Thomas already had the police on the phone when Eric reached the porch.
I watched him through the security monitor while Lauren pressed herself against my new front door. Eric did not look like the criminal my imagination had constructed during the previous few hours. He was perhaps forty-five, neatly dressed, clean-shaven, and carrying nothing in his hands. If I had passed him in a bank lobby, I would have assumed he was there to discuss mortgages.
That ordinary appearance disturbed me more than menace would have.
"Open the door," Lauren whispered through the intercom. "Please."
Evelyn stood beside me. "Adelaide, don't."
"I won't."
Thomas gave our address to the dispatcher and explained that a man connected to an active financial dispute had followed Lauren to the property. He did not exaggerate. He did not need to.
Eric stopped several feet behind Lauren.
"Lauren."
She did not turn.
"Go away."
"We need to talk."
"No."
His voice remained calm. "You're making this worse."
I pressed the intercom button. "Mr. Vale."
Eric looked toward the camera.
For the first time, uncertainty entered his face.
"Mrs. Mercer?"
"You know who I am."
"I'd like to speak with Lauren."
"She doesn't appear interested."
"This has nothing to do with you."
The audacity almost amused me.
"My house, my daughter, my money, my property sale and a loan bearing my name. You have chosen a remarkable definition of nothing."
He looked toward the street.
Perhaps checking for witnesses.
Perhaps checking whether he still had time.
"I think you've been given inaccurate information."
"I have your messages."
That did it.
The calm expression fractured.
Only briefly.
But I saw it.
"What messages?"
"The ones where you discussed whether I was lucid."
Lauren finally turned toward him.
"You told me those were gone."
Eric's eyes sharpened.
"Stop talking."
Lauren stepped backward.
That command seemed to frighten her more than anything else.
"Mom, he knew."
I said nothing.
"He knew the loan wasn't yours. He knew you hadn't agreed to the sale. He said the paperwork would make everything legal enough that nobody would question it."
"Lauren," Eric said, "you should think very carefully."
"No. You think carefully."
She pointed toward the camera.
"They already have Daniel's copies."
Eric's head lifted.
Now the fear belonged to him.
"Daniel?"
"You didn't know?"
Eric turned toward his car.
Thomas, still holding the phone, said, "Police are three minutes out."
I pressed the intercom again.
"You might want to stay, Mr. Vale."
Eric ignored me and walked toward the sedan.
Lauren moved after him.
"Where are you going?"
He opened the driver's door.
She grabbed the edge.
"You said you'd fix this."
"Let go."
"You said the documents protected us."
"Let go of the car."
"What about Westbridge?"
His head snapped toward her.
"Shut up."
The words were loud enough for the doorbell microphone to capture clearly.
Evelyn looked at me.
"That's recorded."
Good.
Lauren released the door.
Eric climbed inside.
Then the sound of approaching sirens reached us.
He heard them too.
For one second I expected him to drive away.
Instead he shut off the engine.
Perhaps fleeing would have looked worse.
Perhaps he still believed he could explain everything.
Men like Eric often mistake composure for innocence.
Two patrol cars arrived.
Officer Cole stepped from the first.
I recognized him immediately.
The second officer moved toward Eric while Cole approached Lauren.
Only after both officers were on the porch did Evelyn agree that we could open the door.
Lauren entered first.
She looked exhausted.
Not the polished daughter who had canceled my party.
Not the authoritative caregiver who had told doctors I was confused.
Her blouse was wrinkled. Her mascara had run. She carried a suitcase that looked too small for someone who had lived in my house twelve years.
She started toward me.
I stepped back.
The movement hurt her.
I saw it.
I did it anyway.
Officer Cole entered behind her.
"Mrs. Mercer, are you all right?"
"Yes."
"Did Mr. Vale threaten anyone?"
"Not directly."
Lauren turned.
"He followed me."
Eric remained outside with the second officer.
Cole looked at her. "From where?"
"My condo."
"Did he contact you first?"
"No."
"Did you ask him to come here?"
"No."
"Why were you coming here?"
She looked at me.
"Because I didn't know where else to go."
I felt the old reflex.
The maternal one.
Offer food.
Find a blanket.
Tell her everything could be repaired tomorrow.
I had spent fifty-two years responding to that reflex.
This time I let it pass through me without obeying.
Officer Cole asked Lauren whether she wanted to report being followed.
She hesitated.
"I don't know."
"Did he threaten you before tonight?"
Another hesitation.
"Not exactly."
Evelyn spoke. "Lauren, you should have independent counsel before discussing the financial matter."
Lauren looked at her with open hostility.
"You're the one doing this."
"No," I said.
