PART 3
The mediator picked it up.
Her eyes moved slowly down the columns.
Date.
Amount.
Purpose.
Recipient.
Method of payment.
And beside nearly every entry was Grandma’s handwriting.
Melinda — college tuition — $31,800.
Melinda — wedding expenses — $48,600.
Melinda — vehicle — $27,450.
Melinda — credit cards — $18,920.
Melinda — apartment deposit — $9,000.
Melinda — medical expenses — $12,400.
Melinda — debt settlement — $41,300.
The list continued.
The mediator’s expression changed.
“How did you obtain this?”
Laura answered calmly.
“From Ruth’s private records.”
Dad leaned forward.
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
“It proves she kept detailed records,” Laura replied.
“No,” Dad snapped. “It proves she gave Melinda money. It doesn’t prove Ruth didn’t intend to give her more.”
Laura nodded.
“That would be a reasonable argument if the document ended there.”
She turned another page.
At the bottom, Grandma had written a sentence.
Total assistance to Melinda: $350,214.73.
Underneath it:
I have fulfilled my obligation to both girls. What remains should go to Brianna because she has never asked me for anything.
Melinda’s face went pale.
I stared at the handwriting.
I had seen it thousands of times.
The neat, slightly slanted letters.
The way Grandma crossed her t’s.
The little dot she always put above the i.
There was no mistaking it.
Mom finally found her voice.
“She was old.”
Laura looked at her.
“Ruth was eighty-one when she died. She was also the owner of an auditing company for thirty-nine years.”
Mom’s lips tightened.
“She could have been confused.”
“That argument becomes difficult to sustain,” Laura said, “when we have three independent witnesses who discussed the ledger with Ruth while she was perfectly competent.”
Dad pushed his chair back.
“You’ve been talking to people behind our backs.”
I looked at him.
“No. Grandma talked to people before she died.”
He stared at me.
Laura opened another section of the folder.
“This is Dorothea Wells’s statement.”
She read only one sentence.
“Ruth told me, in substance, that Melinda had already received more than three hundred thousand dollars and that she intended to leave the remainder of her estate to Brianna.”
Dad’s jaw clenched.
“She’s lying.”
Laura placed another statement on top.
“Marjorie Ellis.”
Then another.
“Janet Collins.”
Three women.
Three statements.
Three versions of the same conversation.
The mediator looked at my parents.
“Do any of you dispute that Ruth maintained these records?”
Mom swallowed.
“I don’t know what she maintained.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Mom looked at Dad.
Dad looked at Melinda.
Melinda suddenly spoke.
“I didn’t know it was that much.”
Nobody answered.
She lowered her eyes.
“I knew Grandma helped me. I didn’t know she kept track of everything.”
Laura leaned back.
“That actually helps us.”
Melinda looked up.
“How?”
“Because you just acknowledged receiving financial assistance.”
“I never denied that.”
“No. But your attorney’s demand letter says Ruth’s decision to leave you nothing was inexplicable and contrary to her stated intentions.”
Melinda looked toward her lawyer.
He shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
Laura continued.
“We also have evidence concerning the handwritten note you claim proves Ruth promised Melinda $150,000.”
Dad’s face hardened.
“That’s the real issue.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s discuss it.”
Laura opened another folder.
She removed a photocopy.
“This is the note.”
I had seen it once before.
It was only three sentences.
Melinda should receive $150,000 from my remaining estate. I want both girls treated fairly. — Ruth
Dad’s attorney had attached it to the demand letter.
At first glance, it looked convincing.
The handwriting resembled Grandma’s.
The signature resembled hers.
But Laura placed it beside another document.
Grandma’s actual handwritten recipe book.
Then beside that, a page from her bridge club notebook.
Then a bank deposit slip she had signed two years before her death.
“Notice anything?” Laura asked the mediator.
The mediator studied them.
“I’m not a handwriting expert.”
“Neither am I,” Laura said. “That’s why we hired one.”
Dad’s attorney immediately interrupted.
“We object to introducing an expert report during mediation without prior disclosure.”
“Then you can object to it in court,” Laura replied. “But perhaps you should read it first.”
She handed him the report.
He scanned the first page.
Then the second.
His face changed.
Dad noticed.
“What?”
The attorney didn’t answer.
“Richard.”
The attorney slowly lowered the report.
“We need to discuss this.”
Dad looked irritated.
“Discuss what?”
“The handwriting.”
Silence.
Laura looked at me.
I suddenly understood.
The note wasn’t Grandma’s.
Or at least, something about it wasn’t right.
The mediator asked, “What did your expert conclude?”
Laura answered.
“The signature is consistent with Ruth’s signature.”
Mom exhaled.
Then Laura continued.
“But the body of the note was not written at the same time.”
Mom’s eyes widened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means someone may have taken Grandma’s genuine signature from another document and created the appearance of a handwritten statement.”
Dad stood.
“That’s an accusation.”
“Yes,” Laura said. “It is.”
He slammed his palm onto the table.
“You’re accusing us of forging our mother’s will?”
“No.”
Laura’s voice remained perfectly calm.
“I’m saying the evidence raises serious questions about who created this document.”
Melinda stared at the paper.
Then she whispered,
“Dad?”
He turned toward her.
“What?”
“Where did you get it?”
Dad didn’t answer.
Melinda looked at Mom.
“Mom?”
Mom’s face had become almost colorless.
“Your father found it.”
“When?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember?”
