Chapter 3 - WHAT SHE FOUND
