Chương 6
I kept going.
"The simple part is this."
I swallowed.
"Your grandfather left interests to both you and Jared, and the records I found suggest your parents treated those interests as if they were theirs."
Jared's lips parted.
I read the next line.
"Do not assume Jared knows."
That changed the room.
Jared looked at me quickly.
Mom looked at him too.
Johnny had anticipated suspicion I had not even felt yet.
I read on.
"I dislike your brother often enough that I feel obligated to be fair about him here."
A broken sound escaped me.
It was half laugh, half sob.
Johnny would have written exactly that.
Jared looked down.
For one second, he smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
I continued.
"His finances are a disaster, but some of the records make me think your parents used his dependence as camouflage."
Dad sat heavily in the chair.
Mom's face went blank.
Jared whispered, "Camouflage for what?"
I scanned ahead.
There were details about transfers and distributions I only half understood.
Then I reached the paragraph Johnny had underlined.
"They appear to have used Jared's trust for visible family expenses and business rescues while moving larger amounts from yours into holding entities controlled through proxy managers."
I stopped.
Jared stared at Mom.
"Why hers?"
Mom didn't answer.
Dad did.
"Because Naomi didn't watch."
The words landed harder than if he had shouted them.
I looked at him.
"What?"
He rubbed his mouth.
"You didn't ask."
Mom snapped, "Richard."
He ignored her.
"You went to college on scholarships."
His voice became smaller with each sentence.
"You paid your own rent."
"You and Johnny bought that first condo without us."
"You never asked what your grandfather left."
I stared at him.
"So that made it safe?"
He closed his eyes.
"No."
"Say it."
His face tightened.
"No."
"Say it."
He looked at me.
"It made it easier."
Something passed through me that had nothing to do with money.
I had spent half my life trying not to be difficult.
Not asking.
Not needing.
Not calling when the car broke down.
Not telling them when Johnny and I were short on a down payment.
Not mentioning the medical bill after Gemma broke her wrist at five.
Independence had been the one thing they praised me for.
Apparently it had also made me convenient to steal from.
Jared sank onto the sofa.
"How much?"
Dad shook his head.
"I don't know."
Mom laughed sharply.
"That is a lie."
He turned on her.
"You kept changing accountants."
"Because you couldn't keep your mouth shut after three drinks."
"Not the point."
"It is exactly the point."
Jared looked between them.
"How much?"
Neither answered.
He stood.
"How much did you take from Naomi?"
Mom's eyes narrowed.
"Do not use that word."
"What word?"
"Take."
"What word would you like?"
She looked at him.
He spread his hands.
"Borrowed?"
Dad said quietly, "Millions."
No one moved.
I heard the word.
I understood it.
It simply did not attach itself to reality.
Jared stared at him.
"Millions?"
Dad pressed his palms together between his knees.
"Over time."
Mom said, "That number is completely misleading."
"How is millions misleading?"
"Because it includes asset appreciation."
Jared laughed.
"Jesus Christ."
She pointed at him.
"You don't understand finance."
"Apparently neither do you if you're knocking on Naomi's door for forty grand."
That one hurt her.
I could tell because she stopped speaking.
I returned to Johnny's letter.
The page shook slightly in my hand.
He had listed three names.
A forensic accountant.
An attorney.
A retired bookkeeper named Evelyn Price.
Beside Evelyn's name, Johnny had written, She is afraid of Susan.
My mother saw where my eyes stopped.
Her face changed.
It was subtle.
A breath held.
A muscle near her jaw tightening.
I folded the letter.
"Who is Evelyn Price?"
Dad looked up.
Mom answered first.
"Nobody."
Jared said, "That's not an answer."
"She worked for us years ago."
Dad said, "Fourteen years."
Mom glared at him.
He looked almost exhausted by her glare now.
"What happened to her?"
I asked.
Dad rubbed his thumb over the edge of his wedding ring.
"She left."
"Why?"
Mom walked toward me.
"Naomi, stop."
I stepped back.
"You don't get to tell me to stop."
"You're upset."
"My husband and daughter are dead."
The sentence changed everything again.
For several minutes, the money had made all of us forget.
Not truly forget.
Just behave as if there were another emergency larger than the one already inside the house.
There wasn't.
The silence that followed felt obscene.
Jared sat down.
Dad bowed his head.
Even Mom looked away.
I hated them for making me say it.
I hated myself for letting a folder of numbers occupy the same air as Gemma.
Then I hated Johnny a little for dying with this secret in progress.
The thought came so fast I almost recoiled from myself.
It wasn't fair.
I knew that.
Grief didn't care.
"You should have told me," I whispered.
Nobody answered because I wasn't talking to them.
I could see Johnny at the kitchen table nine months earlier, closing his laptop when I entered.
I had teased him about having an affair with a spreadsheet.
He had smiled and said, "Very glamorous."
At the time, I believed him.
Maybe he had been trying to protect me.
Maybe he had been afraid.
Maybe he had simply waited too long.
Dead people did not explain themselves.
That was one of the cruelties no condolence card mentioned.
My mother spoke first.
"We should go."
Dad looked at her.
She reached for his arm.
"Richard."
He pulled away.
It was a small movement.
I had never seen him do it before.
"I'm not going with you."
Her face sharpened.
"What?"
"I'm staying."
"For what?"
"To answer her."
"You've answered enough."
"No."
He looked at me.
"Not close."
Mom stared at him.
Something passed between them that had probably begun long before I was born.
Fear.
May you like
Resentment.
Habit.
