Chapter 6 - The Paper Trail
"Deputy Miller," Elise Grant said, her voice cutting through the hysterical crying of my mother and the screaming match erupting between Daniel and Melissa. "I am formally pressing charges for criminal trespass, identity theft, and attempted mortgage fraud. I have the digital logs right here."
Elise opened her briefcase on the hood of the nearest cruiser.
"Forty-eight hours ago, Evelyn Evans accessed my client’s private apartment under the pretext of delivering food. While there, she photographed my client’s closing documents, social security card, and banking credentials. Yesterday morning, an application for a forged quitclaim deed was drafted at a mobile notary service in downtown Richmond, listing Daniel Evans as the grantee."
The family members who had been standing inside the foyer began trickling out the front door, looking terrified. My cousin Greg slipped past the railing and sprinted toward his car without looking back. My aunts and uncles muttered apologies under their breath, keeping their heads down as they hurried down the driveway to avoid being caught in the radius of the flashing red and blue lights.
"Wait! Don't leave!" Melissa cried after them, her voice shrill with humiliation. "We haven't cut the cake! The caterers are still inside!"
Nobody listened. Within three minutes, the grand housewarming party had dissolved into a panicked stampede of relatives fleeing a crime scene.
Only the core family remained: Daniel, Melissa, my parents, and the police.
"Deputy," Daniel choked out, his eyes wild as Deputy Miller unclipped a pair of steel handcuffs from his utility belt. "Please. Talk to her. She's my sister. Claire, tell them to stop! You can't let them arrest me! I have children!"
"You should have thought about your children before you turned your sister's home into a fraudulent laundering scheme," Deputy Miller said coldly. "Turn around, Mr. Evans. Hands behind your back."
"No!" my mother screamed, lunging toward the officer. "Don't touch him! Arthur, do something!"
My father rushed forward, his face purple with rage, but the second deputy intercepted him, shoving him back against the porch railing. "Sir, step back immediately, or you will be arrested for obstruction of justice!"
*Click.*
The sound of the handcuffs latching around Daniel's wrists was the loudest sound I had ever heard. It echoed across the quiet waters of Lake Stillwater, snapping the fragile, invisible cord that had tied me to my brother for thirty-two years.
Daniel slumped against the cruiser, sobbing openly into the cold metal of the hood.
May you like
Melissa sat down on the bottom step of my porch, her gold heels kicked off into the mud, burying her face in her hands as her entire manufactured life of luxury and social status collapsed into dust.
***
