Chapter 5 - The Attorney at Midnight.
Rachel forwarded the threatening email to Officer Reed, Allison, and a new attorney she had contacted that afternoon named Dana Brooks.
Dana specialized in elder financial exploitation and property fraud.
She had the kind of calm voice that made Rachel feel less alone without pretending anything was simple.
They met in a coffee shop two miles from Harper Lane.
Dana read the email twice.
"Do not respond."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Good."
Rachel slid copies of the transfer documents across the table.
"Can Northpoint really take the house in seven days?"
Dana examined the paperwork.
"Not if the transfer is fraudulent."
"That's not the same as saying they can't try."
"Correct."
Rachel hated how often the truth arrived in technical language.
Dana tapped the page bearing Rachel's forged signature.
"This document is missing an independent witness acknowledgment."
"Is that good?"
"It's unusual."
She turned to another page.
"And this notary stamp belongs to someone named Marissa Cole."
Rachel remembered the woman on Nora's camera.
"A woman came to the house around midnight carrying a stamp case."
Dana looked up sharply.
"Do you have video?"
Rachel showed her.
Dana watched the entire clip.
"Send me a copy."
"Already did."
Dana smiled faintly.
"I like you."
Rachel almost smiled back.
"Can we stop the transfer?"
"We can file for an emergency injunction, but we need to move quickly."
"Do it."
Dana raised one finger.
"There is another issue."
Rachel knew there always was.
"What?"
"Your mother signed something."
"She thought it was routine trust paperwork."
"That may help, but if the document says something else, Northpoint will argue she signed voluntarily."
"She was deceived."
"Then we prove deception."
Rachel leaned back.
"Grant is coming to the house tonight."
Dana's expression changed.
"How do you know?"
Rachel told her about Evelyn's call.
"Do not confront him."
"I know."
"And do not be inside that house."
"I know."
"Rachel."
"I said I know."
At six-thirty, Rachel sat with Nora in the darkened front room across the street.
Nora had placed her security feed on the television.
Evelyn wore a small wireless microphone clipped beneath the collar of her fleece jacket.
The microphone transmitted to Rachel's phone.
They had also placed Evelyn's tablet on the dining table with its audio recorder running.
Dana had advised them not to provoke Grant or ask questions designed to create a false impression.
Evelyn only needed to request copies and let him speak.
At 6:47 p.m., Grant's gray sedan appeared.
Rachel's stomach tightened.
He walked to the house carrying the same leather case from Monday night.
Evelyn opened the door.
"Come in."
Grant's voice came through Rachel's phone clearly.
"You sounded upset earlier."
"I am upset."
"Understandably."
A chair scraped against the dining floor.
Grant continued.
"Where's Chloe?"
"I thought she was with you."
Silence.
Rachel looked at Nora.
Grant spoke again.
"Why would you think that?"
"She got into your car this afternoon."
Another pause.
"I dropped her at a friend's house."
Rachel whispered, "Liar."
Nora put a finger to her lips even though no one across the street could hear them.
Evelyn said, "I want every document I signed."
Grant opened his case.
"I brought a summary."
"I asked for the documents."
"Evelyn, these forms are complicated."
"Then I will have someone explain them to me."
Grant's tone changed slightly.
"Someone like Rachel?"
"Someone I choose."
Rachel felt proud of her mother for the first time in days.
Grant lowered his voice.
"You need to remember what Rachel has already done."
"She says she didn't do it."
"People say many things when they're frightened."
"Did you use her computer Monday night?"
There was a long silence.
Rachel stopped breathing.
Grant answered carefully.
"She gave me access to documents."
"That wasn't my question."
"I don't think this conversation is productive."
A chair moved suddenly.
Rachel stood.
"He's leaving."
But Grant did not leave.
Instead Evelyn's voice came through the speaker, sharper than before.
"Give me my papers."
"Sit down."
Rachel's entire body tensed.
Evelyn said, "Don't tell me to sit down in my own house."
Grant's voice became low and cold.
"You signed the transfer, Evelyn."
"Because you told me it protected the house."
"And it does."
"From who?"
"From Rachel."
"Then why does Northpoint own it?"
Grant did not answer.
Rachel heard a drawer open.
Then a glass fell and shattered.
Rachel grabbed her keys.
Nora blocked the doorway.
"The police."
Rachel called 911.
Across the street, Evelyn's voice rose.
"Get out."
Grant said something too quietly for the microphone to catch.
Then Evelyn shouted.
"I said get out!"
The front door opened.
Grant stepped onto the porch.
He looked calm.
Too calm.
He adjusted his jacket and walked toward his car.
Halfway down the path, he stopped.
He turned directly toward Nora's house.
Rachel felt as if he could see through the curtains.
Grant smiled.
Then he raised his phone and pointed it toward the window where Rachel stood.
Her own phone vibrated immediately.
A text from an unknown number appeared.
NICE RECORDING.
Rachel's blood ran cold.
A second message arrived.
CHECK YOUR MOTHER'S TABLET.
Rachel called Evelyn.
No answer.
She called again.
Still nothing.
The police sirens were only a block away when Rachel ran across the street.
She entered the living room and found Evelyn standing near the dining table, unharmed but shaking.
"Mom?"
"I'm fine."
Rachel grabbed the tablet.
The recording app was still open.
The audio file showed forty-one minutes.
Rachel tapped play.
Static filled the speaker.
Then silence.
The entire recording had been erased and replaced with empty noise.
Dana called at that exact moment.
Rachel answered.
"He wiped the recording."
"That's not why I'm calling."
Dana sounded breathless.
"I just pulled the public filing for Northpoint."
"And?"
"The company was created six weeks ago."
Rachel looked toward the broken glass on the dining room floor.
"Who owns it?"
May you like
Dana paused.
"On paper, you do."
