“We’ll be executing a second warrant this afternoon.”
“Can the property transfer be reversed?” I asked.
“Given that the underlying power of attorney had been validly revoked prior to the transfer, and that the revocation was properly witnessed and dated, yes.
The county recorder’s office has already been notified to flag the title pending the investigation.” She paused.
“Your grandmother’s house is not going anywhere.”
Grandma looked at me.
I looked at her.
Neither of us said anything.
“Mrs.
Sterling,” Okafor said, “I need to ask you one more thing.
Your son — Arthur Sterling — is he aware of this investigation?”
“He came to my grandson’s apartment this morning,” Grandma said.
“He told us to resolve it quietly within the family.”
“What time was that?”
“Before seven.”
Okafor picked up her phone and made a call.
She turned slightly away and spoke in a low voice.
When she turned back, her expression was the same — composed, unhurried — but something behind her eyes had sharpened.
“Thank you both,” she said.
“I’ll be in touch before end of day.
Mrs.
Sterling, I want you to know — what you did, keeping that revocation, keeping the deed, documenting the bank statements — that preparation is the reason this case is as strong as it is.”
Grandma picked up her purse from the floor.
“My husband kept paper copies of everything,” she said.
“I learned from him.”
She stood.
Shook Okafor’s hand.
Walked to the door.
In the hallway, she stopped and looked up at the fluorescent light for a moment, as though she was calculating something.
“Arthur called Gerald this morning,” she said.
“Right after he left your apartment.
I could see it in his face — he was already thinking about what to clean up.”
“It was too late,” I said.
Arthur was arrested at two-seventeen in the afternoon.
I know the exact time because I was sitting at my kitchen table with Grandma when Detective Okafor called to tell me.
“Both Arthur Sterling and Gerald Holt have been taken into custody,” she said.
“Mr.
Holt’s cooperation this morning accelerated the timeline considerably.”
