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My contact number. I stared at the page like it was a hallucination. “That’s not possible,” I whispered.
Mariah leaned in, eyes wide. “They filed under your identity.”
The deputy looked at me, calm but direct.
“Ma’am,” he said, “did you file anything through this court portal?”
“No,” I said immediately. “Never.”
The deputy nodded once. Then he turned back to the clerk.
“Who accepted it?” he asked. The clerk clicked again. Deeper.
Then she went still. I knew that stillness. It wasn’t I don’t know.
It was I know and it’s bad. “It was manually accepted,” she whispered. “By a staff login.”
The deputy’s eyes narrowed.
The clerk swallowed. She pointed at one line on the screen. Then she said it so quietly it felt like she was confessing.
“By a supervisor.”
Mariah’s voice rose. “So someone inside took a forged emergency motion filed under her identity and pushed it through.”
The clerk nodded once. Miserable.
The deputy straightened slightly. Voice firm. “I need the name,” he said.
“Now.”
The clerk’s fingers hovered. Then she typed. Then she printed another page.
“Okay,” he said, controlled. “We’re not leaving. Not until I speak to that supervisor.”
The clerk stood quickly.
“I’ll get her,” she whispered. She disappeared through the back door. I stood there in the public lobby with my heart pounding, staring at the paper that showed my identity as the filer.
Because I finally understood the real trap. If I fought the eviction, I’d have to prove I didn’t file it. And if the court believed I did, it wouldn’t just be my vacation house.
It would be my name. My credibility. My entire life on record.
Continue reading…
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