Janice immediately suspended the recording process and contacted the county clerk before either deed became official. When the original paperwork was compared with the second version, investigators discovered that only the final ownership page had been replaced. Every signature on the forged deed was genuine—but the page transferring ownership had been swapped after the closing.
The vineyard manager was questioned first. He admitted delivering the document tube but insisted he believed it contained duplicate copies for the title company’s archives. Security footage from a nearby coffee shop confirmed his story. He never opened the tube and had no idea a forged deed had been slipped inside.
The investigation quickly turned to the notary.
Detectives discovered she had secretly created the company listed on the fake deed just eight months earlier under the name of a distant relative. Her plan was simple: once the forged deed was recorded, the company would use the vineyard as collateral for several large loans before anyone realized ownership had been fraudulently transferred.
She underestimated one thing.
Janice had a personal habit of comparing every page of every high-value property transfer before releasing it to the county. During that final review, she noticed the page numbers on the forged deed had been printed using a slightly different font than the originals. It was a tiny detail almost anyone else would have missed.
The forged deed was rejected, the company was frozen by court order, and the notary was arrested before a single loan application could be submitted.
A week later, Ava and I returned to sign a new set of transfer papers under the supervision of two independent attorneys.
As we walked back through the vineyard, she smiled.
“I thought you gave me the vineyard last week.”
I smiled back.
“No. Last week I gave you the keys. Today we made sure no one else could steal the harvest.”
