Chapter 6 - CYNTHIA KNEW
Cynthia’s attorney claimed she meant the security camera recorder.
Possible.
Then we found her text messages to Ivan.
Not because police searched her phone immediately.
Ivan voluntarily showed part of a message thread while trying to prove I had “planned the scene.”
Bad decision.
Once relevant evidence existed, legal process followed.
One text two days before the barbecue:
CYNTHIA:
Is she still carrying that little black button?
IVAN:
Think so.
CYNTHIA:
Then don’t give her a reason to use it.
My stomach dropped.
“How did she know?”
Lena asked me.
I thought.
The fob had been in my handbag once at Cynthia’s house.
Did she see?
Maybe.
Then another message:
IVAN:
She’s copying documents.
CYNTHIA:
I told you not to let her near the business files.
There.
Not just abuse.
Paper.
“Which documents?” Lena asked.
I explained the bank letters.
Ivan’s company.
Parker Outdoor Living.
Custom decks, patios, landscape construction.
Thirty-one employees in summer.
Real company.
Real revenue.
Also debt.
I had discovered a letter addressed to both of us.
Commercial line increase.
$540,000.
Collateral support:
Megan Parker separate real property.
Separate property.
My house.
Technically our home.
Legally mine.
My father bought the original small bungalow before he died and left it to me.
Ivan and I renovated together.
We lived there eight years.
But title remained in my name.
The bank document implied I had consented to use it as collateral.
I had not.
I confronted Ivan lightly.
He said:
“Accountant paperwork.”
I copied it.
Then more.
A personal financial statement carrying my signature.
A guarantee.
A preliminary mortgage consent.
Some signatures looked like mine.
Some were mine.
Which terrified me more.
I had signed stacks of business and tax documents over the years.
Ivan always said:
“Just routine.”
May you like
How much had I actually authorized?
I did not know.
