Chapter 8 - A Signature No One Asked For
Dad turned his phone face down. "She's just worried."
"About what? Losing money?"
"About losing me," he snapped. "You don't know how much she's sacrificed."
I'd heard that argument all my life. Clara sacrificed, therefore Clara got to choose. Mom worked two jobs as a nurse before she got sick, but no one called the hours she missed with me a sacrifice. They called it being a mother.
"Who wants my signature by Thursday?" I asked.
Dad stared at the pier. "An agent. Harlan Beck. Clara introduced him. He says it's paperwork to verify the beneficiaries."
"And if I don't sign?"
"Then the sale falls apart. I lose the shop. Twelve people could lose their jobs."
For a moment, guilt almost worked. I'd spent summers eating ice pops with those employees' children. I knew their names and birthdays. Dad saw my face soften.
"Nina would want you to help," he said.
"She wrote a trust to prevent exactly this."
He flinched. "You sound like her when you're angry."
"Good. Somebody should."
By the time I returned to June's office, the attorney had located Harlan Beck. He worked for Briar Landing as a land acquisition consultant, not as a lawyer or trustee. He'd sent Dad a package marked FAMILY AGREEMENT with a signature page for me.
June slid the copy across her desk. "Look carefully."
My full name was printed beneath a blue-ink signature. It looked like mine at first glance, the same looping E and oversized H. But I never crossed my t's that way, and the address listed was my college dormitory from four years earlier.
"I've never seen this," I said.
"Neither have I. The closing company received it yesterday."
Attached was an acknowledgment bearing a notary's stamp. The notary supposedly witnessed me sign in Morrow County at 2:16 p.m. the previous Tuesday.
I opened my work schedule. That Tuesday, I'd spent the afternoon in a restoration studio in Durham with six coworkers and a client.
May you like
"Somebody forged my signature," I said.
June nodded. "And somebody expected the title company not to check."
