THE BLACK DYE WEDDING

Amelia laid the guarantee beside my driver's license and an old signed tax form.

“Close enough to fool someone who doesn't know you,” she said. “But the capital E is wrong, and the date has its own problem.”

The document said I'd signed at 2:15 p.m. on a Thursday in January. On that date, I'd spent the afternoon assisting with an emergency dental surgery. The practice's scheduling system would prove it.

“Who notarized this?” Ethan asked.

Amelia turned the page.

The notary stamp belonged to a woman in Dayton who'd retired the previous year. The listed commission number wasn't current. It was the kind of detail a careful fraudster might overlook because they expected no one to check.

Then I saw the witness line.

Daniel Bennett.

My brother had watched someone put my name on a document I never signed.

I called him from Amelia's office. He picked up after six rings.

“Did you witness my signature on a loan guarantee?” I asked.

A pause. “I did what Mom said was necessary.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means Vanessa was going to lose everything. Mom said the trust could cover the business until the studio started making money.”

“And when did I agree?”

Daniel breathed hard into the receiver.

“Mom said she'd ask you afterward. She said you always came through for family.”

Ethan reached for my hand. I couldn't feel his fingers at first.

“You could have told me,” I whispered.

“I know.”

“No. You don't. You signed your name while someone else copied mine.”

Daniel said nothing.

Amelia wrote down his words and asked him to preserve every message he'd received about the transaction. He agreed, then said something that made her pen stop.

“There's another paper. Mom made Vanessa sign it. If Evelyn finds the money, Vanessa has to take the blame alone.”