Chương 7
“Answering isn’t confronting.”
“With Daniel it is.”
The phone stopped.
A text arrived.
I need to talk to you alone.
Laura showed Margaret.
Her mother took another bite of sandwich.
“He wants to separate us.”
“Probably.”
“Call Naomi.”
Laura did.
Naomi advised against meeting Daniel privately but said Laura could preserve any written communication and, if necessary, offer communication through counsel.
Laura texted him one sentence.
Talk to Mom’s attorney.
Daniel replied almost immediately.
You have no idea what she’s done.
Laura stared at the message.
Margaret noticed her face.
“What?”
Laura handed over the phone.
Her mother read it.
Something changed in her expression.
Fear.
Laura saw it.
“What did you do?”
Margaret returned the phone.
“Nothing.”
“That was not a nothing face.”
“I’m tired.”
“Mom.”
“I need to lie down.”
Laura moved between her and the hallway.
Margaret looked irritated.
“Move.”
“Tell me.”
“Laura.”
“What is he talking about?”
Margaret’s shoulders sagged.
For the first time since the porch, she looked seventy-six.
Not frail.
Old.
There was a difference.
“I took money.”
Laura felt the room tilt.
“What money?”
“From Daniel.”
“How much?”
“Forty-eight thousand dollars.”
Laura stared.
“You stole forty-eight thousand dollars from Daniel?”
“No.”
“Then what does ‘took’ mean?”
“He transferred money into my account.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
“Over the last two years.”
Laura sat down slowly.
Margaret remained standing.
“He would send me money and say it was repayment.”
“You told me he only repaid three thousand.”
“That was the old loan.”
“So what were these payments?”
“That is what I wanted to know.”
“And you kept them?”
“Yes.”
“Forty-eight thousand dollars.”
“It’s still there.”
“Why didn’t you send it back?”
“Because the descriptions didn’t make sense.”
“What descriptions?”
Margaret went to the suitcase.
From the legal envelope she pulled three bank statements.
Transfers from Bennett Residential Holdings LLC.
Several had memo lines.
Consulting fee.
Reimbursement.
Property management.
One simply said PRIOR LOAN.
“Mom, did you do consulting for his company?”
“No.”
“Property management?”
“I watered his plants once.”
Laura looked up.
Margaret shrugged.
“He went to Florida.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“I know.”
“Why would he send you business money?”
“I thought maybe he was moving money through my account.”
“And you didn’t call anyone?”
“I called him.”
“What did he say?”
“That I worry too much.”
“And that satisfied you?”
“No. That’s when I started saving everything.”
Laura looked at the USB.
“The recordings.”
Margaret nodded.
“Some are about the transfers.”
“Did you spend any?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Laura hated that she asked.
Margaret heard the doubt anyway.
“I am sure.”
“Okay.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I said okay.”
“You sound like your father.”
“That could mean anything.”
“It means you say ‘okay’ when you don’t believe someone but want to stop arguing.”
Laura almost snapped back.
Instead she looked at the statements.
One transfer had arrived two weeks before the trust-to-LLC deed was signed.
Nine thousand eight hundred dollars.
“What happened after this one?”
Margaret looked.
“That was when he asked me to sign the insurance paper.”
Laura’s stomach tightened.
The transaction might have been designed to create the appearance of payment.
Naomi confirmed the possibility without declaring it fact.
“It could be characterized in different ways,” she said over the phone. “Do not speculate in writing. Preserve the records.”
By late afternoon, Patricia Sloan had returned Naomi’s call.
She denied witnessing Margaret sign the deed.
She also denied notarizing it.
That changed everything.
Naomi told them to bring the original documents they possessed to her office and to prepare for detectives to become involved.
Forgery was no longer merely Laura’s angry theory.
Somebody appeared to have used a notary’s credentials.
Daniel still had not produced a buyer.
At five-thirty, he arrived at Laura’s house.
The doorbell rang once.
Margaret was in the living room.
Laura checked the camera.
Daniel stood on the porch without a coat, hands visible, face pale.
Laura called Naomi before opening the door.
Naomi told her she did not have to let him in.
Daniel rang again.
Margaret appeared behind Laura.
“I want to talk to him.”
“No.”
“He is my son.”
“He stole your house.”
“Allegedly.”
Laura stared.
Margaret raised one eyebrow.
“You wanted me to listen to the lawyer.”
“That is irritatingly fair.”
Laura opened the door but left the storm door locked.
Daniel looked through the glass.
The slap mark was gone.
He seemed smaller than he had the night before.
“Mom.”
Margaret stepped beside Laura.
“Where are my keys?”
Daniel swallowed.
“I brought your medication.”
He held up a pharmacy bottle.
“I replaced it already.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“I called the pharmacy.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“You didn’t need to make this a police thing.”
Margaret stared at him.
“You changed my locks.”
“The lender required the property secured.”
Laura felt heat rise behind her ears.
“There’s no buyer.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
Laura almost laughed.
“Wrong porch for that attitude.”
Margaret lifted a hand.
Laura stopped.
Her mother asked, “There was no closing?”
Daniel looked away.
“I had a deal.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“It fell apart yesterday morning.”
Margaret’s lips parted.
“And you told me it closed.”
“I was trying to get you somewhere safe while I fixed it.”
“You put my suitcase outside.”
“You wouldn’t leave.”
“It was my house.”
Daniel struck the storm door lightly with the heel of his hand.
“It wasn’t safe anymore.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the street.
Laura noticed a dark sedan parked half a block away.
Maybe a neighbor.
Maybe not.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Because the loan is in default.”
Margaret’s face emptied.
Laura gripped the doorframe.
“How much?” she asked.
Daniel ignored her.
Margaret repeated, “How much?”
“The principal was three-twenty.”
“Was?”
“Fees. Interest.”
“How much now?”
“About three-sixty-eight.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Daniel stepped closer to the glass.
“Mom, I can fix it.”
Her eyes opened.
“You said that when you were nineteen.”
Daniel flinched.
May you like
Laura looked between them.
“What happened when he was nineteen?”
