Dana met me at the notary\u2019s office the next morning. Nadia, the owner, had set the appointment log and a copy of the document on the counter.<\/p>\n
The log recorded Mason as the person who brought the paperwork. Under \u201cadditional signer,\u201d someone had written Claire Bennett. The identification field was blank.<\/p>\n
Nadia studied the page with visible discomfort. \u201cI thought I saw you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
She described the other person: a woman in her late thirties, dark hair pulled back, wearing a long gray coat. She remembered the woman\u2019s glasses and a small scar beneath her chin.<\/p>\n
Kelsey had a scar beneath her chin from a bicycle fall when she was twelve.<\/p>\n
Nadia could not be certain. She said the woman had kept her head down. Mason had told her I was in a hurry and had left my identification in the car. Nadia had asked to see it. Mason said he would get it, then took a phone call outside.<\/p>\n
When he returned, he had a photocopy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made a mistake,\u201d Nadia said. \u201cI should have refused to notarize it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dana asked her to provide a sworn statement. Nadia agreed.<\/p>\n
The document was not the simple occupancy agreement Kelsey had shown me. It was a property authorization that gave Mason limited authority to obtain financing against the house. The wording was dense. The signature line was followed by a notary block stating that I had appeared in person and presented identification.<\/p>\n
I had done neither.<\/p>\n
Nadia\u2019s stamp and signature were on the page. The stamp did not make the document genuine. It made the false statement look official.<\/p>\n
I felt a familiar tightness across my belly. I took a breath and waited for it to pass.<\/p>\n
Dana noticed. \u201cDo you need to sit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m all right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s take this one step at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n
We made copies and left the original with Nadia. Dana submitted the statement to the bank and advised me to report the impersonation to the county fraud unit.<\/p>\n
I called Kelsey from the parking lot. She answered after three rings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you at the notary with Mason?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNadia saw a woman with your scar.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has the appointment log. Your name isn\u2019t written there. But she remembers you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen tell me where you were.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t keep a record of every Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you sign as me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wanted to believe the answer, but her voice had become too careful.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Mason ask you to help him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked me to help our parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy pretending to be me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said you knew about the papers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou heard him say that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you see me sign?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did you go?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to keep him from making a mess.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou went into a notary\u2019s office with him while he used my name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not sign anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you show your ID?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I believed that part. It didn\u2019t make her innocent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI stood there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
She breathed out sharply. \u201cBecause I thought he was handling it. He said you were at work and had already signed. I asked him if you knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could have called me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conversation went quiet. I could hear a television in the background.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want our parents to lose everything,\u201d she said. \u201cThe apartment was being sold. Mason said the bank was making a problem out of a small shortfall. He said one signature would buy time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know he was using money from a client account?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know he was lying about New York?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew he wasn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you find out?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMonday morning. I went to his place first. He had been staying there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat place?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe rented a room near the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was news. Mason had a second residence.<\/p>\n
Kelsey said she thought he needed space, not that he was hiding. She said he told her to go to my house and move his parents in before I could change my mind. She repeated that he had claimed I agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you tell me I was never part of your family?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I was angry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou already said that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know. I thought if you felt alone, you\u2019d stop fighting him and let the move happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words settled between us.<\/p>\n
I asked why she wanted me to stop fighting.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I thought there was no harm in helping them. Because they\u2019re our parents. Because Mason said it was all settled.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know it wasn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not trying to make you the villain,\u201d I said. \u201cI need the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen the truth is I went along with him. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t accept the apology. Not yet.<\/p>\n
I asked her to tell Dana what she knew. She agreed. She said she would also tell their parents the loan was not approved and the house wasn\u2019t changing hands.<\/p>\n
When I ended the call, I returned to the bank\u2019s fraud line. I told Peter there might have been another person present when the document was notarized. He asked me not to speculate in the report, but said he would add the information as an investigative lead.<\/p>\n
At home, I made a list of what I knew. Mason had lied about travel, attempted to borrow against my home, misrepresented the purpose of the loan, and involved his sister in a false notarization. The bank was also investigating an employee account.<\/p>\n
The list looked too clean for the mess underneath it.<\/p>\n
That afternoon, a detective from the county fraud unit called. She asked me to come in the following day and bring every document I had.<\/p>\n
Before we hung up, she asked whether Mason had access to my identification.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had access to my old email and the house,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know if he had a copy of your driver\u2019s license?\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought of the drawer where I kept old insurance forms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m checking.\u201d<\/p>\n
When I searched the filing cabinet, the envelope holding my expired license was empty.<\/p>\n
END PART 7<\/p>\n