Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN THEY CALLED A THIEF
Evelyn Price arrived wearing a faded navy cardigan.
She was sixty-three, with red-rimmed eyes and a grocery-store name tag still clipped to her purse.
Daniel recognized her from his father’s retirement dinner.
Vivian had said she was fired for stealing.
Evelyn seemed to read the memory on his face.
“I know what you were told.”
Daniel pulled out a chair.
“I’m listening now.”
She sat carefully.
“Your father noticed the first transfer on a Tuesday. After that, he called the separate record we kept the Tuesday account.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“I tried.”
She placed an old phone on the table.
There were messages to Daniel’s former work number.
Three calls.
Two texts.
That number had been disconnected when he changed jobs.
“Vivian told me you knew,” Evelyn said. “Then she told me if I kept bothering your family, she would report me.”
“For what?”
“The transfers she and Ruth had made using my bookkeeping login.”
Bell leaned forward.
“Did you keep records?”
Evelyn opened a folder.
“I kept everything.”
There were printouts of instructions from Ruth.
Requests to enter payments as family loans.
An email from Vivian asking Evelyn to stop copying Thomas on monthly statements.
And a message sent after Evelyn questioned a forged approval.
You have grandchildren, Evelyn. Think about what an investigation would do to them.
Daniel read it twice.
His sister had sent flowers when Evelyn’s youngest grandchild was born.
He remembered her bragging about it.
“She knew their names,” Evelyn said quietly.
Bell photographed the documents and asked precise questions.
Dates.
Devices.
Original files.
Who had access.
Evelyn answered each one.
When she finished, she looked at Daniel.
“Your father wasn’t perfect. He hated admitting somebody had fooled him.”
Daniel let out a rough breath.
“Runs in the family.”
“He was trying to fix it.”
That hurt more than anything.
Later, in the parking lot, Daniel found Elena waiting beside the car.
Noah and Lily were staying with her mother.
For the first time in two days, they were alone.
“I should’ve listened to you about Vivian,” he said.
Elena looked tired enough to break.
“Yes.”
He nodded.
No easy forgiveness.
He deserved that.
“But right now,” she continued, “I need you looking forward. Our kids can’t spend the rest of their lives watching us look backward.”
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered on speaker.
Vivian was crying.
“Daniel, Ruth’s blaming me for everything.”
“Did you threaten Evelyn?”
“Please. I need you to understand.”
“Did you threaten her?”
A pause.
Then Vivian said, “There’s a video from the house.”
Elena straightened.
May you like
Vivian’s voice dropped.
“And if Ruth gets it first, you’ll never know what really happened.”