Everyone turned.
"Evelyn is the person I hired after I discovered what you were doing."
Lauren's shoulders dropped.
"Mom, I know how it looks."
"That sentence has become very popular."
"You don't understand Eric."
"Then help me understand."
She looked toward the open doorway.
Eric was speaking with the other officer.
"He came to me two years ago."
"Why?"
"He knew Harbor Ridge wanted the property."
"You told me they had only recently approached you."
"I lied."
The simplicity of the admission silenced me.
She continued.
"At first it was just about the land. He said they could pay enough that you'd never have to worry about money again."
"I already didn't worry about money."
"I did."
There it was.
Not my need.
Hers.
"I had debts."
"What debts?"
"Credit cards. The divorce. Some investments that went bad."
"How much?"
She rubbed both hands over her face.
"At first? About ninety thousand."
Thomas muttered something under his breath.
I ignored him.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you'd already helped me."
That was true.
After Lauren's divorce, I paid legal bills and covered six months of her mortgage.
"You could have asked."
"And heard you tell me to sell my car? Stop traveling? Live within my means?"
"Probably."
She gave a bitter laugh.
"Exactly."
The answer astonished me.
She had preferred stealing because asking might have required changing.
Officer Cole interrupted gently.
"This conversation may involve admissions to criminal conduct. Ms. Mercer, I strongly recommend you consider speaking with an attorney."
Lauren looked at him.
"Am I under arrest?"
"Not at this time."
"Then I want to talk to my mother."
Cole looked at me.
Again, someone asked me.
I appreciated that more than he could know.
"I'll listen."
We moved into the sitting room.
Eric remained outside.
Lauren placed her suitcase beside the chair but did not sit until I did.
"Eric told me the property was wasted on one house," she began. "He said Harbor Ridge could build twelve homes here."
"I know why developers want it."
"He said if I could convince you to sell, there could be something extra for me."
"The consulting fee."
"That came later."
"What came first?"
"A referral payment."
"How much?"
"Twenty-five thousand."
Walter had not found that.
"Where did it go?"
"An account that wasn't connected to yours."
"Your account?"
She nodded.
"When?"
"Almost two years ago."
So Eric had been paying her before the formal sale.
"What did you give him for twenty-five thousand dollars?"
"Information."
"What information?"
"Your finances. The property records. What you might accept."
I stared at my daughter.
She had sold information about me before she sold anything else.
"Continue."
"He kept saying you'd eventually have to move. That it made sense to plan early."
"And when I refused?"
"He said older owners changed their minds all the time once family became involved."
"Meaning you."
"Yes."
I looked at her hands.
They trembled.
"When did the dementia story begin?"
Lauren closed her eyes.
"I don't know."
"That isn't good enough."
"Maybe a year ago."
"Whose idea?"
"Mine."
The answer landed harder because I had expected Eric.
"Yours."
"I didn't plan all of it at once."
Thomas had said choices were made one at a time.
Now I understood.
Lauren continued. "You were forgetting little things. Everybody does. But Eric said if the company believed there could be a capacity issue, they'd deal mostly with me."
"So you exaggerated."
"At first."
"At first."
"I told them you were becoming forgetful."
"And then?"
"The more people believed it, the easier things became."
Her voice dropped.
The sentence was perhaps the most honest thing she had said.
Easier.
That was the motive beneath the motive.
My independence complicated what Lauren wanted.
So she converted independence into illness.
"Did Eric tell you to get the power of attorney?"
"No. I already had the medical authorization."
"The broad financial document?"
She stared at the floor.
"I changed the packet."
Evelyn inhaled quietly.
"You inserted a different document among papers I believed were medical."
Lauren nodded.
"Did you forge my signature?"
"No. You signed the page."
"Without knowing what it was."
"Yes."
I felt sick.
"Why did you borrow four hundred thousand dollars?"
"Eric said we needed cash before closing."
"For what?"
"Some was for the condo."
"I know."
"Some paid my debts."
"I know enough."
"Some went to him."
"One hundred twenty thousand."
Her head lifted.
"You know that too?"
"Yes."
She looked suddenly smaller.
"What did he say the money was for?"
"Structuring the transaction. Making sure Harbor Ridge didn't back out."
"Did you believe that?"
"At first."
"And later?"
"I realized he was taking money from both sides."
That interested Evelyn.
"Both sides?"
Lauren nodded.
"He was getting something from Harbor Ridge too. Bonuses, commissions, I don't know."
"Do you have proof?"
Lauren looked toward her suitcase.
"That's why he followed me."
Every person in the room became still.
"What did you bring?"
"Copies."
"Of what?"
