Chapter 8 - The Woman in the Parking GarageI was discharged after further monitoring, with strict instructions to return if symptoms worsened. Alex drove an ordinary gray sedan instead of the truck Trent would recognize. Dana arranged a temporary protected address, and Detective Bell told us not to go back to the house for belongings without coordination.
We stopped at a pharmacy near the hospital for my prescriptions. While Alex stood in line, a woman approached me beside a row of greeting cards.
She was around fifty, with dark curls streaked gray and a grocery-store uniform under her coat.
"Emily Carter?" she asked.
My married name felt strange in a stranger's mouth.
"I'm Marla Keene."
The notary.
I stepped backward. "You signed my building away."
"I signed nothing," she said. "Someone used my old stamp. I've spent a month trying to find you."
She held a folded receipt, her fingers shaking. "I worked in Richard's office years ago. He kept a copy of my notary stamp after I left. I reported it missing. Nobody followed up because I couldn't prove who had it."
"Why come here?"
"Because someone called me yesterday and said you were dead."
A cart rattled between us. Marla glanced toward the parking garage and went pale.
"We shouldn't stand together," she said. "The man in the blue cap has been following me since Tuesday."
Alex returned and positioned himself near my shoulder. He didn't threaten anybody. He simply asked Marla whether she would talk to the detective. She agreed, but insisted on leaving separately.
Before she went, she handed me the receipt. It was from a copying store, dated the day of the forged deed. The item description read: ONE EMBOSSING SEAL, TWO CERTIFIED COPIES.
A plate number had been written across the back.
Detective Bell later traced that plate to a vehicle registered to Nicole.
I called Nicole again. This time, a man answered.
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"My sister has nothing to say to you," Trent said.
Then, almost pleasantly: "How's our little girl?"
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