Chapter 2 - The second document
Deputy Mills was the first person to correct Rachel.
“Ma’am, I can’t detain people or seize property just because somebody on speaker says so.”
Rachel answered immediately.
“Of course not, Deputy. I’m not asking you to exceed your authority. I’m asking Mr. Hale not to let that original document disappear voluntarily. If Mr. Mercer refuses to preserve it, photograph every page and note who possessed it.”
Mills glanced at me.
“Attorney?”
“Rachel Danner.”
“North Carolina?”
“Yes. Property and estate litigation. I can give you my bar number.”
He relaxed slightly.
Good lawyers understand that telling officers what they cannot do is the fastest way to stop being useful.
Rachel continued:
“Tom, I pulled the county index after hearing your voicemail.”
“What did you find?”
“Another filing.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“A deed of trust.”
Ron said:
“See? That proves it’s legal.”
Rachel went silent.
Then:
“Who said that?”
“Ron Mercer.”
“Mr. Mercer, please do not interpret documents you clearly haven’t read.”
Linda looked as though she wanted to disappear into the U-Haul.
I asked:
“What deed of trust?”
Rachel said:
“The cabin was pledged as collateral for a two-hundred-eighty-six-thousand-dollar loan four months ago.”
I stopped breathing.
“To whom?”
“Pinecrest Private Capital.”
“I’ve never heard of them.”
“I know.”
“Borrower?”
Pause.
“Blue Heron Ventures LLC.”
“That isn’t me.”
“No.”
“Who owns it?”
“We are checking.”
Ron said:
“Derek has companies.”
Linda turned toward him.
“Ron.”
He snapped:
“What?”
She whispered:
“He said the cabin was paid off.”
“It was.”
I looked at her.
“It was.”
No mortgage.
No home-equity line.
Elaine and I had paid it off nine years earlier.
Rachel continued:
“The quitclaim deed transferred title from you and Elaine to Blue Heron Ventures LLC.”
Not directly to Ron and Linda.
I turned toward Ron.
“You said it was yours.”
“It is.”
“Your name isn’t on the deed?”
He looked at Mills.
“This is getting ridiculous.”
Rachel said:
“There’s a second quitclaim deed, Tom.”
My blood went cold.
“From Blue Heron to Ronald and Linda Mercer.”
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
Linda stepped backward.
Against a moving box.
Ron’s beer remained forgotten.
Mills asked:
“Recorded?”
“Yes.”
Rachel:
“The loan lien remains.”
I looked at Ron.
“You moved into a cabin with a two-hundred-eighty-six-thousand-dollar lien on it?”
He shook his head.
“Derek said that was business paperwork. He said he’d cleared it before transfer.”
Rachel said:
“He did not.”
Deputy Mills held up Ron’s deed.
“Is this the first deed or second?”
Ron looked at it.
“The one giving it to us.”
So the paper in Mills’s hand was not the forged deed containing Elaine’s signature?
Mills checked the first page.
Grantor:
Blue Heron Ventures LLC.
Grantees:
Ronald P. Mercer and Linda S. Mercer.
Then why had he said it contained my signature and Elaine’s?
Because a copy of the prior deed was attached as an exhibit.
Chain documentation.
Ron had handed over a packet.
Inside it:
The forged conveyance.
My dead wife’s signature.
My imitation signature.
And the later transfer to his parents.
Ron had been carrying the problem in his pocket.
Rachel said:
“Deputy, the original transfer into Blue Heron appears facially fraudulent because one named grantor died almost three years before execution.”
Mills said:
“That doesn’t automatically tell me who made it.”
“Correct.”
Thank you again.
He looked at Ron.
“Sir, where did you get the packet?”
“Derek.”
“When?”
“Tuesday.”
“Did you read it?”
“Yes.”
Linda looked at him sharply.
I saw it.
That word mattered.
Mills saw it too.
“Did you notice Mrs. Hale was listed as signing five months ago?”
Ron’s face tightened.
“I assumed it was estate documentation.”
I said:
“You attended Elaine’s funeral.”
He snapped:
“I know when she died.”
May you like
“Then what exactly did you think she signed?”
He had no answer.
