I could hear Nathan crying in the background, and my heart clenched. This should have been such a happy time. My first grandson, healthy and perfect, and instead I was discussing felony charges with his father.
“What do you want me to do?” David asked finally.
“I want you to be honest with me about what really happened. Did Jessica plan to exclude me from the birth from the beginning?”
There was another pause.
Then, so quietly I almost didn’t hear it, “Yes.”
The confirmation hit harder than I had expected, even though I already knew it was true.
“Why?”
“She said having you there would be stressful. That she wanted the birth to be just our immediate family.”
“I am immediate family, David. I’m your mother. I’m Nathan’s grandmother.”
“I know. I should have stood up to her. I should have told you what she was planning instead of letting you drive all that way.”
“Yes, you should have. But you chose to protect her feelings instead of mine. And now she’s facing federal charges because neither of you thought about consequences.”
Jessica’s voice got louder in the background, and suddenly she was on the phone.
“Carol, this is all a horrible mistake. I never meant for you to be responsible for any bills. I was in labor. I was scared. I just put down names on forms without thinking.”
“Jessica, you submitted those forms at midnight while texting me about being excited to see me. You knew exactly what you were doing.”
“Please. I just had a baby. My hormones are all over the place. Can’t we work this out as a family?”
“We stopped being family when you forged my signature, Jessica. We stopped being family when you excluded me from my grandson’s birth after making me drive fifteen hours. Now we’re just two people on opposite sides of a criminal investigation.”
“You can’t do this to us. What about Nathan? Do you want him to grow up without his mother?”
The manipulation was breathtaking. After everything she had done, Jessica was trying to make me the villain for reporting her crimes.
“I want Nathan to grow up with honest parents. Unfortunately, that seems to be asking too much.”
“Carol, please. I’ll pay the hospital bill. I’ll do whatever you want. Just drop the charges.”
“I can’t drop charges I didn’t file. Jessica, the hospital filed them when they discovered the fraud. The police are pursuing them because you committed multiple felonies. This isn’t about what I want anymore.”
David came back on the phone.
“Mom, Jessica’s attorney says if you don’t cooperate with the prosecution, the charges will probably be dismissed.”
“And what exactly are you asking me to do, David?”
“Just don’t testify. Don’t provide evidence. Let this whole thing go away.”
I closed my eyes and thought about all the years I had supported David. The college tuition I helped pay. The down payment on his first apartment. The car I co-signed for when his credit was shaky. The countless times I had put his needs before my own.
“David, your wife committed identity theft. She defrauded a hospital. She excluded me from my grandson’s birth after manipulating me into traveling across the country. And now you want me to help her escape the consequences of all that?”
“She’s family, Mom.”
“No, David. Family doesn’t do what Jessica did to me. Family doesn’t humiliate each other and then commit crimes to cover their tracks.”
“So that’s it? You’re going to send Nathan’s mother to prison?”
“I’m going to tell the truth when asked. What happens after that is up to a judge and jury.”
I hung up and sat in the darkening evening, listening to coyotes call in the distance. My phone immediately started ringing again, but I turned it off.
Tomorrow I had an appointment with the FBI agent assigned to the case, and I had a feeling things were about to get much more complicated.
Because what I hadn’t told David was that the investigation had uncovered something else.
Jessica’s fraud wasn’t limited to my grandson’s birth. The agents had found evidence of similar schemes involving at least three other family members over the previous two years.
Jessica Martinez wasn’t just a new mother who had made a few terrible choices.
She was a serial fraudster.
And my case was only the tip of the iceberg.
FBI Special Agent Lisa Chen had the calm, professional demeanor that probably came from years of investigating financial crimes. She sat across from me in my living room, a thick file folder on the coffee table between us.
“Mrs. Martinez, I need to prepare you for what we’ve discovered during our investigation into Jessica Martinez’s activities.”
I had been expecting this conversation since David’s phone call the day before. The way he had sounded—desperate, cornered—told me there was more to this story than a fraudulent hospital bill.
“How bad is it?”
