Chapter 3: What the Notary Remembered
Agent Reiss did not arrest anyone that night.
She didn't need to.
She collected the phone, handed Barron a business card with a court date printed on it, and told him not to leave the state.
Then she walked back through the ballroom doors the same way she had entered — quietly, without looking back.
Celina stood in the middle of the floor with broken glass around her feet and said nothing.
Barron looked at me once more.
I turned away first.
My battalion commander, Colonel Marsh, appeared at my side.
He didn't say anything immediately.
He just stood there, which was enough.
"You knew they were coming," he said finally.
It wasn't a question.
"I knew they might."
He nodded slowly.
"Do you need anything tonight?"
"No, sir.
I'm all right."
He looked across the room toward where Barron was now speaking in a low, urgent voice to Celina.
"I don't think he is."
I didn't respond to that.
I picked up my water glass, took a slow sip, and set it back down exactly where it had been.
---
Three days later, I sat across from my attorney, Grace Odum, in her office on Glenwood Avenue.
Grace had been practicing financial law for twenty-two years.
She had a way of delivering terrible information in a completely level voice, which I had come to find deeply reassuring.
"The notary's name is Philip Sarro," she said.
"He's sixty-one, semi-retired, worked out of a small office in Cary.
He notarized both the loan authorization and the deed transfer."
"Did he know what he was signing?"
Grace set down her pen.
"That's the question.
His initial statement to investigators was that he believed the power of attorney was valid.
He said a woman brought the documents in, presented identification, and signed in front of him."
"What woman?"
"He described her as well-dressed, mid-fifties, dark hair." Grace looked at me steadily.
"He picked Celina Keller out of a photo array without hesitation."
The room was quiet for a moment.
"He's cooperating?" I asked.
"Fully.
He retained his own attorney the morning after the Ball.
His attorney called Agent Reiss's office before nine a.m." Grace folded her hands on the desk.
"Philip Sarro is not the target here.
He knows that.
He's making sure the investigators know everything he knows."
"What does he know?"
"He said Celina came in twice.
The first time was to notarize the loan documents.
The second time was for the deed." Grace paused.
"He said she was alone the first time.
The second time, she brought someone with her."
I waited.
"A man.
Younger.
Sarro described him as tall, light hair, wearing a wedding ring." Grace picked up her pen again.
"He said the man didn't speak.
He just watched while Celina signed."
My husband had been in that office.
He had stood there and watched his mother forge my name onto a document transferring half of my grandfather's house.
"Adela." Grace's voice was careful.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes." I set both hands flat on the table.
"What happens next?"
"The DA's office is reviewing the evidence package.
Wire fraud, forgery, and fraudulent use of a revoked power of attorney are all on the table.
Agent Reiss believes they'll move to formal charges within two weeks."
I nodded.
"There's one more thing," Grace said.
She slid a single sheet across the desk.
"Barron's attorney contacted my office this morning."
I looked at the letter without picking it up.
"What does he want?"
"He's proposing a settlement.
Barron drops the divorce petition.
You both agree to a legal separation with no asset division.
The house stays in your name.
He's asking that you request the DA's office consider his cooperation in exchange for reduced charges."
I read the letter once.
Then I pushed it back across the desk.
"No."
Grace didn't look surprised.
"I'll let them know."
"Tell them I'll see him at the arraignment."
She almost smiled.
"I'll tell them exactly that."
I stood, picked up my bag, and walked to the door.
Then I stopped.
"Grace.
The $94,000 in Celina's account — is there any chance of recovery?"
"Civil suit, yes.
Criminal restitution, possibly." She paused.
"It depends on what she's done with it."
"Find out," I said.
"Please."
I left the office and walked to my car in the November afternoon.
The sky was flat and white.
I sat in the driver's seat for a moment without starting the engine.
My phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number.
*You have no idea what you just started.
Drop it while you still can.*
I screenshotted it.
May you like
Forwarded it to Grace and to Agent Reiss.
Then I started the car and drove back to base.
