Chapter 3: The Forgery and the Fury<\/p>\n
The silence on the porch was so profound I could hear the rhythmic thud-thud of the waves crashing a hundred yards away.
\n\u201cRuth?\u201d Aunt Patricia choked out, her perfectly manicured hand flying to her throat. \u201cWhat are you talking about? Ruth is dead.\u201d
\n\u201cHer physical body, yes,\u201d I said, my voice steady. \u201cBut her memory is entirely intact. And she made preparations.\u201d
\nI lifted the manila envelope and pulled out the first document. It was a formal, notarized cease-and-desist letter.
\n\u201cThe beach house has been transferred into a private, irrevocable trust,\u201d I read aloud, my voice carrying no malice, only the cold, hard weight of the law. \u201cNo family member\u2014specifically David, Helen, Patricia, Lauren, and Blake\u2014has occupancy rights without a formal, written invitation from the trustee. Any attempt to enter the property, or damage its fixtures\u2026\u201d I looked pointedly at the locksmith, who was hastily packing his drill and backing toward his truck, \u201c\u2026will be prosecuted as criminal trespassing and breaking and entering.\u201d
\nMy father laughed, but it was a thin, reedy sound devoid of humor. \u201cA trust? That\u2019s absurd. Mom wouldn\u2019t do that. She loved us. She loved having the family here.\u201d
\n\u201cShe loved you,\u201d I corrected him. \u201cYou loved her house.\u201d
\n\u201cThis is ridiculous!\u201d Blake exploded, his face twisting with rage. He shoved past his mother, stepping dangerously close to Sheriff Callahan. \u201cThis is a power trip! You\u2019ve always been jealous of us, Nora. You manipulated a dying old woman into signing everything over to you because you\u2019re a lonely, bitter spinster!\u201d
\nI didn\u2019t blink. I didn\u2019t raise my voice. I simply looked at him with a pity that I knew would infuriate him more than anger ever could. \u201cAre you finished, Blake?\u201d
\nAunt Patricia suddenly stepped forward, her eyes darting frantically. \u201cWait. Wait just a minute.\u201d She reached into her oversized designer tote bag and pulled out a folded piece of thick stationary. Her hands were trembling slightly, but her chin was thrust outward in defiance.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t want to bring this out,\u201d Patricia announced, projecting her voice so the whole family could hear. \u201cI wanted to keep this amicable. But I found this in Ruth\u2019s desk during Thanksgiving last year. It\u2019s a handwritten codicil. A holographic will.\u201d
\nShe waved the paper. \u201cIn her own handwriting, Ruth states that the house is to be divided equally among her children, and that Nora is only to receive a small cash stipend for her\u2026 nursing services.\u201d
\nA murmur rippled through the family. Hope flickered in their greedy eyes. Lauren smirked at me, a nasty, triumphant curve of her lips.
\n\u201cA handwritten will?\u201d I asked, raising an eyebrow.
\n\u201cYes,\u201d Patricia said, gaining confidence. \u201cAnd in the state of Maine, if it\u2019s entirely in the testator\u2019s handwriting, it\u2019s perfectly legal. So you can take your little trust and shove it, Nora.\u201d
\n\u201cMay I see that, Patricia?\u201d
\nThe voice didn\u2019t come from me. It came from the driveway.
\nStepping out of a sleek black sedan that had pulled up silently behind the rented vans was Mr. Vance, the estate attorney. He was dressed in a razor-sharp charcoal overcoat, carrying a sleek leather briefcase. He walked up the steps, the crowd parting for him as if he were parting the Red Sea.
\nPatricia hesitated, clutching the paper. \u201cIt\u2019s a private family matter, Mr. Vance.\u201d
\n\u201cNothing regarding the estate of Ruth Hastings is private from me, madam. I am the executor,\u201d Vance said, holding out a black-gloved hand. \u201cHand it over. Or I will ask the Sheriff to confiscate it as evidence.\u201d
\nReluctantly, Patricia handed him the paper.
\nVance didn\u2019t even need to put on his glasses. He stared at the document for exactly four seconds. Then, he looked up at Patricia, his expression one of utter, chilling disgust.
\n\u201cThe ink is blue,\u201d Vance stated flatly.
\n\u201cSo?\u201d Patricia snapped. \u201cMom liked blue pens.\u201d
\n\u201cRuth suffered from severe arthritis in her right hand for the last three years of her life,\u201d Vance explained, his voice echoing off the porch roof. \u201cShe couldn\u2019t grip a standard ballpoint pen. She only used heavy, felt-tipped markers. Furthermore, she was right-handed. The slant of this cursive is distinctly left-handed. Like yours, Patricia.\u201d
\nPatricia\u2019s face drained of all color, leaving her looking like a wax mannequin.
\nVance folded the paper and slipped it into his breast pocket. \u201cWhat you have just handed me is a forged legal document. Presenting it in an attempt to subvert a legal trust crosses the line from a family dispute into federal fraud.\u201d
\n\u201cFraud?\u201d Blake shouted, his veins bulging in his neck. \u201cYou\u2019re calling my mother a criminal? Give me that paper!\u201d
\nWith a roar of primal anger, Blake lunged forward, throwing his full weight toward the elderly lawyer, his hands grasping for Vance\u2019s coat.
\nBut Blake never made it.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chapter 3: The Forgery and the Fury The silence on the porch was so profound I could hear the rhythmic thud-thud of the waves crashing a hundred yards away. \u201cRuth?\u201d … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-drama-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13548,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13538\/revisions\/13548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redditlovers.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}