Chapter 6: What Ximena Knew
I met Arthur at his office the next morning with my father's written account in hand.
Arthur read it twice without speaking.
Then he set it down and looked at me.
"The woman your father describes," he said.
"You know her."
"It was Ximena," I said.
"She wasn't acting as a notary.
She has no notary credentials — I checked last night.
She was a witness.
Which means she knew about the account structure from the beginning."
"Which means she wasn't just following Julian's instructions on the medical rejections." Arthur turned to his monitor.
"She was a participant in the original financial fraud."
"Can we prove it?"
"Your father's account puts her in that room.
If we can find the original document — the one he signed — and it lists her as a witness, that's direct evidence." He pulled up a database search.
"Notary records in Illinois are public.
If she ever held a legitimate notary commission, it will show.
If she didn't, and she signed as one anyway, that's a separate crjminal matter."
"Julian will have hidden the document."
"Julian will have tried." Arthur opened a new window.
"But your father signed something.
That means a copy exists somewhere in the legal record.
Delaware requires registered agent filings for all LLC formations.
The original incorporation documents would have been filed with the state." He typed quickly.
"Give me the date your father said the meeting took place."
I gave it to him.
Arthur searched.
The room was quiet except for the sound of the keyboard.
Then he stopped.
"Here." He turned the monitor toward me.
On the screen was a Delaware LLC formation document.
The registered agent was a law firm I didn't recognize.
The member listed was a holding company name I had seen in Arthur's earlier records.
And at the bottom, under the witness line, was a signature.
*X.
Reyes.*
Ximena's full name was Ximena Reyes.
"She signed as a witness to the formation of a fraudulent holding structure," Arthur said.
"Using her own name.
Which means either she didn't think anyone would ever look, or Julian told her she was protected."
"He told her she was protected," I said.
"He tells everyone that."
Arthur printed the document and added it to the folder.
"I'm calling my contact at the AG's office this afternoon," he said.
"This is no longer informal.
We have timestamped denial logs tied to Julian's credentials, a fraudulent holding structure with your father as an unwitting secondary beneficiary, and a witness to the original formation who misrepresented herself." He looked at me steadily.
"Genevieve, I want you to understand what happens next.
Once I make this call, Julian will be notified — not by us, but by his own lawyers when they start seeing the investigation move.
He will come at you hard.
He may try to negotiate.
He may threaten.
He may do something unexpected."
"I know."
"Is there anyone he could use against you?
Anyone he could pressure?"
I thought of my father.
His shame.
His signed document.
"My father," I said.
"He'll try to use my father."
"Then we get ahead of it.
Your father needs to give a voluntary statement to the AG's office before Julian's lawyers find him." Arthur picked up his phone.
"I'm going to make two calls.
One to the AG.
One to a colleague who handles voluntary witness preparation." He paused.
"Are you ready for this to move?"
I thought about the ivory urn.
About the medication request that had sat *Under Review* for seven days.
About Julian coming home laughing.
"Make the calls," I said.
Arthur dialed.
I watched him speak quietly into the phone, and I thought about Ximena — sitting in a room with my father, signing her name to something she knew was wrong, because Julian had told her she was safe.
I wondered if she still believed that.
My phone buzzed on the table.
A text from an unknown number.
*We should talk before this goes any further.
May you like
— J*
I turned the phone face-down and waited for Arthur to finish his call.
