Time For A Story

The Aftermath...

You thought this was all over, didn’t you? So did Jess and Amanda. However, that’s just not how things were going to work with this trip. Apparently, this situation is ever-evolving and never-ending.

After returning home, Jess and Amanda were finally able to relax and sleep in their own beds. It was so nice to be home. Jess was so happy to be back with her two kitties, and in her own space. She took a couple of days to recoup her sanity before jumping back into the mess that still had to be sorted.

Since Joan had shredded all of Leanne’s documents, it was imperative to begin rebuilding that file. She couldn’t call Leanne’s bank to get a replacement title for the house, but she could call Jerry to get a replacement invoice for the fifteen thousand dollars. That was her first task of the day. She went upstairs to meet with Amanda so she would be there to offer any suggestions.

“Hello, Jerry, This is Jess, Leanne’s niece. Just wanted to call you and ask for a copy of the invoice for my Aunt’s house, and a copy of the receipt. She doesn’t have any of her legal documents anymore, and her lawyer would like to get copies of all of her relevant documents.”

This approach had been suggested by Stan. Jess had tried to get a copy of the receipt while they were still with Leanne, and he had said he would email it, but never did. His response to Jess was a bit odd.

“Are you at the lawyer’s office right now?”

Jess’s brow furrowed as she glanced over at Amanda. “No, not at the moment. I am just trying to help her get her documents together. You said that you would email her the invoice and receipt, but you never did. This is important information for her to have in her files.”

“She agreed to the work that we did,” he insisted.

“I’m not implying that she didn’t,” Jess was growing more suspicious of what he was saying. “She just needs copies of the paperwork from you.”

“I have her consent recorded,” he said without any prompting from Jess. At no time did she suggest that Leanne hadn’t consented to the work being done, but it was beginning to look like perhaps there was something weird going on with Jerry.

“I need to hear from Leanne for me to give her anything. I need to speak with the homeowner or Joan.”

“Joan has nothing to do with this anymore. She no longer has power of attorney, and is not involved in any of this. If you want to speak to Leanne, that’s fine. I will have her call you,” Jess told him, wondering where all this was coming from.

“I think this inappropriate. I have been lied to by everyone involved. I don’t want anything to do with this anymore.” Jerry snapped.

“You won’t be involved anymore, we just want a copy of the invoice and receipt,” Jess repeated, not engaging with any of the things he was saying out of the blue. She bid him farewell after restating that Leanne would call him, filled in Amanda, and called Stan. Stan thought his behavior was extremely inappropriate and very bizarre. He also was very taken aback by how much he had charged. He suggested calling the Attorney General of the state and report him for taking advantage of the elderly.

While she spoke with Stan, Amanda was thinking about all that had transpired. As soon as Jess got off the phone, she asked, “When did Jerry start work?”

Jess looked up the date, “April 17th.”

“When did Joan get the POA? Wait,” Amanda stopped herself, “I have that from the lawyer,” Amanda went through her phone for the copies of the POAs. “The twenty-fifth… That’s it. That’s why he’s being cagey. The contract is with Joan, not Leanne, I will bet you. That’s why he doesn’t want to send a copy to you or to a lawyer. Joan didn’t have the POA until eight days after he started work. She cannot legally consent to having all of Leanne’s things thrown out, but he acted anyway. That’s why he wants to talk to her, and that’s why he doesn’t want to send you any paperwork.”

“Also, it is very likely that the amounts don’t match. Notice that he told Leanne while we were still out there that the check for his services was already in the mail, but Joan didn’t write a check, she withdrew cash. Remember when you told Stan how much Jerry charged for what he did, and Stan was shocked? That’s why. He probably didn’t charge fifteen thousand dollars, it was probably half that, and guess who kept the balance?”

“Joan.” Jess concluded. “You’re right, the dates don’t work for his contract, and that’s why he was saying that he had it recorded. That was really weird. Why would you record something like that unless you thought the situation was suspect. She proceeded to call Leanne to tell her what had happened and ask her to call him for the information that they needed. She stated that she didn’t sign anything, she didn’t sign a contract, and as far as she knew, he didn’t record anything. Leanne did call him and asked for the information. He said he would send it. To this day, it has not arrived.

Tuesday came along, and Jess received a call from Leanne. She was in a panic as she hurriedly told Jess that her house had been robbed. The door to her house was left unlocked, and a light was also left on. At first, Jess wasn’t sure how Leanne could be certain that things were taken. After all, she had so many things in her house. However, Leanne told her that the items missing were from the room that had been mostly cleared out for the repairs. The room in question was Jess’s mother’s old room, and the items missing were vintage LPs.

