Chương 10
“I hate lawyers.”
“Naomi is helping us.”
“I still hate lawyers.”
“You liked her yesterday.”
“I liked her when I thought she could fix everything.”
Laura smiled despite herself.
“That is an honest review.”
Margaret looked across the parking lot.
“What would you do?”
Laura put her hands in her cardigan pockets.
“You don’t want my answer.”
“I asked.”
“I would burn him to the ground.”
Margaret glanced at her.
“Metaphorically.”
“I assumed.”
“I’d cooperate with police, challenge everything, take the house back, sue anyone who helped him, and if Daniel went to prison, I’d visit once a year at Christmas.”
“That seems inefficient.”
“I’m angry.”
“I noticed.”
Laura looked at her.
“But it’s not my decision.”
Margaret nodded.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’m probably not doing what you would do.”
“I know.”
“That bothers you.”
“Yes.”
“You’ll survive.”
“Unfortunately.”
Margaret smiled.
They got into the car.
Two days later, another piece broke open.
The private lender’s attorney produced loan documents.
Daniel had certified that Bennett Residential Holdings owned the house free of undisclosed occupancy rights.
He had also submitted an appraisal showing the property vacant.
Margaret had been living there.
Someone had photographed the house on a weekday morning when she was at a cardiology appointment.
Daniel knew the appointment time.
Laura saw the date and felt physically ill.
“He scheduled the appraiser while she was gone.”
Naomi nodded.
“It appears so.”
“He drove her to that appointment.”
“Yes.”
Margaret sat very still.
The betrayal seemed to hurt more than the money.
She whispered, “He brought me a muffin.”
Laura looked at her.
“What?”
“After the appointment. Blueberry. From the café near the hospital.”
Nobody said anything.
Margaret shook her head.
“I kept telling him not to spend four dollars on a muffin.”
Laura’s eyes burned.
Of all the things they had uncovered, that one nearly broke her.
Daniel had arranged for strangers to document an apparently empty house while driving his mother to a doctor.
Then he bought her breakfast.
Human cruelty was rarely efficient enough to look like cruelty while it happened.
That night, Margaret finally cried.
Not loudly.
Laura found her at the dining table with both hands covering her face.
She sat beside her.
Margaret whispered, “I keep remembering nice things.”
Laura waited.
“He made soup when I had pneumonia.”
Laura put a hand on her back.
“He cleaned the gutters every fall.”
“Yes.”
“He called me every morning after your father died.”
“I know.”
“He did love me.”
Laura swallowed.
“Yes.”
Margaret lowered her hands.
Tears ran down her cheeks.
“That’s what makes it worse.”
Laura had no answer.
She stayed there.
After a while Margaret said, “Your father used to snore like a lawn mower.”
Laura laughed through tears.
“He did.”
“Sometimes I miss wanting to kill him for it.”
They sat together until midnight.
Daniel was arrested the following Tuesday.
Not because Margaret demanded it.
Not because Laura did.
Investigators found evidence beyond the family dispute: the allegedly notarized deed, lender submissions, communications with an intermediary, and financial records suggesting part of the loan proceeds had been diverted into unrelated obligations.
The charges were preliminary.
Naomi repeatedly warned them not to treat an arrest as a verdict.
Laura understood.
Emotion did not.
When Daniel’s booking photograph appeared online, she stared at it longer than she admitted.
His face looked frightened.
She closed the browser.
Then opened it again.
Margaret refused to look.
“Is he all right?” she asked.
Laura hated the question.
“He’s in custody, Mom.”
“I know where he is.”
“You mean physically?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know.”
Margaret looked at her phone.
“He has asthma.”
“His attorney knows.”
“He needs the blue inhaler, not the red one.”
“Mom.”
“I’m just saying.”
Laura stood abruptly.
“You cannot manage his inhaler from here.”
Margaret flinched.
Laura immediately regretted her tone.
She sat again.
“I’m sorry.”
Margaret rubbed her fingers together.
“He’s still my son.”
“I know.”
“You look at me like that makes me stupid.”
“I look at you like I’m scared you’ll save him again.”
Margaret nodded slowly.
“That’s fair.”
Daniel posted bond the next afternoon.
He did not call Margaret.
He called Laura.
She nearly ignored it.
Then answered.
“What?”
“Can you meet me?”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”
“I need to give you something for Mom.”
“Give it to your lawyer.”
“It’s personal.”
Laura closed her eyes.
“What?”
“Dad’s watch.”
Laura’s breathing stopped.
Edward’s old stainless-steel watch had disappeared after his funeral.
Margaret believed she had misplaced it.
Daniel had claimed not to know where it was.
“You have Dad’s watch?”
“Yes.”
“For twelve years?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
“I took it.”
“Why?”
“Because Dad promised it to me.”
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
“Then why lie?”
Another silence.
“Because Mom was grieving.”
Laura pressed two fingers against her forehead.
“This is exactly what you do.”
“What?”
“You turn theft into a favor.”
“He gave it to me.”
“Then why does Mom need it now?”
“She doesn’t. I thought she might want it.”
“Why now?”
Daniel exhaled.
“Because I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
For the first time, Laura heard something she had not heard since they were children.
Fear without performance.
She did not forgive him.
But she heard it.
“Give it to Naomi.”
“I want to see you.”
“No.”
“Laura.”
“No.”
“You hit me.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“I could’ve had you charged.”
“You still can.”
“I didn’t.”
“Do you want gratitude?”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
Daniel was quiet.
“I don’t know.”
Laura believed him.
That almost made it harder.
She said, “Talk to your lawyer.”
Then she hung up.
The watch arrived at Naomi’s office the next day.
Margaret held it in her palm.
She turned the crown.
It had stopped at 3:17.
“He never serviced anything,” she murmured.
Laura smiled.
“That watch lost five minutes a week.”
“Seven.”
“You timed it?”
“I was married to him.”
Margaret closed her fingers around it.
May you like
Then she asked Naomi to send Daniel the sealed letter from the safe-deposit box.
Laura was surprised.
