Chapter 4 - THE SCHEME UNRAVELS
"Margaret, please! I'm your daughter!" Aunt Patricia wept, crawling across the carpet toward Grandma’s feet. "I made a mistake! The mortgage on this house was three months behind! Robert was going to lose his firm! We were going to lose everything!"
Grandma stepped back, refusing to let Patricia touch her shoes.
"You were going to lose your luxury house," Grandma said coldly. "While my granddaughter was losing her dignity. You let Chloe sell her wedding ring, Patricia. Do you have any idea what kind of monster you have to be to steal from a grieving mother?"
Uncle Robert sat on the couch with his head in his hands, completely broken. "I didn't know the money came from Chloe," he muttered softly. "Patricia told me it was a loan from her mother's discretionary fund. She swore it was legal."
"You drove a brand-new BMW home last November, Robert!" Emily screamed at her father, tears streaming down her face. "You told me you got an end-of-year bonus! You bought that car with Chloe's medical money?!"
"Emily, stay out of this!" Uncle Robert snapped, his face turning bright red.
"No!" Emily yelled back, standing up and standing beside me. "I brought Chloe here today! I called her because I felt sick every time Mom bragged about our family dinners while Chloe was working night shifts at a gas station! I had no idea you guys were stealing from her!"
Grandma laid a gentle hand on Emily’s shoulder. "You did the right thing, Emily. You brought the truth into this house."
Richard Sterling cleared his throat, pulling another document from his file.
"Mrs. Whitmore, we have another issue," Richard said cautiously. "While examining the secondary sub-accounts during our drive over, Clara discovered a second irregularity."
Grandma’s eyebrows pulled together. "What irregularity?"
Clara Vance flipped a page on her tablet. "Eight months ago, a secondary trust modification document was submitted to the Denver probate court. It bears the forged signature of Chloe Miller, declaring that Chloe voluntarily waived her rights to her father's trust distribution of $400,000 in favor of her aunt, Patricia Whitmore-Vance."
The room went so quiet that you could hear the snow falling against the windowpanes outside.
I felt like the ground had opened up beneath me. "My father's trust? My dad died when I was twelve... he left a trust?"
"Yes, Chloe," Grandma said softly, her voice filled with deep regret. "Your father, my late son David, left a $400,000 trust for you that was set to mature on your twenty-fifth birthday last year. Patricia was named the contingent trustee until you reached maturity."
I turned to Patricia, my blood turning to pure fire. "You didn't just steal the $180,000 Grandma sent... you stole my father's legacy?"
Patricia huddled on the floor, hiding her face, refusing to answer.
"She forged my signature?" I asked Richard Sterling, my hands shaking uncontrollably.
"We ran a preliminary handwriting comparison on the probate file while en route," Clara Vance confirmed. "The signature on the waiver document matches notary stamps registered to a notary public named Donald Hays... who happens to be Uncle Robert's primary business partner."
Grandma closed her eyes for three long seconds. When she opened them, all maternal warmth toward her eldest daughter was completely gone.
"Richard," Grandma said, her tone as hard as iron. "Call the Denver Police Department. Tell them we have a ongoing criminal fraud investigation with active co-conspirators inside this residence."
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"No! Margaret, no!" Aunt Patricia screamed, scrambling to her feet. "You can't ruin our family! What will the country club say?! What will people think?!"
"People will think that I protect my innocent granddaughter from parasites," Grandma replied. "Richard... place the call."
