Chapter 15 - The Loan Beneath the House
Alicia filed Monday morning.
The complaint asked the court to determine title, invalidate the disputed deed if proven fraudulent, prevent sale or transfer during litigation and preserve relevant documents.
By Tuesday afternoon, Lorraine had an attorney.
By Wednesday, every relative Tasha possessed seemed to have her phone number.
Aunt Rochelle called first.
“You’re suing your mother?”
“I’m asking a court to determine who owns my house.”
“That sounds like suing.”
“It is.”
“Tasha.”
“Did you know about the deed?”
Silence.
Tasha closed her eyes.
“Aunt Rochelle.”
“I knew Lorraine said Lillian transferred the property.”
“When?”
“After the funeral.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“We thought you knew.”
The same sentence Marcus had used.
Except this time Tasha did not believe it.
“What about the loan?”
“What loan?”
“The ninety-two-thousand-dollar credit line.”
Rochelle went silent again.
“You knew.”
“I knew she borrowed something.”
“How much?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“Why does nobody in this family ask?”
“Because Lorraine handles things.”
That sentence explained decades.
Lorraine handles things.
Bills.
Funerals.
Keys.
Documents.
Emergencies.
People.
“What did she use it for?”
“She helped everybody.”
“Names.”
“Tasha.”
“Names.”
Rochelle sighed.
“Raymond got some for the restaurant. I got eight thousand when I had surgery.”
“What else?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Mom buy anything for herself?”
“That’s unfair.”
“Why?”
“She sacrificed more than anybody.”
“So did Grandma.”
“Tasha, your mother is sixty-one years old. What do you want to happen to her?”
“I want the truth.”
“Truth has consequences.”
“So do lies.”
Rochelle hung up.
By evening, Tasha’s cousin Malcolm had texted.
Then Uncle Raymond.
Then a woman from church.
Every message had the same theme.
Family should not take family to court.
Nobody asked whether family should forge deeds.
Marcus came over after work.
“Stop reading messages.”
Tasha looked at him.
“Who said I’m upset?”
“Your face.”
“My face is fine.”
“Your face wants to fight a church deacon.”
Tasha laughed before she could stop herself.
It felt good.
Then she handed him the phone.
Marcus scrolled.
“Wow.”
“Apparently I’m tearing the family apart.”
“Efficient. Took you forty-eight hours.”
“Shut up.”
He sat beside her.
“Any word from Alicia?”
“Hearing Friday on the temporary order.”
“To stop Lorraine from selling?”
“Or refinancing.”
Marcus nodded.
“What about the loan?”
“Still there.”
“Can the bank take the house?”
“Not tomorrow.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Tasha exhaled.
“Alicia says if the deed was fraudulent, the lien becomes complicated. The lender may have protections depending on whether they were a bona fide lender and whether title insurance is involved.”
“So we could win ownership and still inherit sixty-eight thousand dollars of debt?”
“Potentially.”
Marcus swore quietly.
Tasha looked around.
“What if I win something I can’t afford?”
“You’ll figure it out.”
“That phrase is starting to annoy me.”
“I meant we.”
Tasha looked at him.
Marcus continued carefully.
“Not me deciding. We figure out what the options are.”
“That sounds better.”
He hesitated.
“I could pay off part of it.”
“No.”
“I didn’t say I would.”
“You were about to.”
“I was about to say I could if that became an option you wanted to discuss.”
Tasha studied him.
“You’re learning.”
“Painfully.”
Jayden came downstairs with homework.
“Can Dad help me with fractions?”
Tasha stared at him.
“You’re asking Marcus for math help?”
Jayden shrugged.
“He understands money.”
Marcus groaned.
Tasha laughed.
For thirty minutes, the house felt normal.
Then Alicia called.
“I received the lender’s origination file.”
Tasha put the phone on speaker.
“What’s in it?”
“Lorraine’s application.”
“And?”
“She represented herself as sole owner.”
“We knew that.”
“She also provided proof of occupancy.”
Tasha frowned.
“What kind?”
“Utility bills.”
“In her name?”
“No.”
Alicia paused.
“They were in yours.”
Tasha looked at Marcus.
“That makes no sense.”
“She apparently told the lender you were her tenant.”
Tasha’s stomach turned.
“What else?”
“There’s a landlord verification form.”
“Signed by who?”
“Lorraine.”
Tasha almost laughed.
“Of course.”
“And a tenant acknowledgment.”
The room went still.
“What?”
“A document stating that you recognized Lorraine as owner and tenant relationship.”
Tasha stood.
“I never signed anything like that.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“What does the signature look like?”
Alicia answered.
“Like yours.”
Tasha’s breathing changed.
“Send it.”
Seconds later the document arrived.
Tasha opened it.
Her name.
Her signature.
Almost.
The T was wrong.
The final loop in Brooks too narrow.
She stared.
“I did not sign this.”
Marcus leaned closer.
“You sure?”
Tasha looked at him sharply.
“Yes.”
“I’m asking because—”
“I know my signature.”
Alicia said, “We’ll have an examiner look at it.”
Tasha stared at the date.
Then remembered something.
“Oh my God.”
“What?”
“That week.”
“What happened that week?” Marcus asked.
“I was in Jacksonville.”
“For what?”
“Training for work.”
Three days.
Her employer would have records.
Hotel receipts.
Mileage.
Proof she had been four hundred miles away when the document claimed she signed in Lorraine’s presence.
Tasha almost felt relief.
Then she read the witness line.
Someone else had signed below Lorraine.
A familiar name.
Marcus Reed.
Tasha slowly turned toward him.
Marcus stared at the screen.
His face drained of color.
“I never signed that.”
Tasha did not speak.
Marcus repeated it.
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“I never signed that document.”
For the first time, Lorraine had managed to put both of their names inside the same lie.
