Chương 5
"Some?"
"Some payments were cash."
Of course.
Cash left fewer questions.
"How much?"
There was a pause.
I hated pauses now.
"Approximately seventy-eight thousand dollars that we can identify."
My hand tightened around the phone.
I looked through the window.
Lucy was sitting at the table.
My mother was talking to her.
From a distance, it looked normal.
Almost loving.
That was the hardest part.
People could do terrible things while still having moments where they looked like family.
"What about the rest?" I asked.
"We keep investigating."
I leaned against the wall.
"Daniel."
"Yes?"
"If someone moved money away before knowing I was coming home, could that matter?"
There was silence.
"What makes you ask that?"
I looked back inside.
Brianna was standing near my mother's desk.
Her hand was inside a drawer.
When she noticed me watching, she quickly closed it.
"I think they know I am looking."
"Then be careful."
The warning sounded simple.
It was not.
Because I finally understood something.
The million dollars was not the trap.
The trap was believing money revealed greed.
It did not.
Money only gave greed somewhere to stand.
The real test was what people did when they thought nobody was watching.
And now they knew I was watching.
The next few days changed the way everyone moved through the house.
Nobody said it directly, but the atmosphere had shifted.
Before I came home, my mother controlled every conversation.
Now every conversation seemed to stop when I entered the room.
People who were comfortable around me suddenly became careful.
That was its own kind of information.
Lucy noticed it too.
She never commented on it immediately.
She waited until we were alone.
That was something I had forgotten about her.
Lucy was quiet, but quiet did not mean unaware.
She noticed everything.
"You are looking at everyone like they are strangers," she said that evening.
We were sitting on the small porch behind the house.
The same porch where we used to drink coffee before work.
The paint was peeling near the steps.
I had planned to fix it before leaving for Canada.
Four years later, it was still waiting.
"Maybe they are," I said.
Lucy looked at me.
"Be careful."
"With what?"
"With becoming someone you don't recognize."
The answer surprised me.
I turned toward her.
"My mother did this to you."
"I know."
"My sister helped."
"I know."
"Then why are you worried about me?"
She looked down at her hands.
"Because I know what it feels like to lose yourself slowly."
The sentence stayed with me.
She did not say it dramatically.
She said it like someone describing a long winter.
Something she survived because there was no other choice.
"What happened while I was gone?" I asked.
She was quiet.
I almost told her she did not have to answer.
Then she spoke.
"The first year was normal."
I listened.
"Your mother complained about the house costs, but she always said things were temporary."
Lucy rubbed her thumb against a small scar on her finger.
"Then you got promoted at work."
I smiled slightly.
"I remember."
"You were so proud."
"I was."
"You called me three times that night because you wanted to tell me every detail."
I remembered.
I had walked outside the apartment in Calgary because my roommates were sleeping.
I stood in the cold with a phone pressed to my ear, telling Lucy about a new supervisor position.
She had cheered louder than anyone.
"I was happy for you," she said.
"Then things changed."
"What changed?"
She looked toward the house.
"Your mother started asking about money differently."
I waited.
"Before, she asked if we could afford something."
"And later?"
"Later, she told me what needed to be done."
I felt my jaw tighten.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because every time I complained, she reminded me that she was taking care of the house."
Lucy looked at the yard.
"She said you trusted her."
That hurt because it was true.
I did.
"The second year, I started feeling sick."
She paused.
"I thought it was stress."
"How long?"
"Months."
I looked at her.
"Months?"
She nodded.
"I was tired all the time."
"Why didn't you go to a doctor?"
She gave me a sad smile.
"With what money?"
The question was simple.
The answer was ugly.
I had sent money.
But the money did not belong to her anymore.
My phone rang before I could respond.
It was Daniel.
I answered immediately.
"We found something."
I stood up.
Lucy watched my face change.
"What?"
"There was a second account."
I walked away from the porch.
"What kind of account?"
"One connected to your mother's business activity."
"My mother's business?"
"She registered a small consulting company two years ago."
I frowned.
"My mother doesn't consult anyone."
"According to the paperwork, she does."
The words sounded unreal.
"How much?"
"Not much compared to the total amount."
"How much?"
"About twenty-five thousand dollars moved through that account."
I looked back at the house.
"Where did it come from?"
"Some deposits are unclear."
"Can you find out?"
"We are working on it."
I rubbed my forehead.
"Daniel, I need something solid."
"I know."
"Because right now it is my word against theirs."
"Actually, Nathan, it is not."
I stopped.
"What do you mean?"
"There are hospital records."
"What about them?"
"Your wife was listed as uninsured for part of her treatment."
I closed my eyes.
That sentence hurt in a different way.
My mother had not just failed to pay.
She had allowed Lucy to become invisible.
"When did you find that?"
"This morning."
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Because we needed to verify."
I looked at Lucy.
She was watching me carefully.
"Send me everything."
After the call ended, I sat beside her again.
"What happened?"
I told her.
She became very still.
"I didn't know I was uninsured."
The way she said it broke something inside me.
May you like
Not because she was angry.
Because she sounded unsurprised.
