“So that’s what this is.”
He turned toward the rest of the family.
“I was wondering when she’d try something like this.”
Several relatives looked at me.
One of my aunts frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Richard spread his hands.
“Lauren has been struggling financially for years. Apparently, she has decided the easiest solution is convincing Mother that money went missing.”
I felt every eye in the room land on me.
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
He looked back at Grandma.
“Mother, she’s manipulating your memory. At your age, it’s understandable to confuse dates and amounts.”
Grandma did not react.
She simply nodded toward one of her attorneys.
“Show everyone.”
The attorney opened the first folder.
Inside were organized records stretching back several years.
“Mrs. Bennett authorized multiple wire transfers totaling one hundred eighty thousand dollars,” he explained. “Each transfer successfully left her accounts.”
He placed copies on the table.
Several relatives leaned forward.
My uncle quietly read the amounts.
“These transfers definitely happened.”
Richard folded his arms.
“Exactly.”
Then he looked at me.
“So perhaps the question is what happened after Lauren received them.”
I could not believe what I was hearing.
“I never received anything.”
“You expect everyone here to believe that every transfer somehow disappeared?”
“I don’t know what happened because I never saw the money.”
Before the discussion could spiral further, Richard reached into his briefcase.
“I anticipated something like this.”
He removed another folder.
“I kept records too.”
He handed several documents to the attorneys.
“There,” he said, pointing confidently. “Those are Lauren’s signed acknowledgments confirming every payment.”
A murmur spread through the room.
One by one, family members examined the pages.
Every document appeared to bear my signature.
One cousin looked at me with disbelief.
“Lauren…”
“I didn’t sign those,” I said immediately.