Chapter 6 - The Notary’s Shadow
The sterile smell of hospital disinfectant seemed to cling to the manila envelope as I pulled out the fraudulent quitclaim deed.
My eyes scanned the cramped, jagged signature at the bottom—Mark’s name, forged with a clumsy, hurried hand that looked nothing like his clean, precise cursive. But what caught my attention wasn't the signature itself; it was the stamp of the notary public pressed into the bottom right corner in faded purple ink.
Arthur Pendelton.
I knew that name. Pendelton was a local notary who operated out of a shabby office just three blocks down from the county courthouse—and he was also the uncle of my sister’s ex-boyfriend, the disgraced pharmaceutical rep who had supplied the sedatives.
“She didn't just act alone,” I murmured, looking up at the prosecutor, whose expression hardened in realization. “She had a family conspiracy backing her up from every angle.”
May you like
Officer Vance stepped closer, peering over the prosecutor’s shoulder at the notary seal. “Pendelton’s office has been flagged twice before for questionable property transfers involving elderly clients and distressed titles. If he notarized a fraudulent deed without Mark present, he’s an accessory to attempted grand larceny and fraud.”
“Accessory?” I said, my voice dropping into a cold, dangerous register. “He helped my sister draft a document to steal my family’s home while my husband was lying unconscious in the kitchen. Let’s see how cooperative he is when a federal warrant lands on his desk before midnight.”
