Chương 11
“I owe almost ninety thousand dollars I didn’t borrow.”
“We don’t know that you owe it.”
“They think I do.”
“That can be disputed.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happens to my credit?”
“I don’t know.”
“My house?”
“I don’t know.”
“Roger?”
“I don’t know.”
Nadine put both hands flat on the table.
“You are allowed to not know everything before lunch.”
I looked at her.
“I’m not allowed to not know whether somebody used my child’s identity.”
“That’s different.”
“Yes.”
We searched the reports for any address tied to the unfamiliar accounts.
One appeared repeatedly.
A mailbox service across town.
I recognized the street.
Not the exact address.
The street.
Celina’s salon was six blocks away.
I called her.
She answered on the first ring.
“Bernice?”
“Do you know an address on Grant Avenue?”
“Which address?”
I read it.
Silence.
“Celina.”
“That’s where Gideon had mail sent.”
My heartbeat seemed to move into my throat.
“What mail?”
“I don’t know.”
“How do you know he used it?”
“He asked me to pick something up once.”
“What?”
“An envelope.”
“When?”
“June.”
“Did you open it?”
“No.”
“Did you see the sender?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Try.”
“I am.”
I heard a car door on her end.
“Where are you?”
“At the salon.”
“Stay there.”
“Why?”
“Because I may need to come to you.”
“Okay.”
“And don’t call Gideon.”
“I haven’t.”
“Don’t warn him.”
“I said I haven’t.”
“You’ve lied to me for months.”
She went quiet.
The cruelty of that sentence landed after I said it.
I did not take it back.
“Was the mailbox under his name?”
“I don’t know.”
“How did you collect the envelope?”
“He gave me a key.”
“What key?”
“To the box.”
“Do you still have it?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“My purse.”
I stood.
“Nadine.”
She already had her keys.
“Roger stays with Maya.”
“I was about to say that.”
“I know.”
Maya emerged from the hallway as though summoned by the threat of responsibility.
“What happened to the Wi-Fi?”
“Temporary outage,” Nadine said.
“You unplugged it.”
“An extremely localized outage.”
Maya looked at me.
“Is Roger okay?”
“He’s fine.”
“Are you?”
I almost said yes.
The word would not come.
“Not currently.”
She nodded.
That answer apparently made more sense to her.
“We need to go somewhere for a little while.”
“I’ll stay with him.”
“Call your mother if anything feels wrong.”
“She’ll be with you.”
“Then call me.”
“You just said if something feels wrong.”
“Maya.”
“I know.”
Her sarcasm was comforting.
I crouched beside Roger.
He woke when I touched his shoulder.
“Mommy?”
“Hey.”
“Where going?”
“I have to take care of something.”
“Can I come?”
“Not this time.”
His lower lip pushed forward.
“Maya’s staying.”
That helped.
“Can we watch shark?”
“Absolutely.”
He grabbed my hand before I stood.
“Daddy coming?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
The relief in that one word was small.
It was also unmistakable.
I kissed his forehead.
Outside, Nadine unlocked the car.
“Celina’s salon?”
“Yes.”
“What are we hoping to find?”
“A key.”
“And then?”
I looked at the screenshots of the fraudulent accounts on my phone.
“Proof.”
Traffic was heavier now.
People were commuting, buying coffee, changing lanes badly, living through Thursdays that had not split open before breakfast.
At a red light, Claire sent the first file.
A photograph of an old credit-card statement.
Gideon’s name did not appear anywhere on it.
Claire’s did.
The mailing address was not her home.
It was a rented mailbox.
Different city.
Same pattern.
Then Claire sent a second image.
A handwritten note she had found in Gideon’s desk during their divorce.
It contained account numbers, balances, and three names.
Claire.
Lily.
And someone named Marcus.
I zoomed in.
“Who is Marcus?”
Nadine glanced over.
“I don’t know.”
I texted Claire.
Who is Marcus?
Her answer came before the light changed.
Gideon’s younger brother.
I stared at the message.
“Didn’t he tell you his brother died?”
Nadine asked.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before we met.”
Another message arrived from Claire.
Marcus is alive.
I felt the day tilt again.
Then a third message appeared.
And if Gideon used the same pattern with you, Marcus may be the reason he needed money so badly in the first place.
“What does Marcus have to do with the money?”
Claire’s reply took almost a minute.
He used Marcus before he used me.
I called her instead of texting.
She answered with a sigh that sounded like she had expected it.
“Explain.”
“Marcus had a gambling problem when they were younger.”
I looked at Nadine.
She kept her eyes on the road.
“How young?”
“Twenties.”
“Does he still?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did Gideon do?”
“He helped him borrow money.”
“That doesn’t explain why Marcus was on the note.”
“Because some of the accounts were in Marcus’s name.”
I stared at the line of cars ahead of us.
“With permission?”
“That’s what Gideon said.”
“And Marcus?”
“Said no.”
“Did anyone prove it?”
“No.”
“Did Gideon take the money?”
“Some of it.”
“How do you know?”
“I found transfers.”
“From Marcus’s accounts to yours?”
“To an account Gideon controlled.”
My stomach tightened.
“What happened to Marcus?”
“He disappeared from the family.”
“Died, according to Gideon.”
Claire went quiet.
“He told you Marcus died?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before we met.”
“That’s not true.”
“I’m aware.”
“He lives in Ohio.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“Does Diane know?”
“Yes.”
“Of course she does.”
“Bernice.”
“I know.”
“No, I mean don’t assume she knew what Gideon told you.”
I almost laughed.
“This family’s preferred defense seems to be not knowing what anyone said.”
“That’s fair.”
“Do you have Marcus’s number?”
“No.”
“Can you get it?”
“Maybe.”
“Please try.”
I ended the call as Nadine turned onto Grant Avenue.
Celina’s salon occupied the first floor of a narrow brick building between a tax-preparation office and a store that sold discount phone cases.
May you like
The gold lettering on the glass still read COMING SOON beneath her business name.
When I had first seen it in June, I had cried.
