Chapter 7 - THE PRICE OF AN APPLE TREE
Margaret waited on the porch until I opened the door. Nora and Rachel stood behind me.
“You’ve made quite a mess,” Margaret said.
I glanced at the deed in her hand. “Daniel took that from my house.”
“He brought it to someone who could keep it safe.”
“Give it back.”
Her eyes moved to Nora. “You must be the lawyer.”
“Nora Ellis.”
“Then perhaps you can explain to Emily that families resolve problems privately.”
“Give her the deed,” Nora said.
Margaret’s smile tightened. She handed it to me, then looked past my shoulder into Grandma’s hallway.
“June never did know when to let go,” she said.
“How did you know my grandmother?”
Margaret’s expression changed. “Everyone in town knew June.”
Nora had found a map while Margaret drove over. Michael’s company had purchased three lots behind the orchard. A developer wanted to build a row of expensive townhouses there. The only access wide enough for construction vehicles ran across Grandma’s land.
I held up the survey. “You needed the orchard.”
Margaret looked at Daniel’s lawyer, then at me. “The land has sat empty for years. Michael offered a fair deal.”
“No one offered me anything.”
“Because June filled your head with nonsense about keeping everything forever.”
Grandma’s note came back to me. Ask what happened to the orchard.
“What did happen?” I asked.
Margaret’s gaze flickered toward the two apple trees visible through the kitchen window.
Nora stepped forward. “We’re done here.”
Margaret’s voice turned cold. “Michael has investors. Men who won’t appreciate Emily turning a business problem into a family scandal.”
“Then Michael should speak to them,” I said.
Margaret left.
Afterward, Nora spread the records across Grandma’s kitchen table. The orchard had its own parcel number because, decades earlier, it had been separated from the house lot. Grandma had inherited it from her father.
One older document stood out. Twenty-seven years ago, a Carter company had tried to buy that parcel. The sale never closed.
The buyer’s signature was Richard’s.
The seller’s was supposed to be Grandma June’s.
Across the top, someone had stamped: SIGNATURE DISPUTED — TRANSFER REJECTED.
May you like
Nora turned the page.
Stapled behind it was a handwritten complaint from Grandma. It said Richard Carter had tried to file a sale agreement she had never signed.
