Chương 5
She stared at him.
It was perhaps the fifth apology he had made that night.
They were beginning to sound cheap.
Elena sat on the edge of the bed.
“Michael said if I made trouble, he would call the clinic.”
Daniel looked at her.
“For what?”
She gestured toward Lily.
“He knows she’s been there?”
“He knew I had nowhere else.”
“That’s why he drove by.”
“I think so.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“What exactly did he threaten?”
“To tell Margaret I was sleeping there. That I had Lily in an employee-only area. That I’d lose my job.”
Daniel reached for his jacket.
Elena stood immediately.
“No.”
“I’m not going to his house.”
“You looked exactly like a man going to his house.”
“I’m going outside.”
“For what?”
“Air.”
“It’s raining.”
“I’m aware.”
He stepped into the parking lot.
The rain had turned lighter.
He stood under the motel overhang and called Michael.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Daniel typed a message.
Call me.
He erased it.
Typed another.
You come near Elena again and—
He erased that too.
His hands were shaking.
He put the phone in his pocket.
A vending machine hummed beside the ice dispenser.
Daniel stared at the rows of chips and candy.
He remembered being thirteen and breaking Michael’s nose behind their father’s garage.
Michael had been seventeen.
Daniel could no longer remember what the fight was about.
He remembered the aftermath.
Their father had made them sit on overturned buckets while Michael held a bag of frozen peas against his face.
“You boys can hate each other,” their father had said. “You still don’t get to destroy each other.”
Michael had laughed through the blood.
Daniel had not.
Their father had believed family was a permanent condition.
Daniel wondered what he would have said now.
His phone vibrated.
Michael.
Daniel answered.
“Where are you?”
Michael spoke quietly.
“Don’t do this.”
“You already did it.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then help me.”
Silence.
Daniel heard traffic on Michael’s end.
“You forged my signature.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“That’s a simple sentence.”
“I needed you to sign.”
“So you did it for me?”
“You weren’t answering.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You took my phone number.”
Another silence.
Then Michael said, “You left everything sitting there.”
“What does that mean?”
“The house. Dad’s accounts. The paperwork. You disappear for months at a time and expect everybody else to hold your life together.”
“My wife and kid were living there.”
“I didn’t tell her to sleep in a clinic.”
Daniel’s vision narrowed.
Michael continued quickly.
“She had options.”
“What options?”
“She has a sister.”
“In Arizona.”
“That’s still family.”
Daniel gripped the phone.
“Why?”
Michael exhaled.
“I’ll meet you tomorrow.”
“Tell me now.”
“Not over the phone.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re recording me.”
Daniel looked at the screen.
He wasn’t.
The accusation told him enough.
“Ten o’clock,” Michael said. “Diner on Weller.”
“You don’t get to pick—”
The call ended.
Daniel stood in the rain for another minute.
When he returned to the motel room, Elena was asleep sitting up against the headboard.
The foreclosure papers lay across her lap.
Daniel lifted them carefully.
She woke.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“You called him.”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“What did he say?”
“He wants to meet.”
“No.”
“I’m going.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
Elena lowered her voice.
“Do you understand what he’s doing?”
“Yes.”
“No. You understand machines. You understand a broken line, a bad motor, a stripped bolt. Michael understands you.”
Daniel said nothing.
“He knows you’ll get angry. He knows you’ll show up. He knows you’ll give him something he can use.”
“He stole our house.”
“And you punching him won’t give it back.”
“I’m not going to punch him.”
She looked unconvinced.
Daniel sat on the other bed.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Call somebody who knows what those papers mean.”
“At midnight?”
“Tomorrow.”
“And let Michael have another day?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared at her.
She stared back.
He hated waiting.
Waiting felt like surrender.
Elena reached across the space between the beds and placed the deed in his hand.
“This is what happened when you let him handle things because paperwork bored you.”
The words were cruel.
They were also true.
Daniel folded the paper once.
Then stopped before making the crease sharper.
“All right.”
Elena seemed surprised.
“I won’t meet him.”
The next morning Daniel called three attorneys before eight.
One never answered.
One said they did divorces, not property disputes.
The third receptionist interrupted him halfway through the explanation.
“You need someone who handles real estate litigation and fraud.”
“Yes.”
“We don’t.”
“Do you know who does?”
There was a pause.
Then she gave him a name.
Judith Alvarez.
Daniel wrote it on the motel notepad.
He called.
Judith answered herself.
Her voice was rough, impatient, and awake in a way Daniel was not.
“Start with what is recorded, not what your brother told you.”
Daniel explained.
She stopped him twice.
“Do you own the house alone?”
“Yes.”
“Mortgage?”
“Yes.”
“Current?”
“Was.”
“What does that mean?”
Daniel looked at Elena.
“It missed this month.”
“Fine. Separate issue. Who is North Ridge?”
“My brother, I think.”
“You think?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find out.”
“How?”
A sigh.
“Secretary of state business search. County property records. Your lender. Start there.”
“I thought that’s what lawyers—”
“Mr. Carter, you haven’t hired me.”
Daniel stopped.
Judith continued.
“I can see you at two. Bring every paper, screenshots, proof of where you were on the signing date, mortgage statements, tax records, insurance, anything showing possession and ownership. Do not confront your brother. Do not sign anything. Do not enter the house by force even if you believe it is yours. Understood?”
Daniel looked at Elena.
“Yes.”
“Say it like you mean it.”
“I understand.”
“Two o’clock.”
She hung up.
Elena was trying not to smile.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“She’s rude.”
“You need rude.”
May you like
Daniel opened his laptop.
By nine fifteen they knew North Ridge Property Holdings had been created four months earlier.
