Thomas placed his phone on the table and enlarged the attachment again.<\/p>\n
Four hundred twelve thousand six hundred dollars.<\/p>\n
The figure was not exact.<\/p>\n
That almost made it worse.<\/p>\n
It was close enough to show knowledge, but rounded enough to suggest someone had assembled it from several different sources.<\/p>\n
Mark shook his head. \u201cThat can\u2019t be right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d Thomas asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom never discusses her finances.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raymond and I had been old-fashioned about money. We did not discuss balances at dinner. We did not announce investments to relatives. We believed privacy prevented both envy and unsolicited advice.<\/p>\n
Even Mark knew only fragments.<\/p>\n
Thomas scrolled through the document.<\/p>\n
The house valuation was there.<\/p>\n
Approximately correct.<\/p>\n
My savings balance was close.<\/p>\n
My retirement account was disturbingly close.<\/p>\n
Then I saw something that made me lean forward.<\/p>\n
One account was listed at roughly eighty-six thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
I had not mentioned that account to Mark since Raymond died.<\/p>\n
Perhaps not even then.<\/p>\n
Thomas noticed my expression.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAccurate?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClose.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow close?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClose enough that whoever prepared this knew more than they should.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark looked from the screen to me. \u201cWho knew about it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRaymond.\u201d<\/p>\n
He waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded. \u201cI had access to the information when we organized Raymond\u2019s estate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone else?\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought.<\/p>\n
Our accountant had records.<\/p>\n
The bank obviously did.<\/p>\n
But Alicia did not have access to either, as far as I knew.<\/p>\n
Then I remembered a winter afternoon two years earlier.<\/p>\n
Mark and Alicia had come over because my printer had stopped working.<\/p>\n
Mark spent an hour wrestling with the machine while Alicia helped me sort papers on the dining table.<\/p>\n
Tax papers.<\/p>\n
Insurance statements.<\/p>\n
Bank envelopes.<\/p>\n
Nothing unusual had happened.<\/p>\n
At least nothing I had noticed.<\/p>\n
I felt suddenly cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo years ago,\u201d I said, \u201cAlicia helped me organize financial papers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
Thomas asked, \u201cWas she ever alone with them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer irritated me.<\/p>\n
Not because I should have remembered every minute.<\/p>\n
Because Alicia had spent the morning using ordinary lapses as evidence that I was incapable.<\/p>\n
Now I found myself instinctively afraid to admit I could not remember whether a woman had been alone in my dining room two winters ago.<\/p>\n
Thomas seemed to understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot remembering an unremarkable detail from two years ago tells us nothing except that it was unremarkable at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gave him a grateful look.<\/p>\n
Mark sat down again.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould she have photographed statements?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas pointed to the asset inventory. \u201cBut that wouldn\u2019t necessarily explain current balances.\u201d<\/p>\n
He zoomed farther down.<\/p>\n
There were dates beside some entries.<\/p>\n
Recent dates.<\/p>\n
One was less than two months old.<\/p>\n
I felt the air leave my lungs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat account statement came in the mail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou still get paper statements?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor that account.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere do you keep them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the desk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas asked, \u201cLocked?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
There had never been a reason.<\/p>\n
My own house had once been the place where I did not need locks.<\/p>\n
The missing spare key changed the meaning of that.<\/p>\n
Bruce had entered when I was absent.<\/p>\n
Alicia had access.<\/p>\n
Someone could have opened drawers.<\/p>\n
Photographed documents.<\/p>\n
Closed everything carefully.<\/p>\n
I thought about all the times I had walked through my rooms without knowing another person had been there.<\/p>\n
That frightened me more than the valuation photographs.<\/p>\n
A photograph stole an image.<\/p>\n
Opening a desk stole privacy.<\/p>\n
Mark looked sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cBruce could have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cWe don\u2019t assume.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe establish facts first.\u201d<\/p>\n
His phone vibrated again.<\/p>\n
Another message from Bruce.<\/p>\n
Thomas read it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says the asset inventory was already attached when Alicia sent him the October ninth email.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark swore softly.<\/p>\n
Thomas continued reading.<\/p>\n
