Chương 14
Then another.
How often he stayed there.
The exercise steadied me.
Facts before conclusions.
At eleven forty-eight, someone knocked on the front door.
I froze.
Nobody I knew knocked during the day.
I walked to the window first.
Carol Carter stood on the porch.
Daniel’s mother.
She wore white pants, oversized sunglasses, and the expression of a woman arriving to correct an administrative error.
I did not open the door.
She knocked again.
“Rachel?”
I stayed where I was.
She knocked harder.
“I know you’re home.”
I walked to the door but kept it locked.
“What do you want, Carol?”
Her face changed when she heard me through the door.
“Open this.”
“No.”
“Rachel, don’t be childish.”
That almost made me laugh.
“What do you want?”
“I want to explain.”
“You had two years.”
“I didn’t owe you an explanation.”
“Then you don’t need one now.”
She lowered her voice.
“This concerns my son.”
“It concerns my money.”
“It was Daniel’s contribution.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was again.
The same phrase.
The same mental trick.
“He told me that too.”
“Because it’s true.”
“No.”
I leaned closer to the door.
“Once money enters a joint household account, neither spouse gets to secretly divert part of it and call it personal.”
Carol scoffed.
“You’ve always been controlling about finances.”
The sentence was so familiar that my skin prickled.
“Who told you that?”
Silence.
“Carol.”
“My son has a right to privacy.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
She adjusted her sunglasses even though they were already straight.
“I’m not here to fight.”
“You drove from Tucson to Phoenix before noon.”
“I was already in town.”
“For what?”
She hesitated.
That was the second hesitation of the morning that mattered.
I looked past her toward the driveway.
Her car wasn’t there.
“Where did you come from?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
She pressed her lips together.
“I stayed at the condo.”
My pulse quickened.
“Last night?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
Her expression changed.
Not much.
Enough.
I stepped closer to the door.
“Who else was there?”
“Nobody.”
“You hesitated.”
“I’m tired of being interrogated.”
“Then leave.”
She knocked once with the flat of her hand.
“Rachel, open the door.”
“No.”
“I am trying to help you.”
“By hiding money?”
“That money was for something important.”
“What?”
She looked over her shoulder toward the street.
“A family problem.”
“Whose?”
She didn’t answer.
I felt the pieces moving again.
Not fitting.
Not yet.
“What was the eight hundred dollars for?”
Carol’s jaw tightened.
“I can’t tell you.”
“Then Daniel will.”
“He shouldn’t.”
The certainty in her voice frightened me more than anything Rebecca had said.
“Why?”
Carol removed her sunglasses.
Her eyes were red.
Not angry.
Tired.
Maybe frightened too.
“Because it would destroy his relationship with Jason.”
My hand tightened around the doorknob.
“What does Jason have to do with the money?”
Carol looked at me through the glass panel beside the door.
For the first time since she arrived, the superior expression disappeared.
“Rachel.”
Her voice dropped.
“The condo payments were never for me.”
I waited.
She swallowed.
“They were for Jason.”
For a moment, I thought I had misheard her.
“Jason?”
Carol nodded.
I unlocked the door.
Not because I trusted her.
Because whatever came next no longer belonged on a porch.
She stepped inside but didn’t remove her sunglasses from the hand gripping them.
I stayed near the door.
“Explain.”
Carol looked toward the staircase.
“He had problems.”
“What kind of problems?”
“Money.”
“He’s sixteen.”
“I know how old he is.”
“Then why did he need eight hundred dollars a month?”
Her eyes filled before she answered.
“He didn’t.”
I felt anger sharpen.
“Carol.”
“The money wasn’t going directly to him.”
“Then where was it going?”
She sat on the edge of the couch.
“Daniel was saving it.”
“For what?”
“For Jason.”
“That still doesn’t make sense.”
Carol looked at her hands.
“Melissa threatened to take Daniel back to court.”
“For custody?”
“For support.”
My stomach tightened.
“She believed Daniel was hiding income.”
“Was he?”
“No.”
Carol hesitated.
“Not exactly.”
I almost laughed.
I had started to hate those two words.
“What does not exactly mean?”
“Daniel got a bonus two years ago.”
“How much?”
“About eighteen thousand.”
I knew about the bonus.
We had used part of it to replace the air conditioner.
Or at least I thought we had.
“He told me it was twelve.”
Carol looked away.
Six thousand dollars.
Another number.
Another missing piece.
“What happened to the rest?”
“He put it aside.”
“For Jason?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“Because Jason told him he wanted to live with Daniel full-time when he turned sixteen.”
I stood completely still.
Carol continued.
“Daniel thought there might be legal fees.”
The explanation was ugly, but at least it had shape now.
“He was building a custody fund.”
“Yes.”
“With money from our joint account.”
“He considered part of that money his.”
“I don’t care what he considered.”
Carol pressed her lips together.
“He was afraid you’d say no.”
“Did he ask me?”
“No.”
“Then he wasn’t afraid I’d say no.”
I felt my voice harden.
“He was afraid I might have an opinion.”
Carol lowered her eyes.
I walked to the dining table.
The legal pad was still there.
Known.
Unknown.
I picked up the pen.
“How much is in this fund?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Of course.”
“Rachel.”
“How much approximately?”
“Twenty-five thousand.”
My hand stopped.
That was far more than the monthly transfers alone.
“Where did the rest come from?”
“Bonuses.”
“Anything else?”
Carol hesitated.
I looked at her.
“Anything else?”
“Daniel sold some stock.”
I closed my eyes.
The stock had been from his previous employer.
Separate property, legally his.
The secrecy still mattered.
“What did the woman have to do with it?”
Carol’s head lifted sharply.
“What woman?”
“Rebecca said you implied Daniel was seeing someone.”
Carol’s face changed.
Then she groaned.
“Oh, for God’s sake.”
“What?”
“There was no affair.”
I waited.
May you like
“The woman was a lawyer.”
My anger stumbled over itself.
