Chapter 8 - Marcus’s Emergency Fund
The lawyer’s office smelled like coffee and printer toner.
Alicia Grant was younger than Tasha expected, perhaps forty, with shoulder-length locs and the calm expression of someone who knew panic became expensive when allowed to drive.
She reviewed the documents without interrupting.
When she finished, she folded her hands.
“You may have a legitimate title dispute.”
Tasha swallowed.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I am not telling you that you own the house yet.”
“But the will—”
“The will helps explain intent. The deed, if valid, transferred ownership before death. If the deed is invalid because it was forged, improperly executed, or obtained through fraud, then we have a different situation.”
Marcus nodded.
“What about the two versions?”
“That concerns me.”
Alicia pointed at his phone.
“The copy Lorraine sent you has a different recording number and different pagination. It may simply be a draft.”
“Why would she call it the deed?”
“Exactly.”
Tasha stared at the papers.
“What do we do?”
“Preserve evidence. Obtain medical and facility records if available. Verify the notary commission. Obtain the full title history. Then we decide whether to file.”
“How much?”
Alicia told them.
Tasha’s stomach sank.
The retainer was more than she had in savings.
Marcus immediately said, “I’ll cover it.”
Tasha looked at him.
“No.”
Alicia glanced between them.
Marcus leaned forward.
“Don’t do this.”
“I said no yesterday.”
“And yesterday we didn’t know somebody might have forged a deed.”
Tasha’s shoulders stiffened.
“This is exactly what we were talking about.”
“What?”
“You deciding that because you have the money, you get to control the solution.”
“I’m offering.”
“You don’t offer. You announce.”
Marcus leaned back.
Alicia said nothing.
Tasha appreciated that.
Marcus rubbed his beard.
“Okay.”
He looked at Tasha.
“What would make it an actual offer?”
“Ask.”
He took a breath.
“Would you allow me to contribute to the legal fees because Jayden lives in the house and because my own five thousand dollars may be connected to whatever happened?”
Tasha considered it.
“Half.”
Marcus frowned.
“You can’t afford half.”
“Then I’ll make payments.”
“Tasha.”
“Half.”
Alicia finally spoke.
“My office can structure payments.”
Marcus nodded.
“Half.”
Tasha exhaled.
They signed the engagement agreement.
Outside the building, Marcus headed toward his truck.
Tasha followed.
“Wait.”
He turned.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“You said you didn’t trust me with money.”
Marcus looked away.
“I did.”
“What did you mean?”
“I meant what I said.”
“That answer is too easy.”
He leaned against the truck.
“Tasha.”
“Don’t make me discover another secret in a document.”
Marcus looked at her for several seconds.
Then unlocked the truck and removed a small notebook from the console.
He handed it over.
Inside were handwritten figures.
Deposits.
Balances.
Dates.
At the top of several pages:
JAYDEN EMERGENCY.
Tasha looked up.
“What is this?”
“An account.”
“How much?”
“Seven thousand four hundred.”
She stared.
“You have seventy-four hundred dollars set aside for Jayden?”
“Yes.”
“For emergencies?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“About four years.”
Tasha’s anger rose so quickly it surprised even her.
“You watched my electricity nearly get cut off last winter.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Jayden lives there.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You knew my car broke down.”
“I paid for his rides to school.”
“You knew groceries were tight.”
“I bought him groceries.”
“Him?”
Marcus winced.
There it was.
Again.
The division.
Tasha opened the notebook.
“You had thousands of dollars sitting there while I was deciding which bill could be late.”
“That money is for Jayden.”
“He lives in the house where those bills get paid!”
“It’s supposed to be security.”
“For what? A fire? Hospital? Zombie apocalypse?”
“Don’t mock me.”
“I’m not mocking you. I’m asking what emergency counts if losing electricity doesn’t.”
“You never asked.”
Tasha stared.
“You’re right.”
Marcus blinked.
“I didn’t.”
Her voice became quieter.
“Because every time I asked you for anything beyond the exact dollar amount attached to Jayden, you made me feel like I was trying to trick you into raising Maya and Eli.”
“That wasn’t my intention.”
“Intentions don’t keep the lights on.”
Marcus folded his arms.
“Damon is responsible for Maya and Eli.”
“Yes.”
“And you should enforce the support order.”
“I am.”
“So why does my money keep becoming the substitute?”
“Because children don’t stop needing things while adults wait for enforcement.”
Marcus looked away.
Tasha closed the notebook.
“I was wrong to split the six hundred without asking.”
He looked back.
She continued.
“You were right about that.”
Marcus seemed surprised.
“But you were wrong about something too.”
“What?”
“You think money can be isolated from the house Jayden lives in.”
She handed back the notebook.
“You built an emergency fund for your son while ignoring the possibility that his emergency might be watching his family fall apart.”
Marcus took the notebook slowly.
Neither spoke.
Then his phone buzzed.
Alicia.
He answered.
“Yes?”
His face changed.
Tasha immediately knew.
“What?”
Marcus put the call on speaker.
Alicia said, “I verified the notary.”
“And?”
“Curtis Vale’s commission expired four months before the deed date.”
Tasha gripped the truck door.
Alicia continued.
“And there’s something else.”
“What?”
“Curtis Vale died eleven months ago.”
Marcus frowned.
“How does that matter?”
“It means we can’t ask him what happened.”
Tasha felt disappointment.
Then Alicia added, “But his former employer kept archived correspondence.”
Marcus straightened.
“And?”
“I found an email from Lorraine Brooks.”
Tasha’s throat tightened.
“When?”
“The evening before the deed was supposedly signed.”
“What does it say?”
Alicia paused.
“She asked Curtis whether there was any way to notarize a property transfer without the owner fully understanding what she was signing.”
Tasha closed her eyes.
Marcus’s hand tightened around his phone.
Alicia’s voice remained careful.
“That email does not prove fraud.”
Tasha opened her eyes.
“No.”
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But it proved something else.
Her mother had been planning.
