Chương 13
“I don’t know.”
“When did he show you?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Before I went into the hospital?”
“Yes.”
Robert’s eyes narrowed.
“So this started before my surgery.”
Melissa nodded.
“He said the bank was going to call the guarantee.”
“And you believed him.”
“I saw your signature.”
“You saw my name.”
She flinched.
“Yes.”
Robert looked down at the rest of the papers.
One page showed Daniel’s company line of credit.
Another listed outstanding obligations.
The total at the bottom was just over eight hundred thousand dollars.
Robert stared at the number.
“Is this real?”
“I think so.”
“Think?”
“I didn’t have access to his books.”
“Yet you helped him transfer my house.”
Melissa’s jaw tightened.
“I know what I did.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Her voice rose.
“Yes, Dad.”
The monitor quickened slightly.
I stepped between them just enough to make both notice.
Melissa lowered her voice.
“I thought I was protecting you from a debt you had already guaranteed.”
“By moving my house into a company you controlled.”
“So creditors couldn’t get it.”
“That company then pledged it to another lender.”
“I didn’t know that part.”
Robert looked at her.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it is true.”
“You knew enough.”
“Yes.”
The word came hard.
“I knew enough to be guilty of helping.”
Robert looked away.
Melissa wiped at her face angrily.
“I also knew Daniel was drowning.”
“He said if the business collapsed, twenty-three people would lose jobs.”
“He said his house was already mortgaged to the ceiling.”
“He said Tyler had quit school because there was no money.”
“He said you had always helped him before and were too proud to admit you had guaranteed the debt.”
Robert turned back.
“And that made it acceptable to lie to me?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Melissa’s shoulders dropped.
“Because part of me wanted you to choose me for once.”
The room went silent.
Robert frowned.
“What does that even mean?”
“It means Daniel always got rescued.”
She laughed bitterly.
“He loses money, you call it business.”
“I ask for help, you call it irresponsibility.”
Robert started to answer.
Melissa cut him off.
“No.”
“You asked.”
“Let me finish badly.”
He did.
She breathed in.
“When Daniel said we could restructure things and I could finally have some control too, I liked it.”
“I hated that I liked it.”
“But I did.”
Robert stared at her.
“And Emily?”
Melissa looked down.
“I told myself she didn’t need anything.”
“That was convenient.”
“Yes.”
“You were going to take part of her inheritance.”
“Yes.”
Robert’s face hardened again.
Melissa nodded as if accepting the blow.
Then she pointed at the forged signature.
“But I did not know this was fake.”
Robert looked at the page.
His anger shifted.
Not away from her.
Toward something larger.
“Franklin needs this tonight.”
“I already sent him pictures.”
Robert looked at her.
For the first time since she entered, there was something in his expression besides betrayal.
“Why?”
Melissa swallowed.
“Because Daniel told me to burn it.”
Robert looked at Melissa for a long time.
“When?”
“About an hour ago.”
“He knew you had the copies?”
“He remembered giving me the envelope.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Melissa rubbed both hands over her sleeves.
“He said things were getting out of control and those papers would only confuse people.”
Robert gave a dry laugh.
“Confuse people.”
“He told me to get rid of them before Franklin saw them.”
“And you brought them here.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Melissa’s mouth tightened.
“Because I’m already going to have to live with what I did.”
She looked at the forged signature.
“I’m not adding evidence destruction to the list.”
Robert lowered his eyes.
The monitor beside him kept its steady rhythm.
“Call Franklin.”
I did.
He answered before the second ring.
When I told him about the documents, his voice changed immediately.
“Do not write on them.”
“No one has.”
“Do not staple anything.”
“No one has.”
“Do not give them back to Melissa.”
Melissa looked offended.
“I can hear him.”
“Good,” Franklin said through speaker.
“That saves time.”
He instructed us to put the envelope in a clean plastic belongings bag the nurse found for us and leave it sealed until he arrived.
Melissa watched me close it.
“Feels dramatic.”
“It is evidence now,” Franklin said.
“Drama is optional.”
Robert looked exhausted.
“Franklin.”
“Yes?”
“What happens to Daniel?”
Silence came through the speaker.
“That depends on what can be proven.”
“Not what I asked.”
“I know.”
Franklin’s tone softened.
“If the signature is forged, if funds were misappropriated, if documents were intentionally misrepresented, there may be civil and criminal consequences.”
Robert closed his eyes.
Melissa stared at the floor.
No one said the word prison.
It sat in the room anyway.
Franklin arrived forty minutes later.
By then Emily had landed in Kansas City and was on her way from the airport.
Franklin took custody of the envelope, photographed the seal, and wrote down who had handled it.
Robert mocked the procedure until Franklin asked whether he preferred Daniel’s attorney accusing us of tampering.
After that, Robert became extremely interested in procedure.
A hospital social worker helped arrange another night of observation and made notes regarding Robert’s concerns about returning home.
Franklin recommended that he not stay at the house until the property dispute and family situation were clearer.
Robert hated that too.
“So where am I supposed to go?”
“Our house,” I said.
He looked at me.
“Columbia is two hours away.”
“You complained when I drove two hours to get you.”
“I was trying to protect you from unnecessary mileage.”
“That is not how I remember it.”
“You remember emotionally.”
Melissa gave a weak laugh.
Robert glanced at her.
The sound died.
Emily arrived just before ten.
She came into the room still wearing the black slacks and blue blouse from her conference, carrying a backpack and dragging a small suitcase behind her.
May you like
For one second she stopped at the door.
She saw her father in the bed.
