Chapter 10: My Mother's Signature
Nobody moved.
Dad held the photograph with both hands.
I couldn't stop looking at the signature beneath Lauren's hand.
Rachel Bennett.
My mother's name.
My dead mother's name.
Four years after she had died.
Grandma was the first person to speak.
“Where did you get that?””
Eric looked at her.
“Lauren kept a folder in the office at the Sugar Land house.””
Lauren snapped, “You went through my things?””
Eric gave her a stunned look.
“You told me the office was ours.””
“That doesn't give you permission—”
Dad interrupted.
“Enough.””
Lauren stopped.
Dad turned back to Eric.
“What was in the folder?””
“Financial paperwork. Property documents. Copies of IDs.””
Grandma stiffened.
“Whose IDs?””
Eric hesitated.
“Lauren's. Marcus's.””
He looked at me.
“And Rachel's.””
My stomach twisted.
Dad's voice dropped.
“What do you mean Rachel's?””
“A copy of her driver's license.””
Grandma covered her mouth.
Dad stared at Lauren.
“How did you get Rachel's driver's license?””
Lauren shook her head.
“I didn't.””
Eric pulled out another page.
“You had a photocopy.””
“That proves nothing.””
Dad looked at the copy.
Then at Lauren.
“My wife's personal documents were stored in a locked box in my home office after she died.””
Lauren's face changed.
I remembered that office.
Dad had kept it locked for years.
Then after he married Lauren, the lock disappeared.
At the time, I thought it meant he was finally healing.
Now I wondered what else had disappeared with it.
Grandma walked toward Lauren.
“Did you use Rachel's identity?””
“No.””
“Then explain the signature.””
“I can't.””
“Try.””
Lauren looked around.
Nobody came to her rescue.
Not Madison.
Not Eric.
Not Dad.
Not me.
She finally whispered, “I found some old papers.””
Dad laughed bitterly.
“And dead women started signing new ones?””
“I didn't say that.””
Grandma pointed at the photograph.
“That document was created after Rachel died.””
Lauren's face tightened.
“You don't know that.””
“I know my daughter's signature.””
“So do I,” Dad said.
Lauren turned.
Dad looked at the paper.
“And that's not it.””
I blinked.
“What?””
Dad showed me the signature.
“It looks close.””
Grandma nodded.
“Very close.””
“But Rachel always connected the B in Bennett to the first e.””
Grandma looked at him.
Then back at the photograph.
He was right.
Even I remembered.
Mom's signature had been almost one continuous line.
This one had a tiny break.
Dad looked at Lauren.
“Whoever copied it didn't know that.””
Lauren sat down.
Grandma asked Eric, “Do you have the actual document?””
“No. Only the photograph.””
“Why did you take a picture?””
Eric looked embarrassed.
“I thought Lauren might be hiding assets from Marcus.””
Dad raised an eyebrow.
“You were sleeping with my wife but concerned she might be financially dishonest?””
Eric flinched.
“Fair.””
Grandma almost smiled.
Then Eric continued.
“She kept changing her story about where the money came from. First it was a divorce settlement. Then investments. Then an inheritance.””
“What inheritance?”” Dad asked.
“She said Rachel left money to Lauren.””
The room went silent.
Grandma actually laughed.
It was short and furious.
“Rachel never met Lauren.””
Eric looked at her.
“I know that now.””
Dad stared at Lauren.
“You told him my dead wife left you money?””
Lauren stood abruptly.
“I panicked.””
That was the first admission that sounded almost truthful.
Everyone watched her.
She wiped her face.
“I had already told him the money was mine.””
“So you invented an inheritance?”” Dad asked.
“Yes.””
Grandma pointed toward the photograph.
“And forged Rachel's signature?””
Lauren shook her head.
“No.””
“Then who did?””
“I don't know.””
Dad said, “We're past that answer.””
Lauren looked at him.
“You think I did everything.””
“Did you?””
“No!””
Dad waited.
Lauren's voice dropped.
“Not everything.””
The words landed heavily.
Grandma sat.
“What does that mean?””
Lauren closed her eyes.
“There was someone helping me.””
Eric frowned.
“Who?””
She ignored him.
Dad stepped closer.
“Name.””
Lauren hesitated.
“Derek Shaw.””
Dad frowned.
“I don't know him.””
“You met him once.””
“When?””
“At Madison's birthday dinner last year.””
Madison looked up.
“The guy from Mom's old job?””
Lauren nodded.
Grandma asked, “What did he do?””
“He handled financial paperwork.””
Dad's eyes narrowed.
“For whom?””
“Clients.””
“What clients?””
“People.””
Eric shook his head.
“That isn't an answer.””
Lauren snapped, “This has nothing to do with you.””
Eric laughed.
“You took sixty thousand dollars from me. It has quite a lot to do with me.””
Dad raised a hand.
“Derek.””
Lauren stared at the floor.
“He helped restructure accounts.””
Grandma's expression hardened.
“You mean hide money.””
“No.””
“Move money that wasn't yours?””
Lauren said nothing.
Dad picked up his phone.
