PART 7 – The Family Dinner Where Adam Asked Me to Forget the Documents

Dereck's sister, Claire, called on Wednesday.

We had always gotten along.

She asked if I would come to her home for dinner.

"Dereck is there," she admitted.

"Then no."

"I thought you two might talk."

"I'm happy to talk to you. I won't be surprised by another meeting."

She went quiet.

Then she apologized.

The following Saturday, I agreed to meet her for coffee instead.

She said Dereck had told the family I was accusing him of stealing our house.

"That's not what I'm saying," I told her.

I explained the application and the disputed signature.

I did not ask Claire to choose sides.

She stared into her coffee.

"He told us Adam had found a guaranteed investment."

"Nothing involving renovations is guaranteed."

"He said you were both excited."

I shook my head.

Claire looked embarrassed.

"He'd been bragging that you were the organized one, that you handled all the paperwork."

That description sounded harmless until I remembered the borrower questionnaire.

Someone had used information I kept organized to make an application I had never seen.

Claire then told me that Adam had borrowed money from two relatives for earlier projects.

One had been repaid late.

The other was still waiting.

I couldn't verify those stories, so I did not repeat them to the lender as facts.

I did, however, tell Lena what Claire had said.

Later that afternoon, Adam appeared outside Mom's front gate.

He had called first.

Mom asked whether I wanted him there.

I said I would speak with him outside for five minutes.

He wore a work shirt with his company name stitched above the pocket.

"This was supposed to help everyone," he said.

"Who signed my name?"

"You keep coming back to that."

"Because it matters."

He claimed a broker had prepared forms using information Dereck provided.

He said the signature page was only a sample for discussion.

"Then why was the credit inquiry made?"

"Ask the broker."

"Who is the broker?"

He gave me a name and telephone number.

I wrote them down.

"Will you send that to my lawyer?"

He spread his hands.

"I don't want more trouble."

"Neither do I."

Then he tried something different.

"Dereck is scared you'll leave him."

I looked at the gravel driveway.

"He should have thought about that before using my name."

Adam said I was destroying an opportunity.

I ended the conversation.

When I returned inside, Mom was washing a clean plate simply to have something to do.

"What did he want?"

"For me to make the problem disappear."

"Will you?"

"No."

For once, that answer did not require an explanation.

Click here to continue reading: PART 8: The Broker’s Records and a Timeline That Could Not Be Explained Away