Chapter 15 - THE NOTARY
Ryan’s sister, Melissa, lived in Indiana and had stayed conveniently invisible through the entire disaster.
She was a commissioned notary. She denied notarizing Kate’s affidavit until police showed her the stamp.
Melissa admitted Margaret had borrowed her notary kit “for estate paperwork.”
Months earlier.
She never got it back.
That turned forgery into a family system.
Melissa also had a voicemail.
Margaret had left it two weeks earlier.
“If Lauren fights, we use the Kate statement. Don’t get nervous. Alan has done this before.”
Done this before.
Priya sent the recording to investigators.
Within forty-eight hours, prosecutors added forgery, identity theft, evidence tampering, conspiracy, and trust fraud.
Ryan’s company accounts were frozen pending review.
Margaret stopped calling.
Her silence scared me more.
Then Emma’s school called.
Someone had tried to pick her up.
A woman wearing a baseball cap used a photocopy of Margaret’s old authorization form.
The receptionist locked the doors. The woman ran, but cameras caught her car.
It belonged to Melissa.
Police found Melissa, who insisted Margaret had borrowed the car.
Margaret, however, was supposed to be wearing an electronic monitor under the protective order.
The monitor showed her at home.
Someone had tampered with it.
By evening, police were looking for Margaret.
Emma sat curled against me on Kate’s couch.
“Is Grandma coming to get me?”
“No.”
I said it with more confidence than I felt.
Mom sat beside us.
“She has to get through me first.”
Emma looked at the bandage still fading on Mom’s temple.
“I don’t want her to hurt you again.”
Mom kissed her hair.
“She won’t.”
At 11:47 p.m., the doorbell camera sent an alert.
A package sat on Kate’s porch.
No person. No car. Just a cardboard box.
Police opened it.
Inside was Emma’s stuffed fox.
The one she had left at our house the night Margaret was arrested.
Around its neck was a note.
LAUREN, STOP DIGGING.
May you like
Underneath:
NEXT TIME IT WON’T BE A TOY.
