The Court Asked Who Had Actually Sat In My Chair

Owen had changed his story before he ever faced a question.

The appointment book recorded him claiming to be me. His sworn statement now claimed he had watched me sign at a separate meeting before taking the documents to the cooperative.

"Which meeting?" I asked Mara.

"He hasn't supplied a place or time. We'll ask."

Our hearing took place in Norfolk Circuit Court. I wore the dark suit from our wedding and shoes that felt too thin after months in work boots.

Felicity sat beside Dean. Owen had a different lawyer. They no longer shared whispered jokes.

Haruto brought the bound appointment book in a cloth bag. He placed it on his lap with both hands.

"Are you nervous?" I asked.

"Very."

"You don't look it."

"I ironed my shirt twice."

That small answer helped more than any speech could have.

The judge explained that this hearing concerned temporary protection of disputed assets. She wasn't deciding criminal guilt or finishing the divorce.

Then Mara put my original certificate before the court.

She asked when I bought the units. I gave the date and the $4,800 price. She showed the receipt and asked whether I had ever approved their transfer.

"No."

"Did leaving the training shop end your membership?"

"No. I kept paying the same member dues."

Her next exhibit was the membership rule. Employment status did not cancel ownership. Transfer required the steps printed on my certificate.

Dean asked why I had allowed Felicity to handle household bills.

"Because she was my wife."

"You gave her financial responsibility?"

"For paying bills. I didn't give her authority to sign my name."

He asked it twice more in different words. I gave the same answer.

Haruto explained the lost-certificate process and the hold Iris had entered. He showed where Lyle had claimed board approval.

"Was that approval in the signed minutes?" Mara asked.

"No."

"Did you create the false extract?"

"No. I relied on it. I should have checked the source record."

He didn't hide that failure. It made the care in his other answers easier to hear.

Owen's lawyer objected to the lobby photo until the employee responsible for the visitor system explained how it had been printed and filed. The badge number matched the appointment entry.

Iris read her note aloud.

"Guest states he is Adrian Chen, certificate holder."

When Owen took the stand, he said she must have misunderstood him.

Mara asked whether he had corrected the name on the appointment form.

"I didn't study it."

"But you signed the member box?"

"I signed where Lyle told me."

"Using whose name?"

His lawyer stood. After a brief exchange, Owen declined to answer further questions that might expose him to criminal charges.

The room stayed quiet while the judge made a note.

Mara then introduced my employer's records. They placed me on the service vessel during the appointment. The safety manager explained the locked equipment and the signed clearance sheet.

The judge held the two copies side by side: my real signature on the vessel, the claimed signature at the office.

"Mr. Chen," she asked, "where is the original certificate normally kept?"

"In a biscuit tin with my old gauge papers."

Felicity looked away.

The judge ordered the disputed units held against further transfer. She also restrained movement of specified funds identified in Nell's tracing report and required the defendants to preserve relevant records.

She set the required bond and deadlines. Mara walked me through them afterward. Nothing happened by magic because we had carried in a convincing piece of paper.

"Keep your own expenses down," she said. "A recovery order won't pay next month's rent until money actually comes back."

I nodded. My apartment had a mattress, two chairs, and shelves made from boards I already owned. For once, having very little to move had helped me.

There would be bank records, more hearings, and bills.

But when I walked outside, Felicity couldn't send my next dividend wherever she pleased.

On the courthouse steps, she came close enough to speak without an audience.

"You always needed someone to tell you what mattered."

I held the certificate case against my ribs.

"You knew what mattered. That's why you tried to move it."

I walked away before she answered.

Haruto caught up at the corner. He had a bus schedule folded into exact quarters.

"Lunch?" I asked.

"Only if you let me pay my half."

We ate soup at a small counter near the courthouse. He moved the receipt out of reach of a wet glass.

My phone rang while we were leaving.

It was Mara.

"The first bank production just arrived," she said. "Your joint-account withdrawal went to Quay Lantern, too."