Chapter 5 - The Signature Bernice NeededDiane refused to explain over the phone.
That alone told Mallory the answer mattered.
They met at a café in downtown Naperville two hours later.
Mallory left the girls with her closest friend, Jenna Morales, rather than Bernice.
Bernice noticed.
She said nothing.
Diane was already seated when Mallory arrived.
She looked older than she had at the birthday party.
Nervous.
Ashamed.
“You look like you’re about to confess to murder,” Mallory said.
Diane didn’t smile.
“Sit down.”
Mallory did.
“What did Mom mean?”
Diane wrapped both hands around her coffee.
“Edward changed the structure of his estate about eighteen months before he died.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know why.”
“So tell me.”
Diane looked toward the window.
“Your father discovered Bernice had been taking money.”
Mallory stared.
“What money?”
“From one of their joint investment accounts.”
“They were married. It was her money too.”
“Not like this.”
Diane lowered her voice.
“She was transferring it to Todd.”
Mallory’s cousin.
Todd’s string of failed businesses suddenly flashed through her mind.
A fitness studio.
A landscaping company.
A sports-bar investment.
“What for?”
“He was in trouble.”
“How much?”
“Initially? About sixty thousand.”
Mallory’s breath caught.
“Initially?”
“By the time Edward found out, it was over two hundred thousand.”
Mallory leaned back.
“That’s impossible.”
“It isn’t.”
“Dad would have told me.”
“He didn’t want you involved.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because I was there when they fought.”
Diane’s eyes watered.
“Bernice begged me not to tell anyone.”
Mallory felt a headache forming.
“What happened?”
“Edward moved several assets. He separated accounts. He updated the will.”
“And left me the house.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed if Bernice controlled it, she would eventually use it to rescue everyone who asked.”
Mallory looked away.
The explanation fit too well.
Her father had always accused Bernice of confusing love with rescue.
He had once told Mallory, Your mother doesn’t know the difference between helping someone and making sure they never learn.
“Did he plan to leave the house to her before?”
“Yes.”
Mallory closed her eyes.
That explained the resentment.
To Bernice, the house had been taken away.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Edward made us promise.”
“Us?”
“Me and Gregory Hale.”
Mallory stared.
“Gregory knew.”
“Of course he did. He drafted the documents.”
Mallory thought of Gregory’s careful tone that morning.
He had known the history.
“Did Bernice keep giving Todd money?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
Diane looked down.
“She gave him more after Edward died.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
Mallory waited.
Diane finally said, “A lot.”
Mallory stood.
“I need a number.”
“I don’t have one.”
“Then tell me what you have.”
Diane swallowed.
“Todd owes people.”
“What people?”
“Investors.”
“For what?”
“A development project in Indiana.”
Mallory stared.
Todd had told everyone he was consulting for a property group.
Apparently he had invested.
“How much?”
“I heard eight hundred thousand.”
Mallory sat back down.
Suddenly the house made sense.
Not emotionally.
Mathematically.
A nearly two-million-dollar paid-off property could solve a lot of problems.
“Was my mother involved in Todd’s investment?”
Diane hesitated.
“Oh, no.”
That answer was enough.
“How much did she put in?”
“Mallory—”
“How much?”
“Three hundred thousand.”
Mallory felt the room tilt.
“Where did she get three hundred thousand dollars?”
“She sold investments.”
“The accounts Dad left her?”
“Yes.”
“So she lost it.”
“Apparently.”
“And now Todd owes eight hundred thousand.”
“Maybe more.”
Mallory stared at her aunt.
“And everyone decided my house should cover the loss.”
“No.”
“That’s exactly what happened.”
“I never agreed to that.”
“You sat in meetings.”
Diane flinched.
Mallory leaned closer.
“How was I supposed to sign?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
“Bernice said she had papers for you.”
Mallory remembered yellow sticky tabs.
School forms.
Insurance forms.
A mother who had handled paperwork for decades.
“She was going to hide the transfer in something else.”
Diane looked sick.
“I never heard her say that.”
“Wren did.”
Diane closed her eyes.
Mallory’s phone buzzed.
Gregory Hale.
She answered immediately.
“Gregory.”
“I ran the title.”
Mallory held her breath.
“Nothing has been recorded.”
Relief flooded her so fast she almost laughed.
“Thank God.”
“But.”
One word erased it.
“But what?”
“There was an attempted request for a certified ownership abstract last month.”
“By whom?”
“A firm connected to Vale.”
Mallory looked at Diane.
“What does that mean?”
“It means someone was preparing for a transaction.”
“Can they do anything without my signature?”
“Not a legitimate transfer.”
Mallory thought of everything she had learned.
“What if they had a signature?”
Gregory paused.
“A forged one?”
“I don’t know.”
“That becomes a different problem.”
Mallory’s stomach tightened.
“Gregory, I sign a lot of things electronically.”
“I know.”
“My mother has access to old documents.”
“Yes.”
“Could somebody copy my signature?”
“Could they physically do it? Yes. Would it make a transfer lawful? No.”
“But could it make trouble?”
“Absolutely.”
Mallory looked at the café door.
“Can you place some kind of alert?”
“I already contacted the title company we usually use and advised them of possible fraud. I’ll also prepare a written notice.”
“Good.”
“Mallory?”
“Yes?”
“Change your passwords.”
Her chest tightened.
“All of them?”
“Everything related to banking, email, cloud storage, property records.”
Mallory thought of the family laptop.
Her old iPad.
Bernice knowing every childhood password she had ever used.
She stood.
“I’m going home.”
Diane reached across the table.
“Mallory.”
Mallory looked down.
“There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
Diane’s face had gone pale.
“The last time Bernice talked about your signature, she didn’t say she needed to convince you.”
Mallory went still.
“What did she say?”
“She said, ‘Mallory signs whatever I put in front of her.’”
Mallory’s throat tightened.
Diane continued.
“And Todd laughed.”
Mallory felt anger rise.
Then Diane added:
“But Richard didn’t.”
“What did he do?”
“He said, ‘Make sure she understands what she’s signing.’”
Mallory stared.
“And Bernice?”
May you like
Diane looked away.
“She said, ‘She doesn’t have to understand. She just has to sign.’”
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