Chapter 5 - The Account in My Name
By morning, I was in a borrowed wheelchair at Mara's kitchen table, staring at a stack of documents I had once been proud to sign.
My own chair was still somewhere beneath the harbor. Rosa had helped locate a temporary replacement that fit badly and made every transfer hurt.
"You need a lawyer who doesn't owe your wife a favor," Mara said.
She called Sonia Park, an attorney who had represented several Haven Street tenants against unfair repairs. Sonia arrived in jeans and a raincoat, carrying a notebook with bent corners.
"I'm not here to promise a victory," she said. "I'm here to keep the evidence from disappearing."
I liked her immediately.
She explained the situation without comforting lies. The trust owned the land; families owned or rented homes under long-term ground leases. A sale would not simply make those contracts vanish. But forged approvals and a false claim of my incapacity could create expensive uncertainty, and a buyer might pressure residents to take small settlements and leave.
"The deadline?" I asked.
"Celeste says the board authorized a transfer Monday. We're seeking an emergency order to preserve records and prevent new conveyances until a judge reviews it."
"How much money is missing?"
Sonia turned a page. "The trust's published statements show almost three million dollars in storm-maintenance reserves. Last month the reported balance was forty-one thousand."
Mara stopped stirring her coffee.
"Where did it go?" she asked.
"We don't know yet."
My phone rang. Owen Fitch, the trust's retired treasurer, appeared on the screen. We hadn't spoken since he resigned in spring.
"Daniel," he said, barely above a whisper, "I was going to the police. Then Celeste showed me a check with your signature and said you'd authorized everything."
"I didn't."
"I know that now. I found the original invoices."
"Bring them to Sonia."
May you like
There was a rattling sound, then Owen's breath quickened.
"I can't go back into the office," he said. "Someone's already been through my files."
