…your late mother’s estate attorney, and that we needed to sign some papers about the house.”
My son-in-law, Chris, explained. A month earlier, “Daniel” had shown up at their door in a suit, introduced himself as a lawyer handling my late mother’s estate, and asked my daughter to sign a document “releasing her claim” to her grandmother’s lake house. My daughter was on bed rest. Chris told him to come back later. He never did.
My mother had left her lake house to me and my sister jointly, with a clause that if either of us died, our share went to our children. My sister had been pushing me to sell it for a year.
I took out my phone and called the police while everyone watched. “Daniel” tried to leave. My son-in-law blocked the door.
His real name was Kevin Ross. He’d been charged twice before for real estate fraud and theft in other states. He’d met my sister online six months earlier. Using the names and addresses she’d given him, he’d been trying to get every family member’s signature on documents that would transfer the lake house into a company he controlled.
My belongings from the guesthouse, my grandmother’s silver candlesticks, were later found in his storage unit.
My sister, Tina, was devastated. She hadn’t known any of it. She’d thought he was a successful investor who loved her.
Kevin was arrested at the baby shower. Tina stayed with me that night. She cried until two in the morning and apologized for interrupting her niece’s celebration.
My granddaughter was born three weeks later. Tina was the first one at the hospital, with a gift and without a speech. She held the baby and said, “I promise I’ll never steal your spotlight.” So far, she’s kept it.
