Chapter 10 - THE SIGNATURE
The police stopped treating the party like a family dispute.
That changed fast.
They separated us.
They took statements.
They photographed the devices.
They asked me whether I had ever approved a seven-point-three-million-dollar international transfer.
“No.”
“Did you know it occurred?”
“No.”
“Did you receive any money?”
“No.”
“Do you have access to the account?”
“Technically, yes.”
That was the problem.
Technically.
On paper, I looked guilty.
Claire sat beside me.
“Do not guess. Answer only what you know.”
Across the ballroom, Joe watched.
He had been released from the wall but not allowed to leave.
He looked almost relaxed.
I hated that.
One detective arrived around midnight.
Detective Maria Alvarez.
She listened more than she spoke.
When I finished, she asked one question.
“Who benefits if you take the fall?”
I looked directly at Joe.
“My husband.”
Joe laughed from twenty feet away.
“This is insane.”
Alvarez ignored him.
Claire opened Tracy’s photographs.
“These documents contain Sarah’s forged signature.”
Alvarez studied them.
“Do you have genuine samples?”
“Hundreds.”
I signed school forms, company documents, charity checks, insurance papers.
My signature was everywhere.
Easy to copy.
Then Tommy raised his hand.
Detective Alvarez looked at him.
“You don’t have to raise your hand.”
“I know. Teachers just trained me.”
She almost smiled.
“What is it?”
“The signature isn’t the important part.”
Joe’s head turned.
Alvarez crouched slightly.
“What is?”
“The video.”
My pulse jumped.
“What video?”
Tommy looked at me.
“From Dad’s phone.”
Joe shouted, “He has no idea what he’s talking about.”
Detective Alvarez glanced at him.
“Mr. Vance, keep interrupting and I’ll move you to another room.”
Tommy continued.
“There was a video Dad sent to somebody.”
“Of what?”
“A computer.”
Claire leaned forward.
“What was on the computer?”
“Mom’s signature.”
My skin prickled.
Tommy looked embarrassed.
“I thought it was boring, so I almost didn’t copy it.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Claire plugged the USB into her secured machine again.
Tommy guided her to a folder.
There it was.
A video file.
Thirty-eight seconds.
Claire hit PLAY.
The camera showed a desk.
Joe’s study.
A laptop.
A document on-screen.
Then a hand entered the frame.
Joe’s hand.
His wedding ring was visible.
He traced my signature from a scanned document onto a digital pad.
Someone behind the camera laughed.
Mark.
Then Joe said:
“Sarah has signed so much charity crap she’ll never know which one we copied.”
Nobody spoke.
Detective Alvarez replayed it.
Then again.
Mark shouted from across the room.
“I didn’t know he was recording!”
Joe stared at him like murder had become a reasonable option.
Alvarez stood.
“Mr. Vance, I think we’re past family drama.”
Joe’s confidence finally cracked.
Then Tommy touched my arm.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“There’s another folder.”
I looked at the screen.
“What’s in it?”
He swallowed.
“I didn’t open it.”
“Why?”
“Because it has my name on it.”
On the USB was a folder labeled:
TOMMY — MEDICAL / CUSTODY PLAN.
My heart began pounding.
Claire clicked it.
May you like
And the first document was titled:
PETITION FOR EMERGENCY REMOVAL OF MINOR CHILD.
