Chapter 3 - THE CALL
I photographed every page without moving the folder.
The estimate covered demolition, new wiring, built-in cabinets, and converting Richard’s study into a sales office.
Twenty-eight thousand dollars.
Attached to it was a financing worksheet.
I recognized my address.
My birth date.
The last four digits of my Social Security number.
My mouth went dry.
I called Arthur Aldridge.
He had handled Richard’s estate and my own planning afterward.
He answered on the third ring.
“Margaret?”
“I think it’s time.”
We had spoken months earlier about tightening control of my finances after Daniel asked whether I would guarantee another business loan.
I had said no.
Arthur had suggested additional protections.
I had told him my son would respect my answer.
Now I heard the memory of my own certainty and felt sick.
“Are you safe?” Arthur asked after I explained.
“They’re downstairs.”
“Can you leave without confronting them?”
“Yes.”
“Bring identification and anything you can collect safely.
Don’t sign anything.
Come here.”
I pulled on jeans and a loose sweater.
In the mirror, my hair looked worse in daylight.
I tied a scarf around it.
As I reached the kitchen, Vanessa glanced up from a smoothie.
“Oh, that’s dramatic.”
Daniel stood at the counter.
“Where are you going?”
“Out.”
“We need to talk about yesterday.”
“I agree.”
He waited.
I picked up my purse.
“But not right now.”
Arthur met me at his office door.
His expression changed when I removed the scarf.
He didn’t tell me it would grow back.
He didn’t ask what I had said to upset her.
He called his assistant in, asked whether I wanted someone sitting with me, and let me choose.
Then he watched the footage.
When Daniel handed Vanessa the scissors, Arthur paused the video.
“Did you give either of them permission to alter the house?”
“No.”
“Apply for financing?”
“No.”
“Use your identity?”
“No.”
He made notes.
“We’ll separate what we know from what we suspect.”
He helped me contact the lender listed on the worksheet.
An employee verified enough information to flag the application and transfer us to the fraud department.
Then she asked a question.
“Mrs. Hale, did you authorize your son to speak on your behalf during Tuesday’s verification call?”
“No.”
A pause.
“Did you participate in that call?”
“No.”
Arthur leaned forward.
“Preserve the recording,” he said.
May you like
The woman went quiet.
Then she said, “There was a woman on the line identifying herself as Mrs. Hale.”
