The Doppelgänger’s Funeral: How a Small-Town Land Appraiser Uncovered His Own Staged Death and Business Partner’s $4.2 Million Scheme
👉 Previous Action: Your vehicle tires were slashed, and your bank accounts were frozen, leaving you stranded and penniless.
My phone buzzed with an insistent, frantic rhythm. Local news alerts. “Breaking: Gideon Crest Memorial Fund Embezzlement.”
I tapped the notification. A grainy security video played on the screen, showing a figure—my figure—wearing my coat, furtively opening a church charity safe.
The accompanying headline blared: “Local Appraiser Arthur Pendelton Suspected of Stealing $85,000, Flees Town.”
Derrick had doctored the footage. He hadn’t just stolen my identity; he was systematically destroying my reputation, turning my own neighbors against me. The familiar streets of Gideon Crest, once a refuge, now felt like a cage.
A police cruiser glided slowly down Main Street, its blue lights reflecting off storefront windows, heading my way. I had to disappear. Fast.
I had two desperate options for immediate shelter, each with its own risks.
Choose your next action
Drive a forgotten farm tractor through back roads to his estranged sister’s property outside town — Read CHAPTER 10 to continue
Direct-confront Nora Bramwell, Derrick’s paralegal, at her residential home — Read CHAPTER 11 to continue
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