\u201cBruce says he never requested it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you believe him?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe we should preserve what he says and compare it with the documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark paced toward the window again.<\/p>\n
\u201cCall Alicia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
Mark turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause right now we have information she may not realize we possess.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost smiled.<\/p>\n
Thomas and I had reached the same conclusion from different directions.<\/p>\n
Information was useful before the other person knew you had it.<\/p>\n
My grocery notepad remained beside me.<\/p>\n
Nineteen minutes.<\/p>\n
Still hidden.<\/p>\n
Mark noticed me looking at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNotes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome.\u201d<\/p>\n
He accepted the answer.<\/p>\n
Thomas returned to the financial inventory.<\/p>\n
At the bottom, beneath the total, was another notation.<\/p>\n
Not typed.<\/p>\n
Handwritten.<\/p>\n
The writing looked unfamiliar.<\/p>\n
Estimated total available: $412,600.<\/p>\n
Available.<\/p>\n
Not worth.<\/p>\n
Not assets.<\/p>\n
Available.<\/p>\n
I pointed to the word.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat bothers me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark leaned closer. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause whoever wrote it wasn\u2019t simply calculating Dorothy\u2019s net worth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas tapped the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were thinking about what could be accessed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark went pale again.<\/p>\n
I sat back.<\/p>\n
Alicia had lost seventy-three thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
My house was valued at roughly one hundred eighty-five thousand.<\/p>\n
Yet somebody had inventoried more than twice that amount.<\/p>\n
If the goal was merely replacing the twins\u2019 college money, the house alone was more than enough.<\/p>\n
So why list my retirement accounts?<\/p>\n
Why my insurance?<\/p>\n
Why savings?<\/p>\n
Why calculate everything?<\/p>\n
The question settled over the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Thomas voiced it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Alicia needed seventy-three thousand dollars, why prepare an inventory of more than four hundred thousand?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither did I.<\/p>\n
But I remembered Alicia\u2019s words during the accidental call.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s everything.<\/p>\n
At the time, I had assumed she meant everything they wanted.<\/p>\n
Now I wondered whether she meant everything I owned.<\/p>\n
Eleanor finally spoke from the doorway.<\/p>\n
\u201cDorothy.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned.<\/p>\n
She had been so quiet that I had nearly forgotten she remained there.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou asked me to watch the driveway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something in her tone made Thomas straighten.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you see?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLast week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened last week?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor looked at me rather than him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think anything of it at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBruce\u2019s car.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt my house?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAcross the street.\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe parked there for maybe ten minutes. Then Alicia arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou weren\u2019t home, Dorothy.\u201d<\/p>\n
I tried to remember.<\/p>\n
Last week.<\/p>\n
Then I did.<\/p>\n
Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
Dental cleaning.<\/p>\n
Afterward I had gone to the grocery store.<\/p>\n
I had been away nearly three hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did they do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlicia walked to your side door.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Bruce?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stayed in the car at first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlicia went inside. A few minutes later, Bruce followed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas picked up his pen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long were they inside?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty minutes. Maybe twenty-five.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you see them leave?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWere they carrying anything?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cBruce had a folder.\u201d<\/p>\n
My eyes moved toward Thomas\u2019s briefcase.<\/p>\n
Another folder.<\/p>\n
Thomas asked the obvious question.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Alicia use a key?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The missing spare.<\/p>\n
Alicia had claimed Bruce entered three times.<\/p>\n
Apparently there had been at least one visit recent enough that even the latest account balance might have been available.<\/p>\n
Thomas wrote down the date as Eleanor remembered it.<\/p>\n
