Part 4
The diner on 4th Street was old.
The neon sign buzzed irregularly.
Inside, the air smelled of fried food and stale coffee.
I sat in the back booth.
I kept my coat on.
It was 5:58 PM.
I watched the door.
Every time the bell rang, my stomach knotted.
At exactly 6:00 PM, a woman walked in.
She wore a heavy woolen scarf pulled up to her nose.
She looked around nervously.
When she saw me, she froze.
Then she walked quickly to my booth and slid into the seat opposite me.
She pulled down the scarf.
It wasn't Cassandra.
It was a woman I had never seen before.
She looked younger than Felicia, but her eyes were exhausted.
"Mrs. Parker?" she asked.
Her voice was trembling.
"Yes," I said. "Who are you?"
"My name is Maya."
"Maya Lin."
"I used to work for Caldwell Property Holdings."
The name hit me like a physical blow.
The real estate company where Derek sent the sixty thousand dollars.
"Used to?" I asked.
Maya nodded. She gripped her hands together on the table.
"I was the junior accountant."
"I was fired two weeks ago."
"Because I found something I wasn't supposed to see."
The waitress came by and dropped two mugs of coffee.
Neither of us touched them.
We waited until she walked away.
"What did you see, Maya?"
Maya leaned forward. Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"Caldwell Property Holdings isn't a real property management firm."
"It's a shell company."
"It belongs entirely to Felicia and her sister Cassandra."
I sat perfectly still.
The noise of the diner faded into background static.
"A shell company," I repeated.
"Yes," Maya said. "They use it to move money."
"Mostly from men that Felicia dates."
"Derek isn't the first, Mrs. Parker."
"Before him, there was a man named Arthur."
"She took eighty thousand dollars from him before he figured it out."
"And when he threatened to go to the police, Cassandra handled it."
"How?" I asked.
"They have a lawyer," Maya said.
"A very shady lawyer who threatens defamation lawsuits."
"Most people just back down because they're embarrassed."
"But Derek... Derek is different."
"They aren't just trying to take his savings."
"They're after your house."
I felt a chill go down my spine.
"The real estate agent told me she asked about the deed," I whispered.
"It's worse than that," Maya said.
She reached into her large purse.
She pulled out a manila envelope and slid it across the table.
"I took these files before they locked me out of the system."
"Look at the last page."
I opened the envelope.
Inside were corporate registration documents.
Tax filings.
And a draft of a legal document.
It was a Quitclaim Deed.
It already had my name typed on it.
And Derek's name.
But at the bottom, there was a signature line for a notary.
"They're planning to forge your signature, Eleanor."
"They have a notary on their payroll."
"They just need the right moment to file it with the county."
I looked at the document.
My hands were perfectly steady now.
The initial fear had turned into something else.
Rage.
Pure, cold rage.
"Why are you helping me, Maya?" I asked.
Maya looked down at her coffee. A tear rolled down her cheek.
"Because my brother was ruined by a woman like Felicia."
"He lost everything. His house, his sanity."
"I couldn't sit by and watch it happen to another family."
"And... because Felicia threatened me when she fired me."
"She said if I talked, she'd make sure I never work in this city again."
She looked up at me, her eyes fierce.
"I want to stop her."
"So do I," I said.
I closed the envelope.
"What's the next step?"
"The event tomorrow," Maya said.
"The catering event at your house."
"It's not just a party."
"It's an investor meeting."
"They are trying to sell a share of 'Caldwell Holdings' to a local businessman."
"They are using your house to show him how wealthy and established they are."
"They told him the estate belongs to Felicia's family."
I let out a short, sharp breath.
"They told him my house belongs to them?"
"Yes," Maya said. "If the businessman signs the contract tomorrow night..."
"...they get a quarter-million dollars."
"And Derek's name will be on the fraudulent loan documents as the guarantor."
"If they succeed, Derek will go to prison."
"And you will lose your home."
I stood up from the booth.
I held the envelope tightly against my chest.
"Thank you, Maya."
"What are you going to do?" she asked, looking worried.
I looked out the window at the dark, snowy street.
May you like
"I'm going to let them have their party," I said.
"And then I'm going to turn it into a funeral for their company."
