Chapter 8: The Notice
Geoffrey sent the letter on Thursday.
He sent it by certified mail, requiring a signature.
He also emailed a copy to the address on file in David's joint account documents — an account that Jessica had access to and checked regularly.
David told Jasmine it had been sent.
She wrote down the date and time.
Then they waited.
---
Jessica received it on Friday morning.
Jasmine was upstairs when she heard the front door open and close — the sound of the mail being collected.
Then silence.
Then the sound of paper being opened.
She waited at the top of the stairs.
"David." Jessica's voice came from the hallway.
Even.
Controlled.
The way her voice always was when she was most dangerous.
"Can you come down here, please?"
David appeared from the kitchen.
Jasmine stayed at the top of the stairs, out of sight.
"What is this?" Jessica said.
"A letter from my lawyer," David said.
"I can see that.
Why is your lawyer reviewing the deed?
We signed that together.
It was agreed.
There's nothing to review."
"I want to make sure everything is in order," David said.
"That's all."
"In order." Her voice dropped half a register.
"David.
Have you been talking to someone about our personal affairs?"
"I talk to my lawyer about my affairs," David said.
"I've always done that."
"This letter mentions the will."
"Yes."
"Why does it mention the will?"
"Because the will involves the same assets." David's voice was holding up.
Jasmine pressed herself against the wall, listening.
"Geoffrey is thorough.
It's routine."
A silence.
Long enough to be uncomfortable.
"Did Jasmine put you up to this?"
There it was.
"Jasmine has nothing to do with my legal affairs," David said.
"That is not an answer to my question."
"It's the only answer you're getting."
Another silence.
When Jessica spoke again, the control in her voice had thinned — just slightly.
Enough to hear the calculation underneath.
"I want to call our lawyer," she said.
"Together.
Today."
"You're welcome to call whoever you like," David said.
"Geoffrey represents me.
If you want your own representation, that's your right."
The paper rustled.
Jasmine imagined Jessica folding the letter.
Pressing the crease flat.
"I see," Jessica said.
Footsteps.
The sound of Jessica climbing the stairs.
Jasmine slipped back into her bedroom and closed the door without a sound.
---
By noon, Jessica had left the house.
She said she was meeting a friend.
She took her laptop bag.
Jasmine watched from the upstairs window as the car backed out of the drive.
She texted Carla: *She got the notice.
She left within two hours.
Took her laptop.*
Carla responded: *She's calling someone.
Possibly her lawyer.
Stay calm.
Let it happen.
Your dad needs to call Geoffrey and report everything she said this morning.*
David called Geoffrey from the study with the door closed.
Jasmine sat at the kitchen table and thought about the rosebush in the yard.
About the stepping stones her mother had laid.
About the fact that for the last three years, she had been made to feel like a guest in the house her mother had built a home in.
Her phone buzzed.
A number she didn't recognize.
She let it ring.
It rang again twenty seconds later.
Same number.
She answered.
"Is this Jasmine?" A man's voice.
Careful.
Precise.
"My name is Marcus Lowe.
I understand there may be some confusion about recent legal matters involving your father's property.
I'd like to—"
"I know who you are," Jasmine said.
A pause.
"I'm not sure you do," Marcus said.
"You work for Hartley and Crane," Jasmine said.
"You've been texting Jessica directly.
You've been consulting on the transfer of a jointly held property."
Silence.
"I'd encourage you not to do anything rash," Marcus said.
His tone had shifted — still careful, but something had gone cool underneath it.
"Your father signed documents willingly.
A legal review will confirm that everything was done correctly."
"Then you have nothing to worry about," Jasmine said.
She ended the call.
Her hands were not shaking.
She was a little surprised by that.
She called Carla.
"He called me," she said.
"Marcus Lowe called me directly."
Carla said nothing for a moment.
Then: "Screenshot that number.
Call your dad.
May you like
Tell him right now.
And Jasmine — that call means they're scared."
