Chapter 10 - The Unexpected Phone Call
"That was the manager down at the local credit union branch," my father whispered, his voice trembling so badly I had to lean in close to catch every single word.
"He said Marlene just tried to clear out the remaining equity line of credit on this house using an emergency power of attorney document she claimed I signed last month."
A cold wave of fury washed over me, completely replacing the momentary relief I had felt when she dragged her suitcases out the front door a few hours earlier.
"She didn't leave town at all," I said, my jaw clenching so hard my back teeth ached with intense pressure. "She made a desperate pit stop at the bank before heading out."
"The manager caught the signature discrepancy because my hands were shaking when I signed the original loan docs last year, but she had a notarized copy," my father stammered.
I grabbed my secure laptop off the counter, my fingers flying across the keyboard to pull up the real-time location tracker I had discreetly slipped into her luggage pocket.
"She's heading toward the interstate connector leading down toward South Carolina," I announced, watching the glowing blue dot move steadily along the digital map interface.
"She thinks she can outrun a federal wire fraud charge by crossing state lines with a forged notary stamp and a stolen line of credit authorization," I added with a cold laugh.
My father pushed himself up from the kitchen stool, his posture suddenly straightening as decades of old-fashioned pride and anger replaced his earlier resignation.
"What are we going to do, Claire?" he asked, looking at me not as his aging dependent, but as a seasoned military officer capable of taking command of a crisis.
"We are going to cut her off before she reaches the county line," I replied crisply, grabbing my car keys from the ceramic bowl by the front door.
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"Get your jacket, Dad. We're going for a ride."
We piled into the cab of his pickup truck within sixty seconds, my foot slamming hard against the accelerator as we tore out of the driveway and sped toward the highway.
