Chapter 2 - My Name on a Document I Never Signed
No one moved for several seconds.
Rain blew through the open doorway and spotted the hardwood floor my father had installed with his own hands.
Officer Ortiz closed the door behind her.
“I need everyone to remain inside until we understand what happened.”
Gerald’s smile disappeared.
“This is a private property dispute.”
“A forged property transfer is not private,” she replied.
Daniel reached for my hand.
I stepped away.
“Did you sign something using my name?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Officer Ortiz placed a copy of the transfer document beside my original deed.
The forged document claimed I had transferred the house to a company called Hart Residential Holdings.
The company address belonged to an office building in downtown Portland.
The listed manager was Gerald Hart.
I looked at him.
“You created a company to steal my house?”
Gerald gave an offended laugh.
“No one stole anything. You agreed that Daniel’s family needed protection.”
“I never agreed to this.”
Marlene moved closer to her husband.
“You were always at the hospital. Daniel handled the household.”
“He handled the household by forging my signature?”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“I did not forge it.”
“Then who did?”
He remained silent.
Olivia appeared at the bottom of the stairs, still holding one of Emma’s pillows.
“I thought Aunt Rachel knew,” she said.
Gerald turned sharply.
“Go upstairs.”
Olivia flinched.
I softened my voice.
“What did you think I knew?”
She looked toward Daniel.
“Uncle Daniel said the house belonged to Grandpa now. He said Emma would be staying somewhere else after tonight.”
Emma stood beside Mrs. Ellis in the doorway.
Her face crumpled.
“Dad knew?”
Daniel finally looked at her.
“Emma, it was not supposed to happen like this.”
That sentence hurt her more than Gerald’s cruelty.
She walked past him without speaking and climbed the stairs to her room.
I wanted to follow, but Officer Ortiz held up another page.
“The transfer was notarized at eleven fourteen this morning.”
“I was working.”
“We confirmed that. Hospital security shows you entering the emergency department before seven.”
Daniel stared at the floor.
Gerald stepped between us.
“My son has nothing to do with clerical errors.”
Officer Ortiz looked at him.
“The notary is a woman named Patricia Lowe. Do you know her?”
Marlene’s fingers tightened around her necklace.
Daniel closed his eyes.
I recognized the name.
Patricia Lowe had attended our wedding.
She had also been Gerald’s secretary for nearly twenty years.
Officer Ortiz asked Daniel again.
“Do you know her?”
“Yes,” he whispered.
Gerald’s cane struck the floor.
“Do not answer another question.”
I looked at the man I had welcomed into my home.
“You ordered my daughter outside because you believed the house already belonged to you.”
Gerald’s face hardened.
“I did what was necessary to protect my family.”
“Emma is your family.”
“No,” he said calmly. “Emma is yours.”
Daniel stared at his father.
Marlene looked away.
Something about the exchange silenced the room.
I had heard Gerald make cruel comments about Emma before. He said she was too emotional. Too attached to me. Too disrespectful when she questioned him.
But this sounded different.
Personal.
Officer Ortiz asked everyone to remain available for questioning, then stepped outside to speak with another officer.
Daniel approached me.
“There is something I need to explain.”
“You can explain it in front of Emma.”
“Not this.”
He looked toward Gerald.
Then he lowered his voice.
“My father did not only want the house.”
“What else did he want?”
Daniel swallowed.
May you like
“The safe in your basement.”
Continue to the next part: Daniel claims the basement safe contains something Rachel’s father hid from the Hart family for seventeen years.
