Chapter 6 - THE JADE ELEPHANT
The emergency injunction froze all estate assets immediately. My debit cards were locked. The locks on Grandma's house were ordered to remain unchanged, but Mom had legal grounds to enter.
Daniel, Vanessa, Ethan, and I sat in Grandma’s living room, staring at the digital copy of the forged will addendum Daniel had projected onto the TV screen.
"It's a very good forgery," Daniel admitted, zooming in on the signature. "The loops in the 'E', the sharp slant of the 'R'. If I didn't know Linda’s character, I’d say Eleanor signed this herself."
"But she didn't," I said, pacing the room. "Grandma’s rheumatoid arthritis flared up terribly in her final month. She couldn't even hold a teacup with her right hand, let alone grip a pen tightly enough to make those crisp lines."
"Wait," Vanessa said, stepping closer to the screen. She squinted. "Grandma couldn't write at the end. When I came to ask her for money... she gave me a small check. But she didn't sign it with a pen."
I stopped pacing. The memory hit me like a lightning bolt. "The stamp."
"Yes!" Vanessa cried. "She had a custom, legal-grade ink stamp made of her signature because signing hurt too much. She used it for all her checks and documents in the last six months of her life."
Daniel sat forward. "If we can prove Eleanor strictly used a stamp during that timeframe, this wet-ink signature is instantly proven as a forgery. The judge will throw it out and recommend criminal charges against Linda. Where is the stamp?"
"She hid it," I said, thinking back to those final days. Grandma was terrified of Mom finding it. I looked toward the fireplace mantle. "She kept it inside the hollow base of the green jade elephant."
All four of us looked at the mantle.
The spot where the heavy jade elephant had sat for two decades was empty.
Vanessa covered her mouth. "Mom took it. During the engagement party. I saw her slip something heavy into her overnight bag, but I thought she was just stealing silverware again."
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"She has the stamp," I said, my blood running cold. "She knows it’s the only thing that can prove the signature is fake. If she destroys it, the forgery stands. She gets everything."
"Then we go to her apartment," Ethan said, standing up. "Right now."
