Chapter 4 - The Missing Papers
Two days later, Tom searched the locked cabinet in his study.
The original trust documents were gone.
So was the folder containing the house appraisal.
Tom checked every drawer twice.
Linda stood in the doorway.
“What are you looking for?”
“Some property records.”
“I thought they were in the cabinet.”
“So did I.”
She watched him examine the empty shelf.
“Do you think Ethan took them?”
Tom did not answer immediately.
“Have you seen him in here?”
“He uses the printer sometimes.”
The following morning, Tom installed a small security camera inside the study. He disliked doing it. A man should not need surveillance inside his own home.
But trust had already been damaged.
Three nights later, the camera sent an alert to his phone.
Tom was sitting beside Linda at a restaurant when he opened the live video.
Ethan entered the study.
He unlocked the cabinet with a key Tom had never given him.
Ashley followed carrying a folder.
They placed documents across the desk and photographed them. Ethan then opened Tom’s lower drawer and removed a stamp used for company records.
Linda noticed her husband’s expression change.
“What is it?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Tom.”
He turned the phone facedown.
“I need you to trust me.”
She looked hurt.
“I do trust you. I’m beginning to think you don’t trust me.”
Tom reached across the table.
“I’m trying to protect you from something until I know exactly what it is.”
Linda pulled her hand away.
“I’m not a child.”
He knew she was right.
When they returned home, Ethan and Ashley were watching television as though nothing had happened.
Tom went upstairs with Linda and showed her the recording.
She watched her son search through the cabinet.
When the video ended, she stared at the dark screen.
“There must be an explanation.”
“Then he’ll have a chance to give one.”
Tom contacted Rachel Kim, the attorney who had established the family trust. Rachel advised him not to confront Ethan until they understood what documents had been created.
The next day, she ordered a property-title search.
No legal transfer had occurred.
However, she discovered that a private lender had recently requested verification of the trust. The request was connected to E&A Home Concepts and a proposed loan of four hundred eighty thousand dollars.
Rachel called Tom immediately.
“Did you authorize Ethan to use the house as collateral?”
“No.”
“Did you sign a certificate stating that he has the power to borrow against the trust?”
“No.”
“Then someone submitted false documents.”
Tom felt the room become very still.
“Can the lender take the house?”
“Not with the legitimate trust records. But we need to move quickly. If signatures were forged, this is no longer just a family disagreement.”
Tom looked through his office window at Ethan’s empty desk.
“What do you need from me?”
“Everything. Messages, recordings, access logs, financial statements.”
For the next week, Tom gathered evidence.
He discovered that Ethan had also redirected two company payments into an account controlled by E&A Home Concepts. The transfers totaled seventy-three thousand dollars.
When Tom confronted the accounting software, he found his electronic approval attached to both transactions.
He had never approved them.
That evening, he returned home and found Linda setting the table for Ethan and Ashley.
She had cooked Ethan’s favorite meal.
Tom watched her light a candle and straighten the napkins.
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He realized the hardest part would not be saving the house.
It would be forcing Linda to accept who their son had chosen to become.