To have gotten to these albums, the person would have to know that they were there, to begin with. They were in the far back bedroom and not in plain sight. Not only were there albums missing, the person had taken their time to go through them and select the most valuable ones. They were clearly comfortable in the house and were certain that Leanne wouldn’t be there. They took their time. They were also aware that Leanne’s lock on her front door had been installed incorrectly, and knew how to bump/shove the door open.

Jess, Amanda, and Rick talked it over, and the culprit seemed obvious to all of them. It was either Jerry, or his crew, that had been in the house. They knew how to open the door without a key, and they also had asked Leanne about the albums, wanting to take them. She had said, no, that they didn’t belong to her. It was most definitely interesting that these were the exact items taken.

Rick said that the locks would have to be changed, and suggested a camera be installed. Jess called Sam and requested that he change the locks, and possibly install a camera. He agreed and said he would go over the next day to do so.

The next morning, Jess heard from Leanne again. The person had come back and taken packed boxes of still packaged DVDs. They had also been in the room with the albums, and not in plain sight. In total, the burglar took about twelve boxes of DVDs and four full milk crates of albums. Leanne refused to call the police. She felt, likely rightly, that they would question how she would even know that things were gone, and she didn’t want the police informed about the condition of the house. Fortunately, after the locks were changed and the security was upped, the thefts stopped. It was still extremely upsetting to Jess that someone would dare do that to her elderly Aunt.

A few more days passed before Jess got the call that would shock her more than anything that had gone on thus far. Leanne had received a call from Terry, her nephew, and what he had to say, she couldn’t believe. He wanted to repair the relationship between Leanne and Joan. Not because they are sisters, not because they were both elderly and time was precious, but because he wanted to move forward with the plan.

Plan? Leanne had no idea what he was talking about, so she probed him for more information, such as, what his mother had told him. He informed her that he was no longer living out of state, and that he had returned to the area to be near his mother. In the past, Joan had purchased him houses and cars for him whenever he had needed, but now it appeared that funds weren’t what they used to be.

He then dropped the bomb, and asked when she planned on going to the nursing home so he could move into her house?

Apparently, the plan was that Joan would use the power of attorney to place Leanne in a nursing home, use her money to clean out and fix up the house, and Terry would move in to be close to his mother. Everyone was on board. Well, almost everyone. Everyone listed on the power of attorney had been operating with this as the plan, except, of course, Jess, who had absolutely no idea. She was aghast! Who would do something so evil, and what’s more, who would just casually expect Leanne to go along with such a plan. They were going to use her money to clean and fix the house, and her money to place her in a care home that she never wanted to be in. The only reason that this plan was halted, was Jess and Amanda stepping in and stopping it.

After calming down Leanne, and telling her that was never going to happen on her watch, Jess walked in a daze upstairs to tell Amanda and Rick what she had just learned. Amanda smirked, and shook her head. “Figures,” she said, and Rick nodded in agreement.

They both saw Joan as a pure villain. In fact, that was how they stepped in the way of Joan’s machinations at each turn. They imagined what the worst and most vile thing someone could do and went in that direction to put up roadblocks. Every time they arrived at a place that they thought they would find her trickery, they got there just in time to halt the process before she could enact the worst aspects of her plan. Getting the POAs revoked protected Leanne from a fate she couldn’t undo and would be left rotting alone. Likely in the “worst nursing home in the state”, as Joan had insisted with Jess’s mother.

Jess was so relieved to know that her Aunt was safe and that Joan couldn’t do anything more to her. There were so many things in place now to protect Leanne, but Jess knew that she would have to be proactive and not allow any more damage to occur to her life.

This is a reminder to all that want to see the best in people. Leanne was one of those people, and still is to some degree, and her own sister moved against her with atrocious actions. Leanne truly believed that she intended to help her, and didn’t see the truth until her entire life nearly slipped from her fingers. The moment that Joan had that power of attorney she did everything she could to keep Jess from ever communicating with her Aunt again. She wanted to make sure that she had Leanne’s fate in her palm alone.

The motivation of money overode any sense of decency. Joan was a wealthy woman at one time. How she ran through her money is anyone’s guess, but likely it had something to do with buying house after house for her son until the resources ran out. Evil is a choice, and Joan made that choice with enthusiasm. She felt entitled to Leanne’s life work, and while telling her to her face that they were the only two sisters left, that she didn’t want any of her money, she all the while was actively trying to take everything that Leanne had. Anyone can make the choice of evil, so beware of who you give your agency to.

The situation continues to unfold as time passes, but I will leave it here, with one last tidbit. The revocations of the POAs arrived back at Leanne’s house.

Return to sender. Not at this address…