Chương 5
“Mom.”
Margaret ignored her.
Officer Kim wrote something down.
“Did he tell you the locks had been changed?”
“He said the buyers changed them.”
“Did you see any buyers?”
“No.”
“Any moving crew?”
“No.”
“Signs?”
“No.”
The officer looked at Laura.
“That doesn’t prove anything by itself.”
“I know.”
“But changing locks while an elderly occupant is still living there raises issues beyond a paperwork dispute.”
Laura felt a small, sharp relief.
Not victory.
Just the comfort of hearing someone else say the situation was not normal.
Kim arranged for another officer to drive by Margaret’s house and document its condition from the public street. He gave them a report number and advised Laura to call the pharmacy in the morning.
Before leaving, he paused beside the suitcase.
“This all she has with her?”
Margaret said, “At the moment.”
Kim looked at Daniel’s dropped suitcase marks still drying near the door.
His expression hardened slightly.
“Keep the door locked tonight.”
After he left, Laura made up the guest room.
Margaret stood in the doorway watching her.
“You still use hospital corners.”
“I worked three summers in housekeeping.”
“You worked one summer.”
“Felt like three.”
Margaret almost smiled.
Laura tucked the blanket beneath the mattress.
“Did Daniel hurt you?”
“No.”
“Grab you?”
“No.”
“Threaten you?”
“No.”
“Did he ever scare you?”
Margaret took longer with that.
“Yes.”
Laura turned.
“How?”
“By making me wonder whether I was the unreasonable one.”
The answer sat between them.
Laura stopped smoothing the blanket.
Margaret looked embarrassed by what she had said.
“Good night,” she murmured.
“Mom.”
“I’m tired.”
Laura wanted answers.
She wanted the USB opened and the documents analyzed and Daniel confronted and every bad decision rearranged into something that could be corrected before morning.
Instead she nodded.
“Bathroom light stays on. Towels are in the cabinet.”
“I know where your towels are.”
“You’ve been here twice in three years.”
Margaret looked at her.
There was no accusation in Laura’s sentence when she spoke it.
The accusation appeared afterward.
Her mother lowered her gaze.
“That’s true.”
Laura left before either of them could damage the evening further.
She slept badly on the couch, despite having her own bedroom twenty feet away.
At 2:13 a.m., she woke to a faint clinking sound.
Margaret was in the kitchen.
Laura found her standing barefoot on the cold tile, opening and closing cabinets.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for crackers.”
“They’re over the refrigerator.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a terrible place.”
“I’m aware.”
Laura reached up, got the box, and handed it over.
Margaret ate two saltines at the counter.
Laura drank water.
Neither mentioned Daniel.
Then Margaret said, “Your father knew.”
Laura froze.
“Knew what?”
“That Daniel was taking money.”
Laura put down the glass.
“When?”
“Near the end.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said Dad left him a letter.”
“He did.”
“Was it about that?”
“I think so.”
“Why?”
“Because he wrote it the week before he died, after they argued.”
“About money?”
Margaret nodded.
Laura’s frustration returned.
“And you never told me any of this?”
“Your father asked me not to.”
“He died twelve years ago.”
Margaret looked down at the cracker in her hand.
“Dead people can be very demanding.”
Laura gave a tired, involuntary laugh.
Margaret did too.
Quietly.
Then her face collapsed for half a second—not into tears, but into something older and more exhausted.
“I kept thinking your brother would grow out of needing to be rescued.”
Laura leaned against the counter.
“Daniel’s forty-one.”
“I noticed.”
“Did Dad know about the loans?”
“Some.”
“What happened in the argument?”
“I heard Edward say, ‘If you make your mother afraid to say no to you, I’ll change everything.’”
Laura looked at her.
“Change what?”
“The trust, maybe.”
“Did he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why wouldn’t you know?”
“Because three days later he had the stroke.”
The refrigerator hummed.
Margaret finished her cracker.
Laura asked, “Did Daniel know where the original trust was?”
“Yes.”
“And the letter?”
“Yes.”
“Then why hasn’t he gotten into the safe-deposit box?”
“Because the box is mine.”
“Power of attorney?”
“Bank has restrictions.”
“You checked?”
“I changed the access instructions last year.”
Laura stared.
Her mother wiped salt from her fingers.
“You have been doing a lot more than you told me.”
“Yes.”
“Why not tell me?”
Margaret gave her a tired look.
“Because you would have slapped him sooner.”
Laura laughed despite herself.
Then she covered her face.
“I cannot believe I hit him.”
“He deserved it.”
“That doesn’t make it smart.”
“No.”
“He could file charges.”
“He might.”
“Great.”
Margaret reached over and squeezed Laura’s forearm.
The gesture was so ordinary that Laura nearly cried.
She didn’t.
Neither did Margaret.
In the morning, Naomi Reyes returned Laura’s call at 7:18.
By 8:10, Laura and Margaret were sitting in the attorney’s office above a bakery that smelled aggressively of cinnamon.
Naomi was fifty-something, compact, direct, with black-framed glasses and the habit of turning documents exactly square with the edge of her desk.
She listened without interrupting for almost fifteen minutes.
Then she looked at Margaret.
“I need you to understand that there may be several separate problems here.”
Margaret nodded.
“First, whether the trust owned the house at the time of the transfer. Second, whether you validly authorized any transfer. Third, whether your son used a power of attorney for his own benefit in a way he was not permitted to. Fourth, what happened after the property entered the LLC. Fifth, whether there has actually been a completed sale to an unrelated buyer.”
Laura leaned forward.
“Can we find that out today?”
“We can find public recording information. A closing can occur before every record is available online.”
Naomi turned to Margaret.
“You said Daniel told you the sale closed yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Did he show you a settlement statement?”
“No.”
“Purchase contract?”
“No.”
“Any proceeds?”
“No.”
“Did you receive tax advice?”
“No.”
“Did anyone independently represent you?”
“No.”
May you like
Naomi looked at Laura.
“That is not how I would want this handled.”
