Chapter 6 - The Wilmington Connection6
By eight o’clock the following morning, the storm had passed, leaving the streets of Raleigh glistening under a pale, washed-out autumn sun.
I sat in Barnaby Coyle’s conference table once again, but this time I wasn't alone. My father sat to my right, his legal pad open and covered in sharp, calculated notes. Across from us, Barnaby’s laptop was connected to a large wall-mounted monitor displaying a complex network diagram of bank routing numbers, LLC filings, and real estate deeds.
“The injunctions were successfully served to the Wilmington regional bank at 7:30 AM,” Barnaby announced, tapping a pen against his knuckles. “All accounts associated with Thorn & Associates Heritage Preservation LLC, as well as personal accounts held by Grantham Thorn and Evelyn Vance, have been frozen pending a judicial review.”
“And Evelyn Vance herself?” my father asked, his voice clipped and impatient. “Has she been served with the deposition subpoena?”
“Our process server caught her at her historic restoration office in downtown Wilmington at 8:00 AM,” Barnaby replied, a faint, satisfied smile playing at the corner of his mouth. “She wasn't pleased. According to the report, she tried to lock herself in her back office and called local police, claiming harassment. Our server reminded her that federal and state financial subpoenas carry criminal weight if ignored. She signed for it twenty minutes later.”
I leaned forward, studying the network diagram on the screen. Lines connected Grantham’s name to the Wilmington LLC, and from the LLC to three separate coastal properties located in historic downtown Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach.
“Barnaby,” I said, pointing at the deeds displayed on the far right of the monitor. “Are those properties owned by the LLC?”
“Not just owned by the LLC, Cassandra,” Barnaby said, bringing up a separate set of county tax assessment records. “They were purchased outright over the last three years using funds transferred directly from your household account and the home equity line of credit Grantham took out against your North Hills property.”
My breath hitched. “He bought real estate with my money? In Evelyn’s name?”
“In the LLC’s name, yes,” Barnaby corrected gently. “Which Evelyn Vance controls as the primary managing director. But here is where it gets interesting—and where your husband’s legal jeopardy shifts from civil divorce court straight into criminal fraud.”
Barnaby clicked a folder labeled Tax Filings & Corporate Resolutions.
“When we pulled the state corporate filings for Thorn & Associates Heritage Preservation LLC, we discovered that Grantham didn't just act as a silent partner or financial contributor. He listed himself as a fifty percent equity shareholder using a forged power of attorney document bearing your signature.”
The room went dead silent. Even my father stopped turning his pen.
“A forged signature,” my father repeated slowly, each word dropping like a lead weight. “On a state corporate filing.”
“Not just state filings,” Barnaby added grimly. “On the mortgage documents for the Wilmington properties as well. Grantham used a mobile notary public in Raleigh—a notary whose license expired six months ago—to notarize your signature on transfer deeds and loan applications while you were away in Chicago last November for the architectural design convention.”
Memories flashed through my mind. Last November. I had spent four days at McCormick Place in Chicago overseeing the installation of a boutique hotel lobby. Grantham had texted me every evening, asking how the convention was going, telling me how much he missed me and how he was holding down the fort with the kids in Raleigh.
While I was standing on ladders directing lighting technicians in Illinois, my husband was sitting in a local Raleigh café with an expired notary seal, forging my name to steal the equity from my life’s work and hand it over to his former college girlfriend on the coast.
“He didn’t just cheat on me,” I whispered, the cold fury inside me hardening into something unbreakable. “He tried to systematically erase me.”
May you like
“And he failed,” my father said, his hand coming down firmly over mine on the table. “Because he underestimated the paper trail. People who think they’re smart always leave footprints in the digital ledger.”
Barnaby closed the laptop lid with a definitive click. “Evelyn Vance’s deposition is scheduled for this coming Friday morning in our Wilmington office. I suggest we all make the trip down to the coast. Because when Evelyn realizes Grantham used her as the legal scapegoat for corporate fraud, she isn't going to protect him anymore.”
