Chapter 11 - Under Oath, There Was Nowhere to Hide
My father's deposition began on a rainy Thursday in Maya's office.
Gerald arrived in an expensive navy suit with Philip Crane at his side, carrying himself as if the conference room belonged to him.
He did not greet me.
I sat near the far wall because I was permitted to attend, and I wanted to hear his answers without relying on anyone else's summary.
Maya reminded everyone that testimony would be given under oath and recorded by a court reporter.
Then she began with simple questions.
Did Gerald know Vernon had executed a deed in 2013?
He admitted he did.
Did he know Harriet paid the property taxes afterward?
He said he assumed I contributed occasionally.
Maya presented the payment records and asked him to identify any years for which he had personally paid the taxes.
He could not.
She asked whether he had received permission to replace the farmhouse locks.
"I was looking after my father's property," Gerald replied.
Maya asked whether he understood the difference between his father's former property and his daughter's current property.
Gerald shifted in his chair.
"Families don't operate like corporations."
"But deeds do," Maya answered.
His attorney objected to the phrasing, and Maya calmly reworded the question.
The deposition moved through invoices, contractor visits, and the development deal.
Gerald admitted receiving an advance connected to the proposed project.
He insisted the payment was contingent and would eventually benefit everyone.
He said he had been promised that the property could be transferred through the family arrangement.
When Maya displayed the disputed deed, he looked at it for several seconds.
"Did you personally see Harriet sign this document?" she asked.
"I don't remember."
"Did you speak to her about signing it?"
"Not directly."
"Who did?"
"My wife handled the paperwork."
The words landed like a heavy object dropped onto the table.
I watched him prepare to make Loretta responsible for a transaction he had aggressively pursued.
Maya asked who hired Nolan Price.
Gerald acknowledged that he did.
Who instructed Nolan to file the deed?
He answered that his office had handled it.
Who supplied the copy of my identification?
Gerald said it had been kept with family records.
Then Maya asked the question that seemed to strip away the room's air.
"If you never spoke to your daughter, how did you know she agreed to surrender her property?"
He leaned back.
"Because she has more than she needs."
No one spoke for a moment.
It was not an answer to the question.
It was, however, an explanation of how he thought.
He believed entitlement could replace consent if he felt the result was fair.
Maya asked once more, and Gerald finally said Loretta had told him the papers were complete.
He denied directing anyone to forge a signature.
He also denied knowing the notary information was invalid.
His lawyer requested a short break.
Gerald rose and walked toward the hallway, passing my chair without looking at me.
I could feel the old instinct to shrink away from him.
Instead, I stayed where I was and waited for the proceedings to resume.
Loretta's deposition occurred the following week.
She appeared tired, with deep lines around her eyes.
Her attorney sat beside her, and she answered slowly, sometimes asking for questions to be repeated.
She confirmed that Grandpa had intended the farmhouse for me and that she retained a copy of the deed.
She acknowledged that Gerald had requested her help carrying documents between his office and Nolan's.
When asked about the signature page, she said it was completed before she received the packet.
She admitted she had not called to verify my authorization.
Then Maya showed her an email suggesting she had told Nolan I was unavailable overseas.
"I was unavailable," I whispered before I could stop myself.
Maya glanced at me, and I fell silent.
Loretta continued.
She said Gerald had told her to describe me that way because it would simplify the paperwork.
She was not certain who had prepared the page.
But she confirmed that she had signed a pleading containing statements she knew were inaccurate.
I watched her wrestle with the difference between fearing my father and choosing to repeat his claims.
For the first time, she was not able to hide behind his voice.
After the deposition, she approached me in the hallway.
"I didn't realize how far he would go," she said.
I looked at the floor between us.
"You knew he was going somewhere wrong."
She nodded, tears shining in her eyes.
I did not embrace her.
I did not walk away in anger either.
I told her that truth was the beginning, not the end, of what she owed.
Nolan Price's deposition completed another part of the timeline.
He produced messages showing that Gerald initiated the transaction and directed him to proceed without contacting me.
He admitted he had suspected the execution was irregular but had accepted the packet anyway.
The handwriting examiner's preliminary work found significant inconsistencies between my verified signatures and the contested deed.
Sharon Pike's sworn statement established that the seal details were not hers and that she had not performed the notarization.
The record was becoming stronger, but the court still needed to evaluate the evidence at trial.
At home, I began sorting photographs for the day I could safely return to the farmhouse.
I found a picture of Grandpa sitting beneath the hickory tree with Copper as a puppy.
Vernon wore a worn flannel shirt and held a cup of coffee in a chipped blue mug.
I smiled despite the exhaustion in my chest.
Then a message arrived from Maya containing a scanned letter produced by Gerald's side during document exchange.
The letter purported to have been written by Vernon shortly before his death.
It claimed he regretted giving me the house and intended it to return to Gerald.
I studied the page.
May you like
The handwriting looked almost right.
But the final sentence referred to a winter storm that had occurred after Grandpa had already died.
