Chương 12
"He sits on First Heartland's board."
Chloe muttered, "Of course he does."
Eleanor ignored her and made the call.
This time she did not walk away.
"Gerald, Eleanor Vale."
Her voice changed instantly into something polished and measured.
"I need a referral to the appropriate legal or fraud contact for an old negotiable instrument."
She listened.
"No, not for me."
A pause.
"Potential identity fraud."
Another pause.
"1999."
She glanced at me.
"Yes, I know."
Then, "No, I do not want you investigating it yourself."
I almost smiled.
Eleanor noticed and frowned at me.
She continued.
"I need the correct person and I need confidentiality."
The call lasted less than three minutes.
When she ended it, she had a name and an email address.
"Send nothing yet," I said.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Clara."
"I want copies of everything first."
"Everything?"
"The original payment instructions, correspondence with the law firm, check request, accounting notes, whatever still exists."
"That could take time."
"It should."
Chloe looked between us.
"What are you thinking?"
I put my phone back in my purse.
"That nobody should be able to steal one hundred and eighty thousand dollars without leaving a trail."
Eleanor looked at me.
"Unless the firm was involved."
"Even then."
"And Lauren?"
I looked at Chloe.
"Lauren is a separate problem until we know otherwise."
Chloe shook her head.
"She isn't separate."
"Why?"
"Because she knew about the money."
"That connects her."
"She also knew the law firm."
"Family connection."
"She helped build the fake identity."
"That connects her to now."
Chloe's frustration rose.
"Mom, you're doing it again."
"What?"
"Separating things that are obviously connected."
"Because obvious connections are how people convince themselves before they have proof."
She stood.
"You think I'm lying about Lauren."
"I think you have lied about almost everything today."
Her face went still.
The sentence was cruel.
It was also true.
Eleanor watched us both.
Chloe looked away.
"Fine."
"No, not fine."
"What do you want from me?"
"I want you to understand why I cannot take your word as evidence."
Her eyes filled.
"I do understand."
"Good."
"But it still hurts."
That stopped me.
I had expected defensiveness.
Instead she simply looked tired.
"I know."
She nodded once.
For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then she said, "I have something else."
I almost laughed from exhaustion.
"Of course you do."
"I don't know if it matters."
"It probably matters."
She opened her phone and scrolled through old messages.
"Lauren asked me about Dad once."
I felt my chest tighten.
"What about him?"
"His death."
"When?"
"Last year."
"Why?"
"She said she was checking the timeline."
"Did you tell her anything?"
"Only what I knew."
"What do you know?"
Chloe looked at me uncertainly.
"Car accident."
I nodded.
Daniel had died on a wet highway outside Dayton after a delivery truck crossed the median.
There had been no mystery.
No scandal.
No hidden story.
Just a phone call at 5:42 in the morning and a state trooper who removed his hat before speaking.
"What did Lauren ask?"
"Whether there had been a settlement."
I stared at her.
"There was."
Chloe's eyebrows rose.
"You never told me."
"You were six."
"Was it a lot?"
"No."
"How much?"
"After medical bills, funeral expenses, and the lawyer, about forty thousand."
"What happened to it?"
"I used it."
"For what?"
"Living."
She looked embarrassed to have asked.
I understood why.
The answer sounded ordinary beside everything else.
"What did Lauren say when you told her you didn't know?"
"She said never mind."
"Did she ask about insurance?"
Chloe scrolled.
"Yes."
My stomach tightened.
"What kind?"
"Life insurance."
Eleanor looked at me.
"Was there any?"
"A small policy through his employer."
"How much?"
"Fifty thousand."
"And you received it?"
"Yes."
Chloe frowned.
"Why would Lauren care?"
"I don't know."
"Did Dad have anything else?"
"No."
I answered quickly.
Then stopped.
There had been something.
A retirement account.
Small.
Daniel had worked less than eight years at the distribution company.
I had rolled it into an IRA after his death.
"Actually, yes."
Eleanor watched my face.
"What?"
"Retirement money."
"How much?"
"I don't remember exactly."
"Could it matter?"
"Not to the repayment."
Chloe said, "Unless Lauren was trying to map all of Mom's finances."
That possibility sat badly.
I looked at the message thread.
"When did she ask?"
Chloe read the date.
"March fourteenth last year."
Eleanor's head lifted.
"What?"
"What?"
"That's the week Lauren requested access to archived foundation files."
Chloe stared at her.
"Why?"
"She said she was preparing historical material for the anniversary campaign."
"Did you approve it?"
"Yes."
"Would Robert Danner's records have been in there?"
"Possibly."
My skin prickled.
"What anniversary?"
"Thirty years of the foundation."
"Did the foundation exist in 1999?"
"Not formally."
"Then why would repayment records be archived there?"
Eleanor frowned.
"Because Martin moved personal philanthropic records into the foundation office after we incorporated."
"Including the search for me?"
"Likely."
Chloe sat down again.
"So Lauren gets access to old files."
"Yes."
"Finds the payment."
"Possibly."
"Finds Mom."
"Public records could do that."
"And then what?"
No one answered.
The pieces were becoming clearer, but clarity was not the same as certainty.
I looked at Eleanor.
"Who knew the repayment never reached me?"
"No one, apparently."
"Someone had to receive the money."
"Yes."
"Could Robert Danner have believed it reached me?"
Eleanor hesitated.
"If another Clara Mercer presented identification, yes."
"Was there another Clara Mercer?"
"I don't know."
Chloe whispered, "Lauren found one."
We both looked at her.
"The bankruptcy record."
I had forgotten that message already.
Another Clara Mercer in another state.
"Where?"
I asked.
Chloe searched.
"Indiana."
The word tightened the room.
Eleanor took the phone from her.
"What city?"
"Indianapolis."
I sat very still.
The check had been deposited in Indianapolis.
Twenty-seven years later, Lauren had found an Indianapolis Clara Mercer while constructing a false history around me.
May you like
That could be coincidence.
It could also be the first real thread we had.
