Chapter 4 - Someone Had Signed His NameJames read the document twice.
Then a third time.
The signature at the bottom was nearly perfect.
His first name curved exactly the way he normally wrote it.
The J had the same sharp downward stroke.
Even the final loop in Carter looked right.
But James knew his own hand.
And he knew he had never signed away temporary guardianship powers to Linda.
“When did you make this?”
Linda straightened.
“I didn’t make anything.”
James held up the paper.
“This is forged.”
“It is not.”
“Then tell me where I signed it.”
“You mailed it.”
“No, I didn’t.”
Roy stepped back into the kitchen after speaking with one of the officers.
“You probably forgot.”
James stared at him.
“I forgot signing legal paperwork concerning my daughter?”
“You were under pressure.”
There it was again.
The implication.
Stress.
Instability.
Memory problems.
James felt the pattern forming.
The officer beside him asked to see the document.
Linda hesitated.
James handed it over.
“I want that examined.”
Linda laughed nervously.
“You’re making accusations because you’re angry.”
“I’m making accusations because someone copied my signature.”
Emily sat silently while the paramedic checked her temperature.
James looked at his daughter.
Then back at the documents.
“What did you use this for?”
Linda crossed her arms.
“School matters. Medical appointments.”
“What medical appointments?”
“Routine things.”
James turned to Emily.
“Did you see a doctor?”
Emily shook her head.
Linda immediately said, “She had a checkup.”
“When?”
Emily looked confused.
James’s stomach tightened.
“What else?”
Nobody answered.
James flipped to the next page.
A school authorization.
Then another.
Emergency contact information.
Linda’s name had replaced his as primary contact.
His phone number had been changed.
Not removed.
Changed.
One digit was wrong.
Meaning anyone trying to call him would reach someone else.
James looked up.
“This was deliberate.”
Linda sighed.
“Oh, for God’s sake.”
“You changed my phone number on her school paperwork.”
“It was a typo.”
“On three separate forms?”
Linda went silent.
The officer asked Denise where she had found the folder.
Denise’s eyes flicked toward Linda.
“In the office.”
James remembered Emily’s old bedroom.
Caleb’s office.
He walked upstairs.
Linda followed.
“You cannot go digging through private documents.”
James stopped halfway up.
“In my house?”
She said nothing.
He entered Emily’s former room.
The walls had been repainted gray.
Her stars were gone.
The small white bookshelf Sarah had bought her was gone.
In its place sat a huge desk, two monitors, and a locked filing cabinet.
Caleb moved into the doorway.
“That’s my office.”
James looked at him.
“No. It’s my daughter’s bedroom.”
Caleb folded his arms.
“You gave us use of the house.”
“I gave Linda permission to stay here while I served overseas. I did not give anyone permission to take my daughter’s room.”
James pulled the filing cabinet handle.
Locked.
“Key.”
Caleb shook his head.
“Work files.”
James turned to the officer.
“I own the property. That cabinet is sitting inside my daughter’s bedroom, and I have reason to believe it contains forged documents involving her.”
Caleb’s confidence disappeared.
The officer looked at him.
“You should probably open it.”
After several seconds, Caleb took a key from his pocket.
James opened the first drawer.
Bank statements.
Credit cards.
Insurance paperwork.
The second drawer contained school records.
Emily’s records.
The third contained copies of James’s military documents.
His deployment orders.
Pay statements.
A copy of his driver’s license.
Social Security paperwork.
James stopped.
“How did you get these?”
Nobody answered.
He pulled out a credit-card statement.
The account was in his name.
The balance exceeded twenty thousand dollars.
James had never opened the card.
Another statement.
Another account.
Then a home-improvement invoice.
$38,450.
Paid using a line of credit secured against an account bearing James’s name.
He stared at Linda.
“You remodeled my kitchen with money you borrowed as me?”
Linda’s face lost color.
Roy stepped forward.
“That’s not what happened.”
James found another document.
A bank authorization.
His forged signature appeared at the bottom.
Again.
The officer’s tone changed.
“Mr. Carter, I suggest you preserve everything exactly as you found it.”
James nodded.
He pulled out one more folder.
This one was labeled simply:
JAMES.
Inside were printed emails.
Copies of financial statements.
A list of passwords.
Old ones.
Some current.
At the bottom lay a handwritten note.
James recognized Linda’s handwriting.
It contained dates.
Amounts.
And one sentence circled twice:
IF HE COMES BACK EARLY, USE PLAN B.
James read it aloud.
Nobody spoke.
He looked at Linda.
“What is Plan B?”
Linda stared at him.
Then Emily appeared in the doorway behind the paramedic.
She looked frightened.
“I know.”
James turned.
Emily pointed toward the desk.
“They practiced it.”
Linda’s face went completely white.
James crouched.
“Practiced what?”
May you like
Emily whispered:
“What they were going to tell people about you.”
Related Stories
