Chapter 9 - Three Days
Patricia filed emergency notices before noon.
My title insurer opened a fraud claim.
Red Birch agreed in writing not to record or enforce anything against Caldwell Street while the signatures were investigated.
My parents were not as lucky.
Dad had actually signed part of their guaranty package.
His trust had created a real problem even if Dileia had lied about what he was signing.
He sat in Patricia’s conference room staring at the table.
“I raised her to think I would fix everything,” he said.
Mom shook her head.
“We both did.”
I had waited years to hear that.
It did not feel satisfying.
Then Detective Reyes called.
The bank had traced part of the fifty-two-thousand-dollar business loan.
Forty-eight thousand had gone to a company called Northline Staging and Development.
I searched it.
The registered manager was Caleb Voss.
I knew the name from family Christmas cards.
Dileia’s boyfriend.
The boyfriend she claimed was “between projects.”
Patricia found two civil judgments against him within ten minutes.
One involved unpaid contractors.
The other involved a failed flip.
I called Dileia.
She answered with, “What now?”
“Caleb.”
Silence.
“Did you send him forty-eight thousand dollars?”
“He needed liquidity.”
“You stole collateral to finance your boyfriend?”
“You don’t know what he promised me.”
“I don’t care what he promised.”
Her voice cracked.
“You always get to be the smart one.”
“This isn’t about being smart.”
“Yes, it is. You buy a duplex and hide it. I finally get one chance to build something and everybody acts like I’m a criminal.”
“You used my name.”
She started crying.
Then, very quietly, she said, “Caleb has the original papers.”
“What papers?”
“The ones with your signature samples.”
My skin went cold.
“Where is he?”
May you like
She whispered an address.
Then added, “If he knows I told you, he’ll disappear.”
