Parenting
By tomorrow afternoon I’ll know exactly what Derek filed and when.
Then we move.”
Manuel studied his son’s face.
“You’re not going to confront him yet.”
“No.”
“Good.” Manuel closed his fist around the key again and held it out.
“Take this.
The box number is written on the back in pencil.
Shed organization systems
Rubbed down small — you’ll need good light to read it.”
Alvin took the key.
It was lighter than it looked.
“Get some sleep,” he said.
“Both of you.”
He slipped out of the shed and back down the alley, keeping to the shadows along the fence line.
Mrs.
Gable’s porch light was off.
Home security systems
The street was empty.
He was two blocks away when his phone buzzed.
A text from Inez, sent at 12:47 a.m.
*Initial search complete.
Call me first thing.
There’s a problem with the deed.*
Alvin stopped walking.
He read the message again.
Then he looked back toward the house he had grown up in — the house his parents had built their entire lives around — and something shifted in his chest.
Parenting
Not rage this time.
Something colder and more deliberate.
He typed back: *I’ll call at six.*
“Talk to me,” Alvin said.
“The deed was transferred fourteen months ago.” Her voice was flat and precise — the voice she used when the news was bad and she wanted him to hear every word.
“The house is no longer in Manuel and Carmen’s names.”
Alvin sat up on the edge of the bed.
“Whose name is it in?”
“A limited liability company.
Registered in Delaware.
The registered agent is a law firm in Atlanta.” She paused.
“The firm’s managing partner is Derek’s college roommate.”
“What’s the company called?”
“SGS Property Holdings LLC.”
Alvin said nothing.
“Alvin.
SGS.
Serrano.
Get it?”
“He put their house in a shell company and used their initials to do it.” Alvin stood up and walked to the window.
The street below was just waking up — a delivery truck, a woman walking a dog, ordinary morning.
“How did he get the deed transferred?
My parents would have had to sign.”
“They did sign.
Notarized.
Both signatures.” Another pause.
“The notary is Veronica’s sister.”
The dog walker turned the corner and disappeared.