Then he looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour locks get changed today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd until we understand this, financial documents should go somewhere secure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark rubbed both hands over his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe she did this.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou believed I should leave my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
He lowered his hands.<\/p>\n
The words hurt him.<\/p>\n
I did not regret saying them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas closed the asset document.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to contact Silver Meadows. We need copies of anything submitted in Dorothy\u2019s name. We need to secure her financial records and notify the relevant institutions that no authority has been granted to Mark, Alicia, Bruce, or anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark nodded.<\/p>\n
Then stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Alicia thought she had that authority already\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward the forged-looking document.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026what else could she have tried to do?\u201d<\/p>\n
That question changed the room.<\/p>\n
Thomas immediately reached for his briefcase.<\/p>\n
I felt a slow pressure building behind my ribs.<\/p>\n
We had been thinking forward.<\/p>\n
December eighteenth.<\/p>\n
December twenty-seventh.<\/p>\n
Silver Meadows.<\/p>\n
The future.<\/p>\n
But the false signature was dated October eighth.<\/p>\n
Weeks ago.<\/p>\n
The asset inventory was already prepared.<\/p>\n
Bruce had already entered my house.<\/p>\n
Alicia had already submitted information about my supposed incapacity.<\/p>\n
Perhaps they had not been preparing to act.<\/p>\n
Perhaps they had already acted.<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to know whether anyone has touched my money.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded once.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe find out now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark pulled out his phone.<\/p>\n
Thomas stopped him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot from your account.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause your joint account is listed as the destination for proceeds from Dorothy\u2019s property.\u201d<\/p>\n
My son stared at him.<\/p>\n
For the first time, I saw him understand that being ignorant of Alicia\u2019s full plan did not mean his name had been absent from it.<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cUse your phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
I retrieved it from the counter.<\/p>\n
My hand was steady until I opened the banking application.<\/p>\n
Then it trembled.<\/p>\n
The checking account looked normal.<\/p>\n
Savings looked normal.<\/p>\n
I opened the older account.<\/p>\n
The one Alicia should not have known existed.<\/p>\n
For several seconds, the screen loaded.<\/p>\n
Then the balance appeared.<\/p>\n
I stared at it.<\/p>\n
Thomas noticed my expression.<\/p>\n
\u201cDorothy?\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not answer.<\/p>\n
I was looking at a transaction I had never made.<\/p>\n
Not seventy-three thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
Not yet.<\/p>\n
A smaller amount.<\/p>\n
Small enough, perhaps, to be overlooked.<\/p>\n
Exactly $1,000.<\/p>\n
Transferred three days earlier.<\/p>\n
The destination was unfamiliar.<\/p>\n
Thomas came beside me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you authorize that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark moved closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
I enlarged the transaction.<\/p>\n
There was a reference number and an abbreviated recipient name.<\/p>\n
Thomas read it.<\/p>\n
His expression hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t touch anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause this may tell us whether somebody was testing access before attempting something larger.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words chilled me.<\/p>\n
A test.<\/p>\n
One thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
Small enough to see whether the door opened.<\/p>\n
I thought of my missing house key.<\/p>\n
Then of the other kind of doors Alicia had apparently been trying.<\/p>\n
My medical history.<\/p>\n
My legal authority.<\/p>\n
My finances.<\/p>\n
Mark whispered, \u201cMom, who got the money?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas enlarged the recipient information.<\/p>\n
The abbreviation resolved into a business name.<\/p>\n
I had never seen it before.<\/p>\n
But Mark had.<\/p>\n
I knew because his face changed before he said a word.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
He stared at the screen.<\/p>\n
Then at the front door through which his wife had just left.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the company Daniel Cross uses.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man who had taken the twins\u2019 college money.<\/p>\n
And three days earlier, someone had begun sending him mine.<\/p>\n
Thomas placed his phone on the table and enlarged the attachment again. Four hundred twelve thousand six hundred dollars. The figure was not exact. That almost made it worse. It … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15525,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15498\/revisions\/15525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}