Time For A Story

Part five...

Wednesday arrived, and it was the tamest out of them all. It started out with a meeting at Adult Protective Services, where they were able to obtain the necessary documents to revoke the POA’s that Joan currently held over Leanne.

After the meeting, they went out to the house and met with a contractor in order to get an estimate for the work. After traipsing all over town to make sure that paperwork was done, and everything was ready for the following day, Amanda introduced Leanne to anime, and she loved it. That was a peaceful evening.

Thursday, however, would be anything but. Hectic was the best word for it, starting with meeting with Stan at the house. He was a former first responder who started his company after seeing numerous situations in which older people needed help with situations like Leanne’s. He was everything that he presented on the phone in real life. He was kind, considerate, and professional.

Amanda led him through the house and explained the circumstances in more detail, including the problems with Joan. “Will she be a problem?” Stan asked. Amanda didn’t know. She knew that Joan wasn’t finished with her campaign, but wasn’t certain that she would show up at the house. She didn’t think so, but cautioned Stan that if she did, she was to leave immediately. She explained the revocation of the POA’s, and what working with the other junk removal company had been like.

Stan was angry at the way Leanne and her home had been treated. He had seen it plenty of times before, but this was one of the worst examples. He was also shocked at the sticker price of the “clean out”. He said the entire job would cost what the previous company had charged for doing a tenth of the work. Also, Leanne wouldn’t be required to get rid of anything that she didn’t want. Stan’s services would be a huge help to Jess. Now, when the time came, she wouldn’t be facing cleaning out the house herself. The very thought had filled her with dread.

Leanne had gone across the street to visit with her dear friend that was also her neighbor, but now she had returned, and was introduced to Stan. She liked him immediately, as they shared a similar sense of humor. Leanne was very comfortable with him, and was willing to do the work after the renovations were done.

Being reminded of the contractor situation, Amanda asked Stan if he had anyone that he would trust that did home repairs. In fact, he did. While still at the house, he called a friend of his, Sam. “Could he come to the house to do an estimate before Jess and Amanda left the next day?” Stan inquired. He could, and would be there at nine thirty the next day. The next afternoon was when Jess and Amanda would catch a flight, so the timing worked out perfectly.

After meeting Stan, the three women drove to where Leanne would be staying for the immediate future. The owners kindly allowed her to tour the residence so she could be certain that she would be safe and comfortable. The apartment couldn’t have been more perfect, so Leanne paid them the month’s rent in a cashiers check, and a time for her arrival the following day was agreed upon.

The next part of the day was to take the revocation of the POAs to the bank. The previous day, Leanne had called Jerry to speak with him about making sure that he got paid for the work he had done. Strangely, his response was that he had already been paid. Leanne hadn’t done so, and this was alarming. They were able to get a printout of her most recent transactions, and it appeared that Joan had indeed withdrawn fifteen thousand dollars for her primary account. Leanne was shocked.

She had no idea that her sister had just taken such a large sum of money out at one time. Amanda found it odd that it was a cash withdrawal, and not a check written to Jerry’s company. This made her deeply suspicious. The was something that needed to be dealt with right away. Unfortunately at the bank that day, there was no one available to address that situation, and also, at the time, they didn’t have the revocation documents to get her removed in the first place.

Now on Thursday, they headed to the bank. They had to make sure that Joan was no longer registered with the bank as the agent of the POAs and making sure that she had no access to any more of Leanne’s money. Also, there was a Notary Public, who could stamp those documents before they were sent off the next morning.

The employee at the bank, Andrea, was so pleasant. She understood the situation straight away, and immediately began investigating the condition of Leanne’s account.

“You said that she is listed as an agent for a durable power of attorney?” She asked Leanne, to which she answered yes.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not how she’s listed on your account,” Andrea said cautiously. “She’s listed as a co-owner.”

Leanne’s eyes shot wide. A co-owner? What did she mean, a co-owner?

“Did you know about this?” Jess asked Leanne?

“No!” She was clearly angry, but even more than angry, deeply hurt. Jess looked at Amanda, who shook her head, annoyed that Joan was proving herself to be exactly who Amanda and Rick thought she was. They had many conversations about the goings-on, and both of them thought Joan was much worse than Jess and Leanne were willing to see or admit.

