Chapter 3 - A Signature That Wasn't Mine
"December twenty-fourth?" Maya repeated when I called back. "Download it. Don't touch anything else."
The document said I had transferred 18 Hawthorne Lane to a company called Hawthorne Revival LLC. My signature sprawled across the bottom, followed by a notary's stamp. Whoever made it had copied my habit of looping the C in Claire. They'd missed the tiny break I always left between my first and last names.
"They've stolen the house," I whispered.
"They've recorded a document," Maya corrected. "That does not make a forged transfer valid. But it creates a serious problem we have to fix."
Lily came into the kitchen. "Are we in trouble?"
I turned my phone facedown. "Grown-up paperwork trouble. You and I are safe."
"Like when the printer eats your work?"
"Much worse printer. Same plan. We fix it."
She considered that, then asked for pancakes. I burned the first batch because my hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Maya called again while Lily was watching cartoons. "I've checked the company. Derek Sloan manages it. Your sister has been advertising that property as an off-market deal."
"She doesn't own a doorknob in that house."
"Apparently someone gave Sloan a deed and a signed authorization. I'm contacting the recorder, lender, and title company. I also want a report made for suspected forgery."
"Will they arrest Rachel?"
"That's not for either of us to promise. First, we protect the property."
I pulled out the closing folder. There was my mother's elegant signature, my father's crooked one, and my own name on the real deed. I remembered my mother asking for an extra scanned copy "for the family files." I'd sent it without thinking. The fake signature looked like someone had lifted it straight off that scan.
Then I noticed the notary stamp. The name was Grace Bell. The address was local.
I called the number on the recording office's public listing. A weary woman answered.
"My name is Claire Morgan. Did you notarize a deed for Hawthorne Lane on Christmas Eve?"
"No," she said, immediately.
"Could you check?"
"Ma'am, I know I didn't. I was in the hospital Christmas Eve. My stamp was reported missing last month."
May you like
In the silence that followed, she asked a question that made my stomach turn.
"Does your mother happen to know Derek Sloan?"
