Chapter 6 - The First Forgery
Arthur Bell refused to answer investigators voluntarily.
Louise did the same.
That did not stop the records.
Carter Development Holdings had survived for decades because Walter loved paperwork.
Every major ownership transaction created copies.
Board minutes.
Tax filings.
Distribution records.
Bank instructions.
The more investigators looked, the stranger the Simone transfer became.
There was no wire showing Simone received $250,000.
No deposited check.
No tax form reporting the sale.
No independent valuation.
No correspondence from Simone approving it.
Only the settlement agreement.
And Arthur's notarization.
David Chen called Amara two days later.
“We found something.”
They met in the company's downtown office.
Amara had avoided the building since the night of the basement.
Louise's presence remained everywhere.
Photographs with mayors.
Charity awards.
A framed magazine cover naming her one of the state's most influential businesswomen.
Amara wanted to tear every picture down.
She didn't.
Chen took her into a conference room.
On the screen were two versions of the same board resolution.
Version A came from Arthur Bell's estate file.
Version B came from a backup server Walter's former controller had preserved.
Version A stated that Simone voluntarily transferred her shares.
Version B did not.
Instead it said:
Ownership dispute regarding Simone Carter interest remains unresolved pending independent review.
Amara read it twice.
“Someone changed the minutes.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Metadata suggests Version A was created eleven days after the meeting.”
“By who?”
“We're working on that.”
The difference mattered.
The company's official history had been altered.
Chen showed her another record.
For the first three years after Walter died, dividends associated with Simone's forty-percent interest continued going into a restricted account.
Then Louise directed the company to transfer those distributions to an entity called LC Family Management.
Amara stared.
“LC.”
“Louise Carter.”
“How much?”
“Over the next eleven years? Approximately six-point-three million dollars.”
Amara leaned back.
Six million.
And that was only distributions.
The underlying shares were now worth much more.
“Where did the money go?”
“Some remained invested. Some funded property purchases. Some covered company expenses. Nearly two million went toward Louise's personal assets.”
Amara thought of Louise's charities.
Her designer clothes.
The second home in Charleston.
The speeches about preserving Walter's legacy.
“Can she say she believed the shares belonged to her?”
“She can say anything.”
Chen paused.
“Intent is what prosecutors would need to establish for fraud.”
“And the forged document?”
“If it's forged.”
“It is.”
“We need proof.”
Amara hated how careful legal language sounded beside something she felt in her bones.
But Chen was right.
Feelings did not convict people.
Evidence did.
That afternoon Imani underwent a formal forensic interview about the basement.
Zaria did too.
Amara was not permitted to sit inside.
She waited in the hallway with Dana.
“I should've known,” Dana said.
“Known what?”
“That Louise was lying.”
“You had just buried your best friend.”
Dana looked exhausted.
“She sounded so convincing.”
“That's what she does.”
Amara said it without anger.
Almost clinically.
Louise made lies feel like reasonable explanations.
She offered people the version that required the least immediate conflict.
Dana wanted Imani safely with family.
Louise said yes.
Amara wanted to believe Simone needed distance.
Louise said yes.
Arthur wanted the estate settled.
Louise probably gave him something easy too.
Maybe money.
Maybe fear.
Maybe both.
When the interview ended, Zaria ran into Amara's arms.
“Can we go home?”
“Yes.”
“Not Grandma's home.”
“No.”
Zaria looked toward Imani.
“She's coming?”
Dana answered.
“For tonight.”
The child-protection agency had approved Imani remaining temporarily with Dana while probate and guardianship questions were reviewed.
Imani looked disappointed.
Amara noticed.
“What?”
Imani shrugged.
“Nothing.”
“You can tell me.”
“I thought maybe…”
She stopped.
“Maybe what?”
“Mom said if I ever found you, you'd know what to do.”
Amara's heart broke.
“I don't.”
Imani looked down.
Amara knelt.
“But I'm going to figure it out.”
That evening the four of them—Amara, Zaria, Imani, and Dana—ate takeout pizza in Amara's suburban house.
Zaria showed Imani her room.
Imani met the family dog.
For a few hours, they were simply children.
Then the doorbell rang.
A courier stood outside.
“Amara Carter?”
“Yes.”
He handed her a legal envelope.
Inside was a petition filed by Louise.
Louise was asking the probate court to appoint her temporary guardian of Imani.
Amara read it in disbelief.
Dana grabbed the pages.
“She locked her in a basement.”
Louise's petition described the event differently.
Imani had been “temporarily placed in a secure lower-level room during an emotional episode.”
Amara laughed bitterly.
“Secure lower-level room.”
Zaria overheard.
“That means basement.”
“Yes.”
Louise's filing argued that Simone had been estranged from Amara for more than a decade.
That Amara had never met Imani before.
That Louise was the closest senior family member with financial resources and an appropriate home.
Then came the final paragraph.
Louise claimed Simone had relinquished all rights connected to the Carter family fourteen years earlier.
Including inheritance rights.
Dana looked up.
“Why does money matter in a guardianship petition?”
Amara understood.
“It isn't about custody.”
“What?”
“If Louise becomes Imani's guardian, she controls who hires lawyers for Imani.”
Dana's expression changed.
“She could stop the child from challenging the shares.”
“Or delay it.”
Amara looked toward the hallway where Zaria and Imani were laughing.
Louise had locked one girl in the basement to keep her quiet.
Now she was trying to use a courtroom to accomplish the same thing.
Amara took out her phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“My own lawyer.”
Dana nodded.
May you like
Amara looked at Simone's photograph on the kitchen counter.
“For the first time in fourteen years, Mom doesn't get to choose who speaks for my sister.”
