PART 9 – My Father Tried to Turn the Police Against Me, but the Financial Records Told a Different Story

My father was not used to being questioned by people who didn't care whether he was offended.

I could see it in his face.

Every time an officer asked him something specific, he tried to turn the conversation toward my behavior.

He mentioned my anxiety.

He mentioned the years I had avoided family gatherings.

He even brought up the Christmas when I had refused to open my presents.

I almost couldn't believe he was using that memory.

The officer listened without interrupting.

Then he returned to the documents.

“Mr. Voss, I need you to answer the question about the guarantee.”

Dad rubbed his forehead.

“I've already explained that.”

“You've said it was authorized. We're asking how that authorization was obtained.”

Dad looked toward Marcus.

“Your attorney is deliberately confusing things.”

Marcus opened the binder.

“Then let's make this simple.”

He placed a copy of the guarantee beside a genuine contract I had signed years earlier.

The signatures were close enough to fool someone who wasn't looking carefully.

But the differences were obvious once the documents were compared.

My middle initial was wrong.

The pressure of the pen was different.

The final letters were unusually narrow.

The address was also outdated.

I had left that apartment seven years earlier.

The officer examined both pages.

“Did you sign the guarantee?”

“No.”

Dad shook his head.

“She did.”

I looked at him.

“Then show them where I signed it.”

He didn't answer.

Mom stepped closer.

“Elena, please don't turn this into something it isn't.”

I looked at her.

“What is it supposed to be?”

She lowered her eyes.

I remembered the twelve thousand dollars.

I remembered her crying on the telephone.

I remembered believing that helping the company would protect the people working there.

Now I wondered whether she had known what my father was doing even then.

The officer asked whether she had been involved in preparing the documents.

She said she didn't handle company paperwork.

That might have been true.

But it didn't answer whether she knew about the plan.

Marcus turned another page.

He showed the officers the refinancing records.

The guarantee had helped make the company's financial position appear stronger.

My father had represented me as someone who stood behind the business.

But I had never been a partner.

I had never received company shares.

I had never signed an agreement accepting responsibility for its debts.

The officer made several notes.

Then he asked my father whether he had received any benefit from the refinancing.

Dad became defensive.

“That's how businesses operate.”

The officer repeated the question.

Dad looked away.

For years, I had watched him explain away problems with confidence.

He could make a missing payment sound like an accounting delay.

He could make a broken promise sound like a misunderstanding.

He could make an insult sound like a joke.

But the papers on the table were not jokes.

They had dates.

They had amounts.

They had names.

And they had consequences.

The second officer asked Marcus about the suspicious notarization.

Marcus explained that the person who had certified the document worked at my father's company.

The officer asked whether that employee had been contacted.

Marcus said the relevant records had been preserved and would be provided to investigators.

Dad suddenly became very still.

I noticed it.

So did Marcus.

My father looked toward the front door.

Then he looked at the reporters.

“You people have no idea what you're doing.”

One reporter calmly replied that they were documenting the allegations and the evidence presented.

Dad turned away.

I felt no urge to defend the reporters.

They were doing exactly what he had wanted my mother's phone to do.

They were recording events.

The difference was that they weren't there to protect his version.

Click here to continue reading: PART 10: My Mother Asked Me to Protect the Family Name While My Brother Finally Admitted Why He Brought Two Suitcases