Chapter 7 - The Folder With My Name
The flash drive contained scans of my driver’s license, passport, Social Security card, old tax returns, and medical insurance forms.
Then came documents I had never seen.
A power of attorney dated three weeks before my wedding.
A loan application with my income inflated by nearly sixty thousand dollars.
A signature page for a line of credit.
And a spreadsheet titled EMILY DISTRIBUTION.
Priya opened it.
Rows of numbers filled the screen.
Grandma’s monthly transfers had been divided by percentage.
Linda: 35%.
Ryan: 45%.
Meridian Home Consulting: 20%.
My father’s company.
I stared until the numbers stopped looking like numbers and became something physical, like fingerprints.
“This was organized,” Daniel said.
Jason looked sick. “Dad had paper copies in a locked drawer.”
“How did you get in?” I asked.
“He left his keys in the mudroom.”
“Does he know you copied this?”
“I don’t think so.”
His phone rang.
DAD.
All four of us looked at it.
“Don’t answer,” Daniel said.
Jason silenced the call.
A text arrived immediately.
WHERE ARE YOU?
Then another.
WHAT DID YOU TAKE FROM MY OFFICE?
Jason’s face drained of color.
“He knows.”
Daniel moved fast. “You’re staying here tonight.”
“I’m twenty-eight.”
“And currently holding evidence of potential identity theft and bank fraud involving your parents.”
Jason sat down.
“Right. Grandma’s house it is.”
A dark SUV.
On the fourth pass, Grandma photographed the plate.
“It’s Ryan’s,” I said.
Daniel called the police.
The SUV was gone before they arrived.
At 11:17 p.m., I received an email from an address I did not recognize.
Subject: YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT YOUR HUSBAND BOUGHT.
There was no message. Only an attachment.
A property record.
Six months earlier, a condo had been purchased in cash in a neighboring county.
Buyer: Meridian Home Consulting.
Occupant listed on the utility account: Ryan Mitchell.
I stared at the address.
Then my eyes landed on the second occupant.
Natalie Brooks.
I knew that name too.
May you like
She was Ryan’s assistant.
And the day after Sophie was born, Natalie had stood beside my hospital bed and told me I was “the luckiest woman in the world.”