“What was his company?””
“Marcus—”
“Company.””
“Shaw Financial Solutions.””
Dad searched.
Nothing obvious appeared.
Eric searched too.
“There's a Derek Shaw in Houston.””
Lauren looked up.
Eric read.
“Former financial adviser.””
Grandma leaned closer.
“Former?””
Eric's eyebrows rose.
“License revoked.””
Dad looked at Lauren.
“When?””
Eric scrolled.
“Three years ago.””
Grandma gave a humorless laugh.
“The notary on the property transfer lost her commission. Your financial adviser lost his license. You certainly know how to choose professionals.””
Lauren glared at her.
Dad kept reading.
“Why was his license revoked?””
Eric's expression changed.
“Unauthorized transfers from client accounts.””
Nobody spoke.
Dad looked at Lauren.
“You knew?””
“No.””
“You hired him without checking?””
“He said the complaint was false.””
Grandma shook her head.
Dad called Harold again.
This time the conversation lasted only a few minutes.
When he hung up, his face was hard.
“Harold knows the name.””
Lauren closed her eyes.
“He's been sued twice for document fraud.””
Madison whispered, “Mom…”
Lauren suddenly turned toward her.
“I was trying to secure our future.””
Madison stared at her.
“Whose future?””
Lauren stopped.
Madison pointed toward me.
“You said Zoe was the problem.””
“Madison—”
“You said once she was gone, everything would finally be ours.””
Dad looked at Lauren.
“Ours.””
Madison laughed through tears.
“But then I wasn't even on the house paperwork.””
Lauren stepped toward her.
“You were always going to be with me.””
“Were I?””
“Yes!””
“Then why did you tell Eric I already knew about him?””
Lauren had no answer.
Madison's face crumpled.
“You lied differently to everybody.””
That sentence seemed to hit Lauren harder than anything Dad had said.
She sank back into the chair.
Grandma returned to the photograph.
“What document required Rachel's signature?””
Eric looked through his papers.
“I think I know.””
He found an email.
“It references an account conversion.””
Dad frowned.
“What account?””
Eric read the number.
Grandma went completely still.
“That's it.””
“What?””
“The original college account.””
My heart started pounding.
Grandma looked at Dad.
“Before Rachel created the trust, she had a custodial investment account for Zoe.””
Dad nodded slowly.
“I remember.””
“When Rachel became ill, she intended to roll it into the trust.””
“Did she?””
“I thought she did.””
Dad looked at Lauren.
“So the hundred eighty thousand…”
“May have remained in the old account.””
Grandma's face tightened.
“And if Rachel remained listed as custodian—”
Dad understood.
“Someone would need her authorization to move it.””
Everyone looked at the photograph.
A dead woman's signature.
A living woman's money.
My future.
Grandma whispered, “That's what the forgery was for.””
Lauren shook her head.
“No.””
Dad asked, “How much did you take?””
“I don't know.””
“Lauren.””
“I didn't control everything.””
“How much?””
She began crying again.
“Derek handled the transfers.””
“That wasn't my question.””
She looked at me.
I hated that.
I hated being used as the audience for her guilt.
“Zoe—”
“Don't.””
My voice surprised even me.
Lauren stopped.
“Don't say my name like you're sorry now.””
“I am sorry.””
“You were sorry when Dad came home.””
She flinched.
“You weren't sorry when I was hungry.””
Nobody spoke.
“You weren't sorry when you took Grandma's cards.””
My hands shook.
“You weren't sorry when you tried to send me away.””
Lauren started crying harder.
I didn't stop.
“And you weren't sorry when you took Mom's name.””
That broke something.
Lauren covered her face.
Dad stepped beside me.
Grandma held my hand.
For the first time all night, I wasn't afraid of making Lauren angry.
Dad asked one final time.
“How much?””
Lauren lowered her hands.
“I think…”
She swallowed.
“About ninety thousand.””
Grandma gasped.
Dad went completely still.
I stared at Lauren.
Ninety thousand dollars.
She whispered:
“But Derek took some too.””
Dad's voice was cold.
“That is not the defense you think it is.””
Lauren looked toward the door.
This time Dad didn't block her.
“Where are you going?””
“I need to think.””
Dad nodded.
“Fine.””
Lauren looked surprised.
“You're letting me leave?””
“You're an adult.””
He pointed toward her purse.
“Leave Zoe's belongings.””
Lauren emptied the purse onto the table.
Wallet.
Keys.
Makeup.
Receipts.
A charger.
Then something else fell out.
A small key.
Grandma picked it up.
“What is this?””
Lauren froze.
Eric recognized it.
“The storage unit.””
Dad looked at him.
“What storage unit?””
Eric stared at Lauren.
“The one she told me held furniture for the new house.””
Grandma held up the key.
Lauren lunged for it.
Dad caught the key first.
Lauren stopped.
Dad looked at Eric.
“Where?””
Eric gave him the address.
Lauren's face had lost every trace of color.
Dad looked at her.
“What is really in that storage unit?””
May you like
She didn't answer.
But her silence told us it wasn't furniture.
