Chương 7
She slid a legal pad toward Daniel.
“Get your work records. Get the police incident report. Get the original envelope. Preserve texts and call logs. Do not edit screenshots. Do not throw away the phone.”
Elena said, “Michael keeps calling.”
“Good.”
Daniel looked at her.
Judith raised a hand.
“I did not say bait him. Do not try to trick him into confessing. Save what he sends. If he threatens you, document it. If he follows you, call police. If he contacts your employer, tell me.”
Elena looked down.
“He already threatened to.”
Judith’s eyes sharpened.
“What employer?”
Elena explained the clinic.
“And you’re suspended?”
“Yes.”
Judith wrote something.
“Was your brother aware you were staying there before he threatened disclosure?”
“I think so.”
“Why?”
“Noah saw his truck across the street.”
“Who’s Noah?”
“A ten-year-old.”
Judith stopped writing.
“Let’s not build our case around a ten-year-old.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Elena did.
Judith pointed her pen at them.
“You two have one problem that is legal and about twelve problems that aren’t. Don’t mix them unless you enjoy suffering.”
Daniel said, “What does that mean?”
“It means your brother forged a deed. Your marriage did not forge the deed. Your wife sleeping at work did not forge the deed. You working out of town did not forge the deed. Don’t let him turn your guilt into his defense.”
Daniel stared at her.
Judith looked back at the documents.
“That advice is free. Everything else costs money.”
They paid two thousand dollars by credit card.
Daniel watched the payment process on Judith’s terminal.
The available balance on the card dropped to less than nine hundred dollars.
Outside, Elena said, “We have to check out tomorrow.”
“I know.”
“Where do we go?”
“I’ll call Jeff.”
She looked at him.
“You haven’t spoken to Jeff in a year.”
“He’ll answer.”
Jeff did answer.
He also said no.
Not immediately.
That was what made it worse.
Daniel could hear his former coworker breathing while a television played in the background.
“I’ve got my mother-in-law here.”
“It’s three people.”
“I know.”
“For a few nights.”
“Dan.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Jeff continued.
“You remember what happened last time.”
Daniel did.
Two years earlier Jeff had borrowed Daniel’s trailer and returned it with a bent axle. Daniel had accused him of lying about it. They had not spoken since.
“I’m not asking for the trailer.”
“I know.”
“Forget it.”
“Wait.”
“No.”
“Dan.”
Daniel hung up.
Elena sat in the truck beside him.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make him pay for something unrelated.”
“He said no.”
“He was explaining.”
“He said no.”
Elena looked out the window.
Daniel started the truck.
They drove to the house.
Judith had told them not to enter.
She had not told them they could not look.
Michael’s black truck was not in the driveway.
The rain had stopped. The house looked exactly as Daniel had imagined it during every night away: red brick, white porch rail, maple tree dropping wet leaves across the lawn.
Except the front lock was new.
A small sticker from a property-management company was affixed near the door.
Daniel parked across the street.
Lily leaned between the seats.
“Can we go inside?”
“Not yet.”
“My clothes are there.”
“I know.”
“My stuffed dog.”
“I know.”
“Uncle Michael said they put everything in boxes.”
Daniel looked at Elena.
She nodded.
“When did he tell her that?”
“The day he changed the locks.”
Daniel stared at the house.
The garage window was partly covered from inside.
He saw movement.
Then the garage door opened.
Michael walked out.
He was forty-three and still had the same broad shoulders he had when they were teenagers. He wore a navy rain jacket and carried a cardboard banker’s box.
Daniel got out of the truck.
Elena grabbed his sleeve.
“Daniel.”
“I’m not touching him.”
Michael stopped in the driveway.
For a few seconds the brothers looked at each other.
Then Michael placed the box on the hood of his truck.
“You weren’t supposed to come here.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“My house.”
“Not right now.”
“You forged my name.”
Michael glanced toward Daniel’s truck.
He saw Elena.
Then Lily.
His expression changed.
“Don’t do this in front of her.”
Daniel walked halfway across the street.
Michael raised one hand.
“Stay there.”
“You scared of me?”
“No. I’m trying to stop you from making this worse.”
Daniel’s hands closed.
Elena opened her door.
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
Michael saw it.
The smallest flicker of relief crossed his face.
That irritated Daniel more than fear would have.
“What’s in the box?” Daniel asked.
“Your things.”
“What things?”
“Personal papers.”
“From the basement?”
Michael did not answer.
Daniel looked at the box.
“The metal lockbox?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know what?”
“I don’t know what you kept where.”
“You had access to it.”
“You gave me access to half your life.”
Daniel took one step forward.
Michael said, “That’s exactly what I mean.”
“What?”
“You hand me every problem you don’t feel like dealing with, then act shocked when I deal with it.”
“You stole my house.”
“I borrowed against an asset that should have been half mine.”
There it was.
Not denial.
Not exactly confession either.
Daniel heard Elena get out of the truck behind him.
“What do you mean should have been?”
Michael looked at her.
“This is between me and him.”
“No,” Elena said. “You made it between all of us.”
Michael rubbed his mouth.
“Dad screwed me.”
Daniel felt an old pressure behind his ribs.
“Dad left the house to me.”
“Dad told me we’d split it.”
“He changed his will.”
“After you moved in and spent two years whispering in his ear.”
Daniel laughed.
“I changed his dressings. You came by Christmas.”
Michael’s face hardened.
“I was working.”
“So was I.”
“You were living free in his house.”
“I was taking care of him.”
May you like
“You think that means you earned two hundred grand?”
“There wasn’t two hundred grand.”
