Chương 10
Not a polite knock.
Three hard strikes.
Sophie’s smile vanished.
I stood.
“Stay here.”
I opened the door.
Chelsea stood in the hallway holding a cardboard box.
Her face was pale.
Behind her was Logan.
He looked as though he had not slept.
Chelsea pushed the box toward me.
“I brought what’s left.”
I looked down.
Inside were two framed photographs, a stack of old recipe cards, Margaret’s Christmas angel, and my father’s watch.
The leather strap was gone.
For a moment, I could not speak.
Chelsea did not meet my eyes.
Logan said, “Dad, I didn’t know.”
I picked up the watch.
The metal was cold.
“Where is everything else?”
Chelsea swallowed.
“Sold.”
“All of it?”
“Most of it.”
“When?”
“Over the last year.”
“Why?”
She finally looked at me.
“Because we needed money.”
I held up the watch.
“And this survived because?”
She looked ashamed.
“Nobody wanted it.”
Something inside me almost broke at the sentence.
Not because the watch had been rejected.
Because the things I loved had been reduced to whether strangers wanted them.
Logan stepped forward.
“I swear I didn’t know.”
Chelsea snapped, “Stop saying that.”
He turned on her.
“What am I supposed to say?”
“That you didn’t know anything?”
“I didn’t know this.”
“You didn’t know about the business account.”
“I didn’t know about the storage unit.”
“You didn’t know about the investment.”
“Maybe not knowing is your favorite thing.”
Sophie stood from the table.
“Mom.”
Chelsea looked past me and saw her.
Her face collapsed.
“Oh, honey.”
Sophie did not move.
I put the box on the table.
“Not here.”
Chelsea wiped her face.
“I came to give him his things.”
“You did.”
“And to tell you something.”
She looked at me again.
“Evan called last night.”
Logan stiffened.
“What did he want?”
“He says the money wasn’t lost.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
Chelsea hugged her arms around herself.
“He says the thirty-two thousand is still there.”
“Where?”
She looked toward Logan.
“In an escrow account.”
Logan laughed in disbelief.
“You said you got eight back.”
“I did.”
“Then what is this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why would Evan hold thirty-two thousand in escrow?”
Chelsea’s face changed.
Because this time, she did know.
And whatever the answer was, she was afraid to say it.
Chelsea looked down at the floor.
“I signed something I shouldn’t have.”
Logan’s face tightened.
“What?”
She rubbed both hands over her arms.
“Evan said the project needed a bridge arrangement while they resolved a title issue.”
“What did you sign?”
“A participation agreement.”
“That means nothing.”
“I know.”
“No, you clearly don’t.”
“Logan.”
His voice rose.
“What did you sign?”
Sophie flinched behind me.
I stepped into the hallway and pulled the door mostly closed so she would not have to hear every word.
“Keep your voice down.”
Logan looked at me, ashamed and furious at once.
Chelsea leaned against the wall.
“He told me my money would be held until the project cleared.”
“And?”
“And that if I wanted to remain in the deal, I had to assign my interest to the company until closing.”
“What company?”
“Mercer Development Partners.”
Logan stared at her.
“That’s not even the name of his company.”
Chelsea’s mouth opened.
Then closed.
“What do you mean?”
“He works for Northfield Commercial.”
“He said Mercer Development was a special-purpose entity.”
“Did you verify that?”
“I looked it up.”
“Where?”
“Online.”
Logan laughed once.
“Of course.”
She snapped toward him.
“You forged my signature.”
“I know what I did.”
“Then stop talking to me like I’m the only idiot here.”
Neither of them had an answer to that.
I asked, “Do you have the agreement?”
Chelsea nodded.
“On my phone.”
“Send it to Fiona.”
Her eyes moved to mine.
“Your attorney?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want another lawyer involved.”
“You already have one involved.”
“No, you do.”
“Chelsea, if thirty-two thousand dollars is being held somewhere under an agreement you do not understand, arguing about ownership of the lawyer is not the useful part.”
She looked away.
Logan muttered, “Send it.”
She pulled out her phone.
Her fingers shook badly enough that she mistyped Fiona’s email address twice.
I watched without helping.
People reveal themselves in small moments.
Chelsea usually moved as if uncertainty were beneath her.
Now she looked like a woman trying to remember whether she had locked a door after leaving something dangerous inside.
“Sent,” she said.
“Good.”
Logan leaned against the railing.
“Why did Evan call last night?”
Chelsea swallowed.
“Because I asked him for the money.”
“When?”
“After the letters came.”
“And?”
“He said the original investment was refunded but the assigned interest remained in escrow.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I know.”
“What does he want?”
“He said I need to sign a release.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
Logan stared at her.
“Stop saying that.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth would be refreshing.”
She slapped her palm against the wall.
“I am telling you the truth.”
The neighbor’s door opened three units down.
An elderly woman in slippers looked into the hallway.
I gave her an apologetic nod.
She looked at the three of us and said, “Some of us are trying to sleep in.”
“It’s eight fifteen,” Logan said.
She stared at him.
“I’m retired.”
Then she closed her door.
For one second, Sophie laughed from inside the apartment.
The sound was so unexpected that even Chelsea smiled.
It vanished almost immediately.
I opened my door again.
“Come inside.”
The four of us crowded around the little table.
Sophie sat on the couch with her knees pulled up.
Nobody seemed comfortable with her being there.
Nobody suggested sending her away either.
That was progress of a strange sort.
Fiona called less than ten minutes later.
“I received the document.”
“And?”
“I need more time to review it.”
Chelsea leaned toward the phone.
“This is Chelsea Higgins.”
“I assumed.”
May you like
“I need to know if Evan can keep the money.”
“I cannot answer that from one document.”
