Chapter 18 - Uncle Raymond’s Debt
Raymond agreed to meet only after Tasha threatened a subpoena.
They sat in the back booth of a diner.
Marcus wanted to come.
Tasha told him no.
“You’re not my security team.”
“I know.”
“You look like my security team.”
“I’m wearing a polo.”
“You look angry in a polo.”
He stayed home.
Alicia attended instead.
Raymond Brooks was fifty-eight and looked older.
He stirred coffee without drinking it.
“You really dragged lawyers into this.”
Tasha stared at him.
“You really helped my mother take my house?”
His spoon stopped.
Alicia said, “Mr. Brooks, you are not required to answer informally.”
Raymond glanced at her.
“I know.”
Tasha leaned forward.
“Did Grandma sign the deed?”
Raymond looked down.
“Ray.”
“She didn’t want to.”
That was not the same as no.
“Did she sign it?”
“She made marks on papers.”
“What papers?”
“I don’t know.”
“Were you there?”
“Yes.”
Tasha’s pulse accelerated.
“When?”
“The day before the date on that deed.”
Alicia immediately began taking notes.
“Who was present?” she asked.
“Lorraine. Me. Mama.”
“Curtis Vale?”
“No.”
Tasha stared.
“What happened?”
Raymond rubbed his forehead.
“Lorraine kept telling Mama that putting the house in her name would protect everybody.”
“From what?”
“Taxes. Nursing homes. Creditors.”
“Did Grandma agree?”
“No.”
The word was quiet.
But clear.
Tasha’s eyes burned.
“What did she say?”
Raymond looked at her.
“She told Lorraine to stop trying to manage everybody’s future.”
Tasha almost smiled through the pain.
That sounded exactly like Lillian.
“What happened next?”
“They argued.”
“Then?”
“Mama got tired.”
“Did she sign?”
“Not while I was there.”
“Why is your number in Curtis’s notes?”
Raymond’s face changed.
Alicia noticed.
“So you did contact him.”
Raymond looked toward the window.
“Lorraine asked me to call.”
“What did she ask you to say?”
“That Mama couldn’t travel.”
“She was in rehabilitation.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“That we needed somebody to notarize papers.”
“What did Curtis say?”
“He said the signer had to understand.”
“Did your mother?”
Raymond’s eyes filled.
“Some days.”
“That day?”
“She understood Lorraine was trying to get the house.”
Tasha’s chest tightened.
“That’s enough.”
Raymond shook his head.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
He stared at her.
“Lorraine was terrified.”
“Of Grandma?”
“Of what happened after she died.”
“Why?”
“Because everything in that family ran through her.”
Tasha frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Mama had the house. Some savings. Insurance. Lorraine was the one everybody called.”
“So?”
“So if the house went directly to you, Lorraine lost control over the biggest asset in the family.”
Alicia looked up.
Raymond continued.
“She thought you’d sell.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“She thought Marcus might pressure you.”
Tasha laughed bitterly.
“Interesting.”
“She thought Damon would come back and get something.”
“He couldn’t.”
“I know that.”
“Apparently nobody trusted me to know that.”
Raymond looked ashamed.
“We were used to Lorraine handling things.”
“Did she forge Grandma’s signature?”
“I did not see her forge anything.”
Tasha leaned back.
There it was.
A careful sentence.
“Did you help?”
Raymond’s face crumpled slightly.
“I made the call.”
“To Curtis.”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“I gave Lorraine an old document.”
“What document?”
“A power-of-attorney form Mama had signed two years earlier.”
Alicia leaned forward.
“Why?”
“She wanted to see how Mama’s signature looked.”
Tasha stopped breathing.
Raymond whispered, “I told myself she needed it for the new paperwork.”
“You gave her a signature sample.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Tasha stood.
Alicia touched her arm.
“Tasha.”
She sat again.
Barely.
“Did you get paid?”
Raymond’s silence answered.
“How much?”
“Thirty thousand.”
“From the loan.”
“Yes.”
“For your restaurant.”
“Yes.”
Tasha laughed softly.
The sound frightened even her.
“So you helped her create the deed.”
“I didn’t create anything.”
“You gave her Grandma’s signature.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You called the notary.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You took thirty thousand dollars.”
“My business was dying.”
“And my house saved it.”
Raymond’s eyes filled.
“The restaurant still failed.”
“Good.”
He flinched.
Tasha immediately hated herself.
But she did not apologize.
Not yet.
Alicia asked, “Did Lorraine ever admit the deed was fabricated?”
“No.”
“Did she ever discuss how the notary stamp was obtained?”
Raymond hesitated.
Tasha saw it.
“Ray.”
He looked at her.
“After Curtis refused, Lorraine was furious.”
“And?”
“She said she had another way.”
“What way?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who would?”
Raymond stared at the coffee.
Then said a name.
“Denise Carter.”
Samuel Keene’s former assistant.
The woman who handled document collection for the loan.
Tasha’s skin went cold.
“Why Denise?”
“Because before she worked for Samuel, she worked part-time for Curtis.”
Alicia stopped writing.
The connection snapped into place.
Curtis’s old documents.
His stamp impressions.
Lorraine.
Samuel.
Denise.
The fake acknowledgment.
The deed.
Tasha stared at her uncle.
Her mother had not improvised.
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She had built a chain of people, favors and debts.
A family network strong enough to hide a house.
