The commission had expired three years earlier.
I placed the papers into an evidence envelope.
Eric’s face had gone pale.
“What is that?” he asked.
“You already know.”
By seven that morning, I was inside the federal digital forensics unit with our lead analyst, Maya Reynolds.
She scanned the Power of Attorney and verified the notary record.
“The seal is fraudulent,” she said. “The commission was invalid when this document was created.”
“I need the bank activity,” I told her. “Savings, retirement, investment transfers. Everything.”
We prepared an emergency subpoena request.
Within the hour, the bank’s fraud division released the records through a secure channel.
Maya and I studied the transactions.
Three days earlier, $250,000 had been removed from Dad’s retirement savings.
The money traveled through a shell company, broke into smaller transfers, and then reached several online gambling sites.
Maya highlighted the flow on her screen.
“The intermediary account is connected to Eric’s Social Security number,” she said. “They split the funds to avoid reporting thresholds.”
They had not merely stolen money.
They had attempted to disguise the theft.
“Run Vanessa nationally,” I said. “Aliases, marriages, civil cases, property disputes.”
The results appeared quickly.
