Time for A Story

Part Four...

Where did I leave you, readers? Did I leave you after Jess and Amanda took Leanne to her sister’s house for her belongings, but her attempts were spurned? I thought so. Shall we get back to it? How much more could possibly come out?

Let’s see…

The now party of three had no other choice but to get something to eat, and head to the hotel for the night. Fortunately, the place that they booked into was a stunning historic landmark, and the staff were unbelievably kind. When informed about the situation, they immediately waived all the fees for an extra person, and for the little dog with them. They offered to send up an extra bed, but the room they already had was equipped with two queens and an opulent bathroom. Leanne would be perfectly comfortable in one of the two queens.

The next morning came without a great deal of sleep between them. Joan’s actions the day before were laying heavily on all of their minds. Jess knew that she had to deal with Joan’s refusal to give up Leanne’s possessions. She planned for her day to include a possible trip to the local precinct, and a call to APS, to fill them in as to what had occurred.

At the same time, Leanne called and tried to reestablish a working relationship with Jerry, the man who had been contracted to clean out the house. At the very least, she had to pay him what was owed. Aside from that, Karen had suggested that she reconnect with him to continue to work on the house, which Leanne definitely didn’t want, but she did agree that she not only needed to pay him, but also that the house had to be handled so she could go home.

Amanda spent an hour on the phone calling different resources that would help Leanne, and every call ended with another call to be made. No one seemed to have the expertise to do what needed to be done, while protecting Leanne through the process. It was a frustrating run around.

The call to APS brought them some possibly good news. The revocation of the POA could be undone easily in the state they were in. The issue might arise from the state that Joan lived in, as she lived across state lines. Karen would provide the documents for Leanne to fill out and serve to Joan. They may need to consult the attorney that drew the POA up. They could pick up the documents the following morning. They planned to get breakfast prior to heading to the precinct to make a police report regarding all the missing items.

All of that came to an abrupt halt when a text from Loan came through:

“Your junk is outside of my garage, and it looks like rain.”

Jess simply replied, “Okay, thank you.”

Leanne was understandably worried about her things getting destroyed in a sudden downpour, so they all piled back into the car, and made the hour drive back to Joan’s. Sure enough, many things were piled up against the garage, and there was a strange car in the driveway. It turned out to be Joan’s grandson, Ned, who was there unexpectably, and his mother, Sherry. Their presence there would become relevant later on in this journey.

They loaded the rental car to the brim, and set off to drop everything off in Leanne’s storage unit which was another hour back but not in the direction of the hotel, and then spent another forty-five minutes unloading the car into her storage unit, which was pretty compacted with things already. After they were finally done with this nearly four hour expedition, they ate a hurried lunch, and then headed off to take care of the really important things of the day.

It was at lunch that Leanne realized that there was something wrong. All of her legal documents, her bank account information, her 401K information, the deed to her house, her insurance information, receipts for work on the house among many other very important things, were missing. Joan had kept it all. All she had left was the cards of important people and places that she kept in her purse. Everything else was no longer accessible to her.

Fortunately, she had the card for the attorney that had made up the POA.

Amanda was focused on getting the Power of Attorney revoked so that card was invaluable to her plan. Who knew what kind of damage Joan would do with that document on her side. She had Leanne call the attorney, and give permission, so Amanda could speak to the lawyer herself. What she would find out, was more than a bit surprising.

The conversation was slightly tense at first, as the lawyer believed everything that Joan had already told her about Leanne. She mentioned that the phone call that she was having with them now would cost about $250.00, and an appointment to revoke the POA would be another $700.00.

After hearing what was actually going on, her demeanor shifted. She suddenly was very interested in the legalities of what Joan had actually done. As it turned out, there wasn’t one POA, but two. Not only a General Power of Attorney, but one for overseeing of all health decisions as well.

On top of all that, Joan had told Jess that, behind her on the POA, Jess was listed as the secondary person that would hold it and be responsible for Leanne if that was required. As it turned out, that wasn’t true in the slightest. Next on the POA was her son, Trever, after Trever was Ned, and after Ned was Sherry. Jess wasn’t even on the document. All of this was a shock to the entire group.

The lawyer, realizing that things were definitely not as they had appeared prior, offered to send a letter to Joan informing her of the revocation of both POAs. She asked them to inform her of what Karen, the APS worker, suggested, and if she wanted the POAs to be handled by an attorney, to please contact her back. She wanted to have all of this handled and laid to rest before Jess and Amanda returned home.

She then offered a gift of an invaluable resource, a service that would help Leanne go through all of her possessions. They specialized in sorting, preserving, and disposal of unwanted items. It was exactly the type of service that Amanda had been searching for

Next on the agenda was calling that service, finding Leanne a place to live, and finding a contractor that could do the work in her home. Jess and Amanda spent hours on the computer and on the phone trying to find solutions to all of these problems. They thought they found an excellent place that would work out perfectly on Airbnb, and sent an inquiry to the owners, only to be told that because Leanne had no record with Airbnb, that they wouldn’t be able to take the booking.

Jess wrote a letter to them, letting them know that her Aunt was almost eighty, didn’t have anything in regard to the internet, and that she needed a place to stay while her home was being repaired. Understanding the situation, the owners asked them to find them on a different service, and they would try to make it work. The fact that Leanne had a small dog might be a dealbreaker for them. They asked if they could do a meet and greet before they decided.

The contractors were another story. Most didn’t bother answering, or returning messages. Amanda was able to book two appointments for an estimate, not the minimum of three she would have preferred. Time was definitely of the essence, and people not calling back were not appreciated. While making endless calls, her email gripped about getting a message. To her surprise, it was the lawyer. In it were the copies of the two POAs, as Joan had kept the copies that had been provided to Leanne, but also another interesting tidbit of information.

The lawyer had sent a letter to Joan demanding the return of the documents, and also informed her that the POAs had been revoked, and she was no longer the agent of the POAs. She then went on to say that she had attempted to call Joan, but apparently Joan had blocked the attorney’s number.

“Why on earth would she do that?” Amanda wondered aloud, and then told the other two ladies what had been said in the email.

“Seriously?” Jess was shocked. “Wasn’t that her attorney?”

Amanda nodded slowly with a smile. This was too funny to her. Who the f*ck blocks their own lawyer? The reason why would become clear later on, and the reason was unbelievable. She shook her head and turned her attention to her ringing phone. It was the guy that ran the service that could help Leanne. His name was Stan and he was fantastic. He was everything that they needed and more. They would meet with him on Thursday, which was only two days away.

Two days might as well have been a lifetime in this week. Amanda and Jess headed to the in hotel cocktail lounge, where Amanda promptly got Jess a bit drunk while sipping on her second glass of wine. It was a needed break and preparation for what would come.