Chapter 7 - The House
Daniel wanted to confront Margaret immediately.
Rachel stopped him.
“No threats. No private meeting. No emotional phone call that gives her time to destroy records.”
“She stole my house.”
“She may have committed fraud. Let the evidence prove it.”
Emily sat beside the window, one hand resting on her belly.
“Where did the mortgage payments come from?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Our joint account.”
Rachel’s expression sharpened. “And who manages the household finances?”
Daniel’s silence answered.
Margaret.
After Daniel’s father died, Margaret had gradually taken over bill paying, taxes, insurance renewals, property management, even some business accounting.
Daniel had called it helpful.
Emily had called it control.
Nobody had listened to Emily.
A forensic accountant began reviewing the records.
By evening, he found eleven transfers from Daniel and Emily’s accounts into Carter Family Holdings.
Total: $418,000.
Daniel went pale.
“That was supposed to pay down the mortgage.”
“It did,” the accountant said. “On a property your mother transferred into an entity she controls.”
Emily felt sick.
Her savings were in that money.
Money she had earned before marriage.
Money from the small design studio she sold after becoming pregnant.
“Can we get it back?”
Rachel answered carefully. “If we prove fraud, likely. But there’s something else.”
She pulled up another document.
Carter Family Holdings had taken out a line of credit using the house as collateral.
$900,000.
Daniel stared. “Where did the money go?”
The accountant turned his laptop.
Most of it had moved into an investment company called MJC Ventures.
Emily whispered, “MJC?”
Daniel’s face changed.
Margaret Jean Carter.
Rachel’s phone rang.
She listened for less than thirty seconds before standing.
“What?” Daniel asked.
Rachel looked at Emily.
“The police located your mother-in-law.”
“Where?”
“At Dr. Cole’s office.”
Daniel frowned.
Rachel continued.
“She was trying to get him to sign a statement saying Emily had asked for the medication.”
Emily’s stomach tightened.
May you like
Then Rachel added, “And she wasn’t alone.”
Daniel’s brother, Thomas, was with her.
