Chapter 2 - The Forged Signature
I stared at the zero balance on my banking app while the hospital room spun around me.
My entire life savings had vanished in a matter of seconds.
The police officer noticed my panicked expression and asked what was wrong.
I showed him the empty bank account and explained that my mother had full access to my financial passwords.
He immediately escorted me to the local police precinct for a formal interview.
I sat in a cold, windowless interrogation room for nearly an hour.
A seasoned detective named Miller finally walked in carrying a thick manila folder.
He threw the folder onto the metal table and glared at me with intense suspicion.
"Your mother and sister might be missing, but we found something very interesting in your bedroom," Detective Miller said.
He opened the folder and slid a crisp, newly printed document across the table.
It was a massive life insurance policy taken out on both Emily and my newborn son, Noah.
The payout for their accidental deaths was listed at over two million dollars.
I felt a sickening knot form in my stomach as I looked at the bottom of the page.
My own signature was perfectly signed on the dotted line.
"I have never seen this document in my entire life," I pleaded desperately.
The detective leaned forward and slammed his hands on the table.
"It is your exact signature, Ethan, which gives you a two million dollar motive for murder."
I swore to him that my mother must have forged my handwriting.
I desperately explained that I had been away on a mandatory emergency work trip for the past four days.
"Call my warehouse manager, he will confirm that I was sent to the Toledo branch," I begged.
Detective Miller pulled out his cell phone and dialed my manager's personal number on speakerphone.
My manager answered the call, sounding confused by the police inquiry.
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"Ethan never showed up to the Toledo branch, and we never sent him an email about an emergency trip," my boss stated clearly.
The detective hung up the phone and pulled a pair of heavy steel handcuffs from his belt.
