“Respiratory infection. She needs rest and antibiotics.”
“How much?” Linda asked.
“About three hundred dollars.”

Linda felt the weight of twenty-three dollars in her pocket.

“Is there anything else?”
“That’s the cheapest. Without treatment it can get worse.”

On the way back, Linda couldn’t stop staring at the shoebox in her mind.

“Evelyn… can I look through your papers?”
“Why?”
“Maybe there’s something that can help.”

Evelyn hesitated. “They’re all I have left from my husband. Don’t throw anything away.”
“I promise.”

That night Linda opened the shoebox carefully: old receipts, faded photos… and the yellow envelope.

Inside was an official-looking document. A deed. Assignment of rights. Property record.

The name on it was Evelyn’s late husband.

But something didn’t match.

The next day Linda found Mr. Harold Greene, a neighbor who’d once worked at a title office.

“Can you read this? I don’t understand.”

He put on glasses, read silently. His face changed.

“Where did you get this?”
“It was her husband’s.”
“This says the property was never legally transferred to the son.”

“What?”
“The deed stayed in the husband’s name. When he died, it passed to his wife. Not the son.”

“But Ethan sold the house—”
“Then the sale may be invalid.”

Linda’s heart pounded. She didn’t tell Evelyn yet. She needed certainty.

In Charlotte, the buyers went to the county office to record the deed.

“We’re here to register the transfer.”

The clerk typed, frowned.

“There’s a problem.”
“What problem?”
“The title doesn’t match. The property is in someone else’s name.”

“We paid nearly $1.2 million!”
“You need to contact the seller.”

The realtor called Ethan. Voicemail. Left a message.

Ethan saw it and deleted it.

“I’m done with that,” he muttered.

Linda went to legal aid.

After hours of waiting, a woman in a gray suit called her name.

“I’m attorney Sofia Moreno. Come in.”

Linda told everything.

Sofia studied the document.

“Did your mother sign anything authorizing a sale?”
“A power of attorney… but it was for simple things.”

Sofia nodded. “If that’s confirmed, the sale is void.”

“So the property is still hers?”
“Yes.”

Days later Sofia confirmed it.

“What your son did was illegal.”

Linda told Evelyn.

“He never had the right to sell it.”

“So what happens now?”
“The law runs its course.”

Ethan received a court notice.

Summons — Petition to Void Real Estate Sale.

His face drained of color.

That night he searched frantically.