Chapter 5 - THE APPLICATION SHE NEVER SIGNED
Daniel found Martha staring at the notification.
“What happened?”
She handed him the phone.
“I don’t understand this.”
Daniel read the message twice.
“Did you apply for a loan?”
“No.”
“Does anyone else have access to your banking information?”
Martha hesitated.
Jessica had helped her set up online banking after Thomas died.
She knew the answers to Martha’s security questions.
She had copies of old tax returns.
And six months earlier, Jessica had borrowed Martha’s file box because she claimed she needed Ava’s birth certificate for school enrollment.
Martha’s hands began to shake.
Daniel led her into the security office where it was warm and private.
He replayed the footage from outside.
The video showed Jessica refusing to open the door.
It showed the puddle striking Martha.
It showed Brittany laughing.
Most importantly, the camera captured Martha holding the registration against the window.
Daniel copied the video onto a secure drive.
“You may need this.”
“For what?”
“I worked as a sheriff’s deputy before I came here,” he said. “People who treat family this way usually believe no one is watching.”
Martha called the bank’s fraud department.
The representative asked several identity questions.
Then her voice became careful.
“Mrs. Higgins, the application was submitted four days ago.”
“For how much?”
“Sixty-five thousand dollars.”
Martha gripped the desk.
The loan was secured by her house.
The funds were scheduled to be deposited into an account she did not recognize.
The bank employee immediately froze the application.
“There is one more issue,” she said. “The paperwork includes a durable power of attorney authorizing your daughter to act on your behalf.”
“I never gave her power of attorney.”
A long silence followed.
Then the representative read the name of the person who had notarized the document.
May you like
Brittany Cole.
👉 The woman who laughed while Martha stood in the rain had placed her own seal on a document designed to take Martha’s home.
