Chapter 12 - A Signature That Didn't Belong to Her
Mom read the document with her reading glasses sliding down her nose. "July seventh," she said. "I was at the county fair with June's grandkids that day. I won a stuffed bear and ate two corn dogs."
"This says you signed an authorization before a notary at three in the afternoon," Nina replied.
"At three, I was on the Ferris wheel. Ask anybody who heard me screaming."
For the first time in three days, I almost smiled.
Nina made careful copies. The document included a physician's note claiming Mom could no longer understand complex financial decisions. The doctor's name was typed on a letterhead from a clinic in a different state. It was the kind of paper that looked convincing until someone tried to call the number.
"We need the originals and the notary journal," Nina said. "We also need a real doctor to evaluate Helen, with her consent. These allegations can hurt her even if they're false."
Mom agreed immediately. "I'll take a test. Give me a spelling bee while you're at it."
The notary was a woman named Irene Walsh. We reached her at home. She listened to the date and document description, then said, "I've never notarized anything for a Helen Mercer. My seal disappeared from my car in June. I reported it the next morning."
Nina asked for the police report number. Irene gave it without hesitation.
"Somebody is using your seal," Nina said.
"I know," Irene replied. "Three weeks ago a lawyer asked me about another document bearing my stamp. I told him it was counterfeit."
"Which lawyer?"
"I kept his card. Grant Weller's general counsel."
That fact didn't prove Grant personally forged anything, but it made his performance at the diner look worse. He'd shown me an agreement as though every signature were settled while his own legal office had been warned about a stolen notary seal.
I called Harper and left a message. "Don't contact my mother. Don't come to the house. You know why."
Ten minutes later, a courier delivered a flower box to our porch. There were no flowers inside. Only the necklace I'd given Harper for our first anniversary and a white envelope addressed to me.
May you like
Inside was a photograph of Dad shaking hands with her at a business dinner, taken months before she'd told me they first met.
On the back she had written: ASK HIM WHO BROUGHT ME INTO YOUR LIFE.
