Chapter 4 - The Store Gates
Rita selected the most expensive handbag in the private showroom.
It was made from pale blue leather with a gold clasp and cost more than most families earned in three months.
The sales associate wrapped it carefully.
“Will you be using the same card as before?”
Rita smiled.
“My daughter-in-law’s card.”
Gordon sat on a velvet chair drinking complimentary champagne.
“Make sure you add the matching wallet,” he said.
Rita beamed.
“That’s my boy.”
The first transaction failed.
The associate tried again.
Declined.
Rita frowned.
“There must be a problem with your machine.”
The associate used another terminal.
Declined.
Gordon checked his phone and saw three missed calls from St. Matthew’s.
He ignored them.
Then the lights went out.
When the emergency generators came on and security lowered the gates, Gordon’s confidence began to fracture.
He attempted to log into the joint account.
Access suspended.
He tried another account.
Account under review.
Then he received an email from Naomi Carter.
Notice of revocation of financial authorization.
Effective immediately, Gordon Hale no longer had permission to access, transfer, pledge, borrow against, or represent assets belonging to Jocelyn Hale.
He read the notice twice.
“What is it?” Rita asked.
Before he could answer, the store manager approached with security officers.
The card had been reported.
The purchases were unauthorized.
Gordon called Jocelyn.
When she answered from the hospital, her voice sounded distant and weak.
“In surgery,” she said.
He felt the room tilt.
Rita whispered, “She’s lying.”
But then a second voice came through the phone.
“Dr. Hale, we need to begin.”
The call ended.
Gordon stood motionless.
One officer asked him about transfers from Jocelyn’s medical account.
“I didn’t steal anything,” he snapped. “We’re married.”
“Marriage does not automatically authorize forged transfers,” the officer replied.
Rita grabbed Gordon’s sleeve.
“Tell them she gave us permission.”
Gordon did not answer.
Because he suddenly remembered the signature forms.
The ones he had placed under Jocelyn’s hospital credential renewal documents.
The ones she had signed without reading because she trusted him.
Or thought she had signed.
A memory surfaced.
Rita sitting at his desk.
A pen in her hand.
Practicing Jocelyn’s signature.
Gordon looked at his mother.
“What exactly did you submit to the bank?”
Rita’s eyes narrowed.
“Not here.”
“What did you submit?”
She leaned closer.
“I did what you were too weak to do.”
The officers separated them for questioning.
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For the first time in his life, Gordon wondered whether choosing his mother had not merely destroyed his marriage.
It might have made him a criminal.
