At Lily's christening.
He came in late and stood at the back.
Kayla introduced him to me as a college friend of Jordan's.
I asked Jordan about him afterward and Jordan said he'd never met the man."
I closed my eyes for a moment.
"Did you think anything of it at the time?"
"I thought Kayla had confused him with someone else.
I didn't think—" Ruth stopped.
"Elaine.
How long has this been going on?"
"I don't know yet.
But the first message in the thread is from January 9th of last year.
Lily was born in September."
Ruth made a sound that was not quite a word.
"I know," I said.
"I don't want to say it to Jordan until I have something more than a message thread and a face you saw at a christening."
"What would be more?"
"Martin Cho is reviewing the documents today.
I've asked him to run Derek Paulson through whatever channels he uses.
Business records, property records, anything public."
"Good." Ruth paused.
"There's something else."
I waited.
"I looked up the recording information you photographed on the quitclaim deed.
The Columbus county recorder's website lets you search filed documents."
"And?"
"The deed is there, Elaine.
It was filed on September 16th.
Two days after the notarization date.
Which means while I was signing discharge paperwork with your name on it in Dayton, someone was driving to the county recorder's office in Columbus with your forged signature on a deed transfer."
My hand tightened on the phone.
"Can it be challenged?"
"Martin would know better than I would.
But I found something else on the recorder's site." She paused again, and I recognized that pause.
Ruth pauses when she is choosing how to say something she wishes she did not have to say.
"Three weeks ago, December 4th, a second document was filed."
"What kind of document?"
"A deed of trust.
Using your property as collateral.
For a loan of two hundred and ten thousand dollars.
The lender is listed as Paulson Capital Group LLC."
Two hundred and ten thousand dollars.
The number sat in my chest like a stone.
"So the house was never just the target," I said.
"The house was the collateral.
She needed the house to borrow against it."
"That appears to be exactly right," Ruth said.
"And the loan origination date is November 19th.
Which means she borrowed against your house six weeks ago and has been living under your roof ever since."
I stood in my hallway looking at the brass hook by the front door where I had hung my late husband's coat for years after he was gone because I was not ready to take it down.
The hook was empty now.
I had finally moved the coat to the closet two Christmases ago when Jordan and Kayla moved in and I needed the hook for their things.
Even that I had given up.
"Ruth," I said.
"I need you to do one more thing."
"Name it."
"Call Martin.
Tell him about the deed of trust.
And ask him whether an emergency filing is possible before the 27th."
"I'll call him now."
I said goodbye and stood in the hallway for a moment, phone in my hand, organizing what I knew into the order I would need to say it.
Then I walked back into the sitting room.
Jordan looked up.
"Sit down," I said gently.
"I have some things to tell you."
I sat across from him in the armchair that had been his father's.
I took a breath.
And then I told him all of it.
I told him about the deed of trust filed on December 4th.
I told him about the two hundred and ten thousand dollars borrowed against my house.
I told him about the message thread going back eleven months, and what the messages said, and the name Derek Paulson appeared under at the top.
I did not tell him what I suspected about Lily.
Not yet.
There was only so much a person could receive in one sitting.
Jordan listened without speaking.
His hands were flat on his knees.
His breathing was controlled in the way that means a person is using every resource they have just to stay seated.
When I finished he was quiet for a long time.
Then he said, "She used me."
"Yes."
"She used me to get to you."
"I believe so."
He looked at the window.
"The baby," he said quietly.
I said nothing.
He turned back to me.
"Mom.
Is Lily mine?"
I held his gaze.
"I don't know," I said.
"I don't want you to ask that question until we have more than what I've told you today.
I am asking you to wait."
His jaw moved.
His eyes were very bright.
"All right," he said.
"Jordan—"
"I said all right." He stood up.
Walked to the window.
Put one hand against the glass and looked out at the December street.
He stood like that for a long time.
I did not try to fill the silence.
Some silences need to be stood in.
Then his phone buzzed on the sofa cushion.
He didn't move.
It buzzed again.
I looked at the screen.
The name on the notification was not Kayla.
It was Derek Paulson.
And the preview of the message read: *She's told him.
We need to move the timeline up.
May you like
Can you meet me at the—*
The screen went dark before I could read the rest.