Joan had not only placed herself as a co-owner of the account, but had removed the cash withdrawal. Neither of these things were done with Leanne’s knowledge, let alone permission. Andrea opened her a new account, and transferred all but a few dollars into it. The small amount left was to let Joan know that they were wise to her behavior. However, this was not the only place that Joan could go to rob Leanne. There were also her brokerage accounts, which necessitated another stop. Fortunately, it was right down the road. Unfortunately, they got there after all the brokers had gone home for the day. That was another stop that had to be made on departure day.

It was late when they finally sat down to eat, and then head to the hotel room to rest. It was a full day the next morning. After packing up everything and moving it out to the rental car, they checked out, and started on the most grueling day.

The started at the brokerage firm. They opened quite early in the day, so that was the first stop. The person that handled Leanne’s accounts wasn’t in, but with a brief summary of the situation, the woman at the front desk was able to do a great deal for them. Joan was meant to inherit a small amount of money. Leanne’s explanation of this was that if she and Jess were in an accident together, then Joan would have enough money to pay for their cremation. The amount was ten thousand dollars.

Joan apparently didn’t think that was enough. With the POA, she made that ten thousand into ten percent of the whole amount. There was also a call she had apparently placed, as a message showed on Leanne’s account. The guy in charge of Leanne’s affairs had been out of town. Otherwise, with the POA on her side, she could have cleared her out entirely. A lucky, well-timed vacation is all that protected her.

The next stop was the post office, where they sent the revocations through certified mail, return receipt requested. They were there before the doors opened, because they had to meet Sam to get an estimate on the house. After finishing there, they rushed the thirty minutes to get to Leanne’s. Sam was already waiting for them.

Again, it was Amanda that took him on a tour of the house, showing him where the damage was, and detailing how and what Leanne needed done, so she could come home. The black mold wouldn’t be a problem, he told Amanda. It was actually fairly simply to eradicate, and so long as Leanne didn’t have issues with her lungs or immune system, the previous exposure shouldn’t be a problem. That would be a relief to Leanne, as she had been concerned.

Sam said he could do the work, and he thought the cost would be around five thousand dollars, perhaps a bit more depending on what he found when pulling things out and evaluating the damage. The previous quote had been almost sixty thousand dollars. Sam laughed and said, “Yeah, if it’s water damage, you can pretty much guarantee and estimate that is in the tens of thousands no matter how much or how little there is to do. That’s just the way a lot of these firms work. I don’t though. I try to be as reasonable as I can, and I can do this for about five.”

Amanda was pleased. She had a notion that asking Stan was the right way to go, and as it turned out, that was absolutely correct. Sam, of course, got the job.

After meeting with Sam, getting the estimate, and setting a schedule with him that worked with Stan’s, they got lunch, and headed to the place Leanne would be staying. Leanne would be following them in her truck, so she could drive the route herself and learn it before she lacked a guide. About a mile before arriving at the house, a car cut in front of her and blocked her view. In a matter of seconds, the group was separated, and Leanne was lost.

Because this was the first time that Leanne was making this trip in her truck, it had been decided that she would keep Jess’s phone with the GPS directions on it, just in case. However, Leanne was not a tech-savvy woman, and she didn’t understand how to use it. Now that she was lost and had Jess’s phone, and no one seems to know anyone’s phone numbers anymore, Jess couldn’t call her. Amanda had never called Leanne, so she didn’t have the number either. Jess and Amanda were parked at the house that Leanne was supposed to stay at. Amanda left Jess there to speak to the owner of the house and see if he could help, while she drove around trying to locate Leanne, to no avail.

Fortunately, the owner of the house did have Leanne’s number on her rental application, so he was able to call her. After about a half an hour of not knowing where she was, Jess and Amanda found her and got her back to the apartment she would be living in.

After that, they unloaded Leanne’s truck and got her settled. She was comfortable in her little place and her dog was happy to explore. Jess and Amanda had to get going. It was time to head to the airport. Goodbyes were had, and off they went. They returned the rental car, got on their plane, and returned to their destination just in time to get the best Italian sub sandwich ever.

Not the actual sandwich, but you get it.

After getting the best sandwich ever, the started on the long drive home, making it back after eleven that night. It was a long and complicated trip, but it was finally over.

Or so they thought.

Stay tuned for the aftermath, because it’s wild…