“Melinda, not now.”
But Melinda didn’t stop.
“Where?”
Mom looked down.
Dad suddenly snapped.
“We’re done.”
He reached for his coat.
The mediator lifted a hand.
“Mr. Mercer, we’re not done.”
Dad ignored her.
“We’ll see you in court.”
He turned toward the door.
Laura said quietly,
“That’s fine.”
Dad stopped.
Laura added,
“Because we haven’t shown you the bank records yet.”
He slowly turned around.
Laura pulled another envelope from the folder.
“This is where things become considerably more interesting.”
Dad stared at the envelope.
“What bank records?”
“The account from which the $150,000 supposedly intended for Melinda was to be paid.”
Melinda frowned.
“I didn’t know about an account.”
“Neither did I,” I said.
Laura opened the envelope.
“The account existed.”
She removed several pages.
“It was closed eleven days before Ruth died.”
Mom’s eyes widened.
“And the balance?”
“Zero.”
Dad stared at her.
Laura continued.
“The entire balance—$147,862.19—was transferred to another account.”
“Whose?”
Laura looked directly at him.
“That’s the question.”
Dad’s face changed.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
A tiny tightening around his eyes.
A slight movement of his jaw.
But I saw it.
So did Laura.
The mediator noticed too.
“Whose account received the money?”
Laura didn’t answer.
Instead, she slid the statement toward the mediator.
The mediator read the name.
Her eyebrows rose.
Then she looked at Dad.
“Mr. Mercer…”
Dad sat down slowly.
The name on the statement wasn’t mine.
It wasn’t Melinda’s.
It wasn’t Grandma’s.
It was Diane Mercer.
My mother’s name.
Mom stared at the page as though she had never seen it before.
“I didn’t—”
Dad interrupted.
“That’s an old account.”
Laura nodded.
“An account opened three months before Ruth died.”
Mom looked at him.
“You told me that account was for household expenses.”
Dad didn’t respond.
Mom’s expression changed.
“You said it was for the house.”
“It was.”
“Then why did Grandma’s money go into it?”
Dad rubbed his forehead.
“Your mother was confused.”
Laura smiled faintly.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“Because the transfer was made electronically.”
Dad looked at her.
“And?”
“And Ruth personally authorized it.”
The room went silent.
Laura pulled out another document.
“Her banking records show that the transfer was initiated from Ruth’s office computer using her personal authentication.”
Dad stared at the page.
“She couldn’t have done that.”
“She did.”
“She was in hospice.”
“Her computer was in the office.”
“So?”
“So the question isn’t whether she could physically walk into a bank. She didn’t need to.”
Laura pointed to the authorization.
“She logged in remotely.”
Dad’s face hardened.
“She didn’t know how to do that.”
Laura looked at him.
“That’s interesting.”
“Why?”
“Because the login records show that someone accessed the account from the IP address registered to your home.”
My mother’s mouth fell open.
Dad didn’t move.
I felt something cold settle in my stomach.
The mediator slowly leaned back.
Laura closed the folder.
“I think we should stop mediation for today.”
Dad immediately agreed.
“Yes.”
Laura nodded.
“But before we do, I’d like one thing on the record.”
The mediator looked at her.
Laura pointed toward the envelope.
“We now have evidence suggesting that more than $147,000 was moved out of Ruth’s account shortly before her death, that a document purporting to promise Melinda another $150,000 may have been fabricated, and that the person demanding half of Brianna’s house may already have received funds from Ruth that were never disclosed.”
Dad stood again.
“That’s enough.”
“No,” Laura said.
For the first time, there was steel in her voice.
“I don’t think it is.”
Dad stared at her.
Laura gathered the documents.
“Because there’s still the matter of the three women.”
Dad’s expression changed.
“What three women?”
Laura looked at him.
“The three women who were with Ruth the afternoon she changed her estate plan.”
My heart stopped.
I had known about Dorothea.
I had known about Marjorie.
I had known about Janet.
But I didn’t know they had witnessed Grandma changing something.
Laura continued.
“They didn’t just hear Ruth talk about the $350,000.”
She paused.
“They were there when she made a phone call.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed.
“What phone call?”
Laura smiled.
“The one where Ruth told someone she was afraid.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Laura said something that made my entire body go cold.
“She told them she believed someone in her family was stealing from her.”
Mom’s hand went to her mouth.
Melinda whispered,
“Who?”
Laura looked at my parents.
“That’s what the women are prepared to testify about.”
The mediator ended the session ten minutes later.
Outside the building, the September wind cut across the parking lot.
I stood beside Laura while my parents walked toward their car.
Melinda remained behind.
She didn’t follow them.
Instead, she approached me.
For once, there was no anger in her face.
No entitlement.
No smug smile.
She looked frightened.
“Brianna.”
I didn’t answer.
“Can I talk to you?”
Laura glanced at me.
I nodded.
Melinda lowered her voice.
“I didn’t know about the money.”
“You’ve said that.”
“I mean it.”
“Then why did you demand half my house?”
She looked away.
“Dad told me Grandma had promised.”
“And you believed him?”
“She was our grandmother.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Melinda’s eyes filled with tears.
“I believed him because I wanted to.”
That stopped me.
She wiped her cheek.
“I thought for once something was going to be mine.”
I stared at her.
“You had $350,000 worth of things that were already yours.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Now you do.”
She nodded.
Then she whispered,
“There’s something else.”
Laura stepped closer.