Chapter 4 - Meredith Shaw
Rebecca agreed to meet.
Not at the house.
Not at Whitmore Development.
At a quiet coffee shop in Newton where neither Eleanor nor Daniel would expect her.
Claire arrived with Amelia.
Rebecca arrived with her own attorney.
That told Claire everything about the seriousness of the conversation.
Rebecca looked terrible.
No makeup.
Hair pulled back.
Eyes swollen.
For years Claire had envied Rebecca’s effortless confidence.
Now she looked frightened.
“I’m sorry,” Rebecca said immediately.
Claire did not answer.
Rebecca glanced at Amelia.
“My lawyer told me not to try to explain before I state exactly what I did.”
Claire almost respected that.
Rebecca took a breath.
“I impersonated you during the May eighteenth remote notarization. Daniel was present. My mother arranged it.”
Claire’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Mom said the transfer was temporary.”
Claire’s eyes hardened.
Rebecca continued quickly.
“She said Daniel had already discussed it with you, that you didn’t want your name connected to the financing because you were worried about appearances.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I know.”
“Did you know then?”
Rebecca looked down.
“Part of me did.”
Claire waited.
Rebecca’s attorney did not interrupt.
Rebecca continued.
“Daniel kept saying the Riverfront financing would close in sixty days and everything would be reversed before you ever needed to know.”
“So you knew I didn’t know.”
Rebecca began crying.
“Yes.”
Claire felt no satisfaction.
“Who is Meredith?”
Rebecca looked at her sharply.
“Daniel told you.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca wiped her face.
“Mom asked Meredith to do the second signing.”
“Did she?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“I wasn’t there.”
“Did Meredith look like me?”
“Not really.”
Claire almost laughed.
“Neither do you.”
Rebecca flinched.
“How did they pass verification?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire leaned forward.
“You helped steal my house.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t get to become vague now.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Meredith had access to a professional makeup artist through a theater foundation she supports.”
Claire stared.
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
“She wore a wig?”
“I heard Mom talking about it.”
“Who was the notary?”
“Different person from the first signing.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas’s office handled the first one through an outside remote-notary vendor. Mom thought the recording looked too clear afterward.”
Claire felt sick.
They had learned from the first impersonation.
Refined it.
The second fraud had been engineered more carefully.
Amelia asked:
“Did Eleanor discuss destroying either recording?”
Rebecca nodded.
“She wanted Daniel to have Thomas delete the first one.”
“Could Thomas?”
“I don’t know.”
“He didn’t,” Claire said.
“No.”
Rebecca looked at her.
“That’s why Daniel finally panicked.”
Claire almost laughed.
Daniel had not panicked when his wife was robbed.
He panicked when evidence survived.
Still, the evidence mattered.
“What does Meredith get?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“A board seat.”
“At Whitmore Development?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Mom promised repayment of a loan Meredith made to the company.”
Claire leaned back.
“How much?”
“Eight hundred thousand.”
There it was.
Money.
Again.
Rebecca slid a flash drive across the table.
Claire did not touch it.
Amelia took it.
“What is this?” Claire asked.
“Emails I saved.”
“From whom?”
“Mom.”
“Why did you save them?”
Rebecca’s face crumpled.
“Because after the first signing, I realized if everything collapsed she would blame Daniel and me.”
Claire stared.
Even inside the conspiracy, Eleanor had created fear.
Rebecca continued:
“She always says family protects family. But with Mom, that usually means everyone protects her first.”
Claire felt something unexpected.
Recognition.
Not sympathy exactly.
But recognition.
Eleanor had dominated each relationship differently.
With Claire: exclusion.
With Daniel: duty.
With Rebecca: guilt.
Rebecca said:
“I will testify.”
Her attorney shifted slightly.
Rebecca added:
“If I’m asked legally, I’ll tell the truth.”
Claire looked at her.
“Why now?”
“Because Daniel called me yesterday and said Mom was throwing you out.”
Claire almost laughed.
Again.
The line appeared only when Eleanor became openly cruel enough that the others could no longer call the plan temporary.
Claire said quietly:
“You all knew she was taking my assets.”
Rebecca cried harder.
“Yes.”
“You just thought I would stay inside the family while it happened.”
Rebecca could not answer.
Claire stood.
The meeting was finished.
Outside, Amelia said:
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
Claire almost smiled.
Then Amelia’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression sharpened.
“What?”
Amelia ended the call.
“The Registry flagged another filing.”
Claire felt her stomach drop.
“What now?”
“A mortgage discharge submitted three weeks ago.”
“On what?”
“Your parents’ old vacation property in Maine.”
Claire stared.
“I sold that property two years ago.”
“Yes.”
“So why would anyone file something against it now?”
Amelia looked serious.
“Because according to the filing, you apparently reacquired an interest in it through a private trust.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
Claire understood.
The fraud was not limited to assets Eleanor knew Claire currently owned.
Someone had been creating paper ownership interests in Claire’s name.
Not only to take things from her.
Potentially to hide things under her.
May you like
And that was a different kind of danger.
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