“The gutters need replacing this fall,” she said. “Daniel has always handled things like this, but he is busy.”
So I paid.
Each request sounded reasonable on its own. That was the trap.
Only when I started keeping a notebook did the pattern become clear.
In seven weeks, I had contributed more money to that house than Daniel and Norma combined.
For a house I did not own.
One Thursday in October, I went to the county recorder’s office during lunch. I pulled the property records and read them the way I read financial documents at work.
Daniel Mercer and Norma Mercer were listed as joint owners.
No liens.
No complications.
No other names.
Certainly not mine.
I sat in my car for a long time with the printed deed in my hands.
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