Chapter 7 - THE SIGNATURES
Paige remembered three signing sessions.
One after chemotherapy.
One while taking pain medication after a procedure.
One during a week she had a severe infection.
Susan said the documents concerned insurance and household bills.
Paige signed.
She did not read everything.
That did not automatically invalidate signatures.
It did make context important.
Nathan began requesting records tied to Paige’s name.
Credit reports.
Bank records.
Loan applications.
Insurance authorizations.
The first surprise:
A $14,000 personal credit line.
Paige had no memory of opening it.
Second:
A retail financing account used for appliances.
Third:
A business-guarantee document tied to Greg’s shop.
Amount:
$26,000.
The same number Paige supposedly stole.
I stared.
“Greg.”
He stopped making eye contact.
Nathan warned me not to turn inference into accusation yet.
Fine.
We kept gathering.
The $26,000 had not moved from my household account into Paige’s possession.
It had moved through a lender into Cole Performance Auto.
Paige’s name appeared as a guarantor.
Then payments stopped.
Susan and Greg began calling the resulting liability:
Money Paige cost the family.
Somewhere along the way, debt placed in Paige’s name became a story that Paige stole cash.
That explained the number.
Not yet how the documents were obtained.
Then the credit application surfaced.
Employment:
Paige Cole — Administrative Manager, Cole Performance Auto.
Salary:
$68,000.
Paige had never worked there.
Address:
My house.
Email:
An account she did not recognize.
Phone:
Greg’s old business line.
Nathan looked at me.
“That is significant.”
The signatures varied.
Some could be hers.
Others needed examination.
No instant handwriting miracle.
But the surrounding information clearly came from somebody inside the family.
Then Paige whispered:
“Susan has my Social Security card.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
“She said she needed it for medical assistance.”
Susan denied having it.
Police later recovered a locked household file box after lawful access was arranged.
Inside:
Paige’s Social Security card.
Birth certificate.
Old bank statements.
May you like
And photocopies of her driver’s license.
My family had everything needed to make her financial life look like something it wasn't.
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