Chapter 6 - The Dead Notary
Rachel told me the forgery changed everything.
“This is no longer a messy family dispute,” she said. “This is evidence.”
She contacted the lender’s fraud counsel without revealing more than necessary.
I signed an affidavit confirming I had never approved the guarantee.
The lender quietly froze the application.
We deliberately did not alert Eric.
If he thought the loan was moving forward, he might keep talking.
He did.
That night, I returned to Evelyn’s neighborhood and parked two streets away.
At 10:16 p.m., Eric called Malcolm.
I couldn’t hear the conversation.
But twelve minutes later, Malcolm emailed Sarah.
I knew because Sarah suddenly called me.
I let it ring.
Then she texted:
Are you awake? Something weird is happening with Eric.
I stared at the message.
Sarah had been sitting in my living room two days earlier discussing how to take my money.
I wasn’t ready to trust her.
But fear makes conspirators dangerous to each other.
I replied:
What happened?
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Five minutes later she wrote:
Never mind.
Rachel smiled when I showed her.
“She’s scared.”
“Of me?”
“No. Of them.”
The next morning, the lender sent notice to Malcolm requesting original supporting documents.
Within an hour, Eric drove to Richard’s office.
Richard drove to Eleanor’s house.
Eleanor called someone eight times.
That someone was Martin Vale.
We had obtained his current number from an old corporate filing.
Martin did not answer.
But at noon, Sarah sent another message.
I think Richard is hiding something from all of us.
This time I called her.
Her voice shook.
She said Richard had borrowed against their home without telling her.
He had also emptied part of their retirement account.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I think Eric knew.”
I remained silent.
Then Sarah started crying.
“Clara, I didn’t know about the money they took before this week.”
“But you knew about the forged loan.”
Silence.
“Yes.”
That was enough.
Before hanging up, Sarah whispered one more thing.
“Richard keeps saying Martin promised Nebula would never fail.”
I asked why.
She answered:
“Because Martin isn’t just advising Nebula.”
May you like
A pause.
“He owns part of it.”
