Chapter 8 - The spousal guaranty
The document police found in Luke’s office became a separate problem.
My name appeared on a spousal guaranty dated twelve days before the assault.
Signature:
Clover Bennett.
It looked like mine.
Not perfect.
Close enough.
My driver’s-license photocopy was attached.
So was a document labeled:
Acknowledgment of Risk.
Also signed.
I had signed neither.
The loan had not yet fully funded.
That mattered.
The bank had requested a verification call with me before final approval.
Luke had delayed it.
He told the banker I was:
“Traveling for work.”
I had not been.
The search warrant specifically included loan documents because I had told Detective Reeves Luke had pressured me to sign and because Adrian had already notified the bank that any supposed consent should be independently verified.
So police were legally looking for related records.
No magical discovery outside the warrant.
Digital examination later showed the documents had been created on Luke’s home-office computer.
A scanned image of my signature existed in a folder containing old tax forms.
Could someone else have inserted it?
Technically possible.
Then investigators found a draft version without signatures.
Then one with only mine added.
Metadata linked the editing session to Luke’s user profile.
Still circumstantial.
Then his texts with a business consultant strengthened it.
Consultant:
Need spouse guarantee before underwriting final.
Luke:
I’ll have it.
Consultant:
She agreed?
Luke:
She will.
Three days later:
May you like
Signed. Need verification call pushed.
That was harder to explain.