"Emails. Loan documents. Messages. Recordings."
Evelyn said, "Do not hand anything over until you have counsel."
Lauren snapped, "I'm trying to help."
"Then help without destroying your own legal rights or contaminating evidence."
For once, Lauren listened.
Officer Cole stepped into the room.
"Mr. Vale says he came because Ms. Mercer took company property."
Lauren laughed bitterly.
"Of course he does."
"What property?"
"A flash drive."
"Do you have it?"
She looked at her suitcase.
"Yes."
Cole asked whether it belonged to Harbor Ridge.
"No. It's mine. I copied things onto it."
"From company systems?"
"Some."
Evelyn closed her eyes briefly.
The legal complications were multiplying faster than I could follow.
I asked the simpler question.
"What is Eric afraid I'll see?"
Lauren looked directly at me.
"The valuation."
"What valuation?"
"The real one."
My heartbeat slowed.
"Explain."
"Harbor Ridge had the property appraised before they approached you."
"How much?"
She swallowed.
"The internal estimate for the assembled development value was much higher than what they offered."
"That isn't unusual."
"Not just development value. Your property alone."
"How much?"
"About one point nine million."
Nobody spoke.
The proposed purchase price in the documents was just over one million.
Nearly nine hundred thousand dollars lower.
Thomas stood.
"Jesus."
Lauren continued quickly. "Eric told me they'd never pay full value because they were paying me separately."
"One hundred fifty thousand doesn't cover nine hundred thousand."
"I know."
"Did you know then?"
She looked away.
"Yes."
The answer hurt, but by then pain had become familiar.
"What else?"
"The lender."
"Westbridge?"
"Eric knows one of the principals."
"Did they know I hadn't applied?"
"I don't know exactly what they knew."
"Lauren."
"I swear."
Her voice cracked.
"Eric told me the power of attorney made it legitimate. He said as long as the loan benefited your household, nobody would care who filled out the application."
"The photograph?"
"I used the one I took in the kitchen."
"The verification code?"
"A phone I bought."
"And the electronic signature?"
She began crying.
"I clicked it."
No ambiguity remained.
My daughter had impersonated me.
Officer Cole was writing again.
Lauren noticed.
"I should stop talking."
"Yes," Evelyn said.
For once, they agreed.
Outside, Eric was allowed to leave after officers recorded his information. There was not yet a basis to arrest him simply for following Lauren and coming to my door.
He drove away slowly.
I watched from the window.
Lauren remained inside.
"Can I stay tonight?"
The question came quietly.
I turned from the glass.
My daughter had nowhere she trusted.
The North Lake condominium was hers, but she feared Eric knew where it was.
She had lived in my home for twelve years.
Every maternal instinct told me to give her the old bedroom.
Then I remembered the locked door upstairs.
"No."
Her face crumpled.
"Mom."
"You cannot stay here."
"Where am I supposed to go?"
"Ask Officer Cole for information about a hotel or somewhere safe. Ask Evelyn how to contact an attorney."
"You're throwing me out?"
"No."
I looked at her suitcase.
"You made this house unsafe for me long before tonight. I changed the locks because of you."
"I came back."
"Because you became afraid of your partner."
"He wasn't my partner."
"He was exactly that."
She lowered her eyes.
I wanted to touch her.
I did not.
"Give the evidence to your attorney. Tell the truth. Cooperate with whoever investigates this."
"And then?"
"I don't know."
"Will you ever forgive me?"
The room went silent.
I could have given her a comforting lie.
I had spent days demanding truth.
I owed her the same.
"I don't know that either."
Lauren nodded.
Officer Cole helped arrange for another patrol unit to accompany her to a hotel while she contacted counsel.
Before leaving, she stopped at the door.
"Mom."
"Yes?"
"There's something else on the drive."
I almost laughed from exhaustion.
"There always is."
"This isn't about the house."
"What is it about?"
"Dad."
The world seemed to contract around that one word.
David had been dead eleven years.
"What about your father?"
Lauren looked at Evelyn, then back at me.
"Eric researched the property before he approached me. He found an old document connected to Dad's estate."
"What document?"
"I don't understand it completely."
"Then tell me what you do understand."
She gripped the suitcase handle.
"The house may not be the only thing he was trying to get."
My mouth went dry.
"What else?"
"Something Dad left you that you never knew existed."
Click here to continue reading: PART 10: The Document David Left Behind Revealed That My Husband Had Protected More Than Our Home, and Lauren Had Quietly Put That Legacy at Risk
On the Morning I Turned Eighty, My Daughter Canceled My Celebration and Decided I Was No Longer Capable of Choosing
Part 9 of 20
