Chapter 9 - THE SECOND SET OF ACCOUNTS|
Owen left that night, but he didn't go quietly.
He called my father. He called my mother. He called Brooke. By morning, I had received eleven messages telling me I was overreacting.
My father came first.
“You need to stop making accusations.”
I stood in the doorway.
“Did you know Owen paid for Brooke's wedding?”
He looked uncomfortable.
“I knew he helped.”
“With forty-eight thousand dollars?”
“It's not my business.”
“It became your business when you came here and demanded that I leave my house.”
He lowered his voice.
“Brooke is your sister.”
“And Lily was my daughter.”
He looked away.
I closed the door.
That afternoon, Evelyn sent me the bank records.
The transfers were more extensive than I had imagined. Money had moved from our joint account into B.R. Events, then into a personal account belonging to Brooke.
There were also payments to a private apartment rental.
I called Evelyn.
“Can we trace the money?”
“We can request more information. But I need to know whether Owen had a separate business account connected to your household funds.”
“I don't know.”
“Find every statement you have.”
I searched the filing cabinet in the study.
Behind the mortgage papers, I found a folder marked Tax Documents.
Inside was a second bank statement.
It wasn't for our joint account.
It was for an account I had never seen.
My name appeared as a secondary account holder.
I looked at the opening date.
Two years earlier.
The account had received deposits from a company called Northlake Holdings. Then money had been transferred out in smaller amounts.
I took photographs and sent them to Evelyn.
She called immediately.
“Claire, don't touch anything else.”
“Why?”
“This account may have been opened using your identity.”
I felt cold.
“I never opened it.”
“Then we need the bank's records.”
I looked at the signature on the account form.
It resembled mine.
But the last letter was wrong.
Someone had copied my signature.
That evening, I received a call from a woman who introduced herself as an investigator for the bank.
She asked whether I had authorized several transactions.
I said no.
She informed me that the account had been flagged for suspicious activity.
Then she asked whether I knew a company called Northlake Holdings.
I didn't.
She said the company had received funds from a business associated with Owen.
I sat down.
“How much money?”
“Approximately two hundred thousand dollars over eighteen months.”
I couldn't speak.
That was far more than the money Owen had taken from our joint account.
It was a separate operation.
And someone had used my identity to create it.
When Evelyn reviewed the documents, she found that the account had been used to receive payments from several clients.
One client name stood out.
Ethan Walker.
Brooke's husband.
I stared at the screen.
“Why would Ethan send money to an account in my name?”
Evelyn's expression was grave.
“I don't know yet.”
Then she opened another file.
It showed that Ethan had transferred money to Owen's business on the same day the account was opened.
I looked at the dates.
The account had been created three weeks before Owen proposed to me.
And at the bottom of the file was a scanned copy of a document.
My signature.
May you like
My name.
And a declaration that I had agreed to guarantee a business loan.
