"I understand."
"Do you?"
He nodded.
"I'll contact my office."
He stepped away from the door and made a phone call.
Daniel remained beside his car, looking increasingly agitated.
I could hear him speaking loudly.
"No, you don't understand. The paperwork was supposed to be finalized today."
He turned away from me.
Then I heard him say:
"Michael told us everything was ready."
That name again.
Michael.
Vanessa's brother.
The man who had supposedly been helping them navigate the financial arrangements.
I stood in the doorway, listening.
Daniel suddenly noticed me watching him.
He ended the call.
"Mom, we need to talk."
I shook my head.
"Not here."
"Please."
"You've had months to talk to me. You chose paperwork instead."
His face tightened.
"I didn't know they were going to send someone today."
"Then perhaps you should have asked what you were signing."
He looked down.
For a moment, I thought he might apologize.
Instead, he said something that made me realize how deeply he had become entangled in Vanessa's plans.
"Mom, if this deal falls apart, we're finished."
I looked at him.
"Who is we?"
"Vanessa and me."
"And what about me?"
He said nothing.
I closed the door.
Through the window, I watched him stand in the driveway for several minutes before getting back into his car.
Robert eventually left too.
But before he drove away, he handed me his business card.
"Mrs. Whitmore, I want to apologize for the inconvenience. I'll make sure our legal department reviews everything before anyone takes another step."
I thanked him.
Then I called Thomas.
Within an hour, he arrived at my house.
I showed him the documents.
He examined them carefully.
"This is worse than I expected."
"What do you mean?"
He pointed to the transfer authorization.
"Look at the date."
I leaned closer.
It was dated three weeks earlier.
"And look at the witness section."
There was a name.
Michael's.
Thomas shook his head.
"This is not a valid authorization simply because someone has signed as a witness. We need to establish how this document was created and submitted."
I sat down.
"Can they sell my house without me?"
"They cannot lawfully transfer your ownership through a forged document. But we need to act immediately to prevent anyone from relying on these papers or attempting to register an improper transaction."
He began making calls.
He contacted the relevant property records office, the company's legal department, and the investigator handling the suspected fraud.
By the afternoon, the proposed transaction had been placed under formal review.
But Thomas wasn't finished.
He placed another document on the table.
"Eleanor, I received something from the investigators this morning."
It was a copy of an internal financial agreement.
The proposed sale price for my house was $785,000.
The company would pay a portion into an account connected to Michael.
Another portion would be used to settle Daniel's outstanding business debts.
But the largest share was scheduled to go into an account belonging to Vanessa.
I stared at the numbers.
"Why would she receive the largest amount?"
Thomas looked at me.
"That's something we need to investigate."
I felt a strange sadness.
I had spent years believing that Daniel's greatest weakness was his inability to say no to his wife.
Now I wondered whether I had been wrong.
Perhaps he hadn't simply been following Vanessa.
Perhaps he had been willing to participate because he believed he deserved what I owned.
That evening, I received a message from Lily.
"Grandma, please call me. Something terrible happened."
I immediately called her.
She answered crying.
"Grandma, Dad and Mom are fighting. Uncle Michael came over, and Dad told him he was going to the police."
My heart began beating faster.
"Where are you now?"
"In my room."
"Are you safe?"
"Yes."
"Listen to me. Don't get involved in their argument. If you feel uncomfortable, call me or another trusted adult."
She sniffled.
"Grandma, I heard Uncle Michael say something about a second document."
"What second document?"
"I don't know. He said the first plan was ruined, but the other one could still work."
I gripped the phone.
"Did he say anything else?"
"Yes. He said something about Grandpa."
My stomach tightened.
"Your grandfather?"
"Yes. He said Grandpa had left something that could make everything complicated."
I thanked her for telling me.
Then I called Thomas.
When I explained what Lily had heard, he became very quiet.
"Eleanor, I think we need to look more closely at Richard's estate records."
"But we already have the original documents."
"I know. I'm wondering whether someone has been searching for another document that they believe could change the ownership arrangement."
I thought about Richard's letter.
The one he had left in the wooden filing cabinet.
The one that explicitly stated that he wanted me to remain in our home for as long as I wished.