Chapter 14 - THE SECOND TRANSFER
The bank had stopped the second transfer because I had changed my password and asked for extra security. No money had left my account.
I told Matthew in the kitchen. He looked as shocked as I felt.
“Twenty-seven thousand?” he said. “I didn’t know.”
I wanted to believe him. This time, I waited for evidence.
He called Jessica on speaker. She answered after three rings.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“At Mom’s. Did you try to move more money from her account yesterday?”
Silence.
“Jess.”
“I was checking something.”
“The bank recorded an attempted transfer.”
Another silence, longer this time.
“I thought we could cover what we owe and put it back once the house sold,” she said.
“The house isn’t selling,” I told her.
“I know that now.”
“You knew it when you tried.”
Her voice shook. “I was trying to keep us from going under.”
Matthew leaned against the counter. “You told me you were finished with her tablet.”
“I didn’t think the transfer would go through without the new code.”
“So you tried anyway.”
She began to cry. I felt sorry that she was frightened. I also thought of how close I had come to losing money I needed for my own life.
“I’m ending the call,” I said. “Helen will have the bank records.”
Jessica said my name, but I hung up.
Matthew sat at the table. For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
“I’m going to give the bank everything I know,” he said at last.
“Good.”
“And I’m going to stay at the hotel until I can find a place I can afford on my own.”
I sat across from him. “Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with my marriage. I do know I can’t keep saying I had no choice.”
I reached across the table. He took my hand.
“I love you,” I said. “I’m angry with you. Both are true.”
His face crumpled. “I love you too, Mom.”
He stayed to help Louise wash the dishes. Before he left, he asked if he could look at the wooden star.
We carried it to George’s workbench in the garage. Matthew found a small piece of scrap wood and shaped it to brace the broken point. His hands moved with a confidence I remembered from the summer he and George built the deck.
We left the glue to dry overnight.
The next morning, Helen called again. The bank wanted to speak with Matthew, and he had agreed to go in. Then she told me one more thing.
The attempted transfer had been made from a phone Jessica owned.
May you like
But the one-time code had been sent to Matthew’s number.
He had given it to her.
