Chapter 3 - THE DOCUMENT I SHOULD NEVER HAVE SIGNED
At 8:15 a.m., I called Naomi Park.
Naomi had been my father’s trust attorney for seventeen years.
She also happened to be the woman Michael described as “too suspicious of everyone.”
Apparently, she had earned the reputation.
“I need to see you privately.”
“When?”
“Now.”
She heard something in my voice.
“Where are you?”
“Office parking garage.”
“I’ll send a car.”
“No.”
“I’ll drive.”
“Rachel.”
I stopped.
“Do not go into your office.”
“Why?”
“If this involves your trust, I don’t want anyone seeing you meet me through corporate security.”
That was Naomi.
Always three moves ahead.
We met at a law office across town.
I handed her Daniel’s watch.
She listened to the entire recording.
Unlike me, she did not stop.
She heard everything.
Michael discussing the bank.
Vanessa discussing an incapacity packet.
A custody petition.
A medical letter.
Then Naomi paused the recording.
“Medical letter?”
“I don’t know.”
She opened my trust file.
Twenty minutes later, she found the document.
A durable financial management authorization.
My signature sat on the final page.
My stomach dropped.
“I signed that.”
“Yes.”
“What does it do?”
“Normally, very little.”
“Normally?”
“It allows Michael to act as temporary financial manager if two independent physicians certify you are unable to manage your affairs.”
“I’m not incapacitated.”
“I know.”
Naomi turned another page.
“But the bank has an emergency processing procedure.”
“If a facially valid certification is submitted, temporary access can begin while the bank completes enhanced review.”
“How long?”
She looked at me.
“Up to seventy-two hours.”
Three days.
My hands went numb.
“That’s what Daniel heard.”
Naomi nodded.
“If Michael submits forged medical certifications Friday, he may get a short operational window before anyone contacts you directly.”
“Can he take everything?”
“Not legally.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Naomi understood.
“He could move substantial liquid assets.”
“How much?”
She began calculating.
Personal investment accounts.
Trust-linked operating cash.
Corporate reserve accounts where Michael had emergency co-signing rights.
Potentially twenty-eight million dollars before controls stopped him.
I whispered.
“Oh my God.”
Naomi looked at me.
“Did you sign this in front of your own lawyer?”
“No.”
“Who brought it?”
“Michael.”
“Who notarized it?”
I looked at the page.
Vanessa Cole.
Naomi’s eyes sharpened.
“She’s a licensed notary?”
“Apparently.”
“Rachel.”
“Yes?”
“This is not just an affair.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She leaned forward.
“This is organized financial fraud.”
Then she pulled up another document attached to the authorization.
A physician certification template.
One name already filled in.
Dr. Samuel Price.
I knew him.
Michael had insisted I see him two months earlier because he said my stress seemed unhealthy.
Dr. Price asked strange questions.
Was I sleeping?
Did I ever feel suspicious of people?
Did I worry excessively about finances?
At the time, I thought it was routine.
May you like
Now I understood.
They had been writing my breakdown before I knew I was supposed to have one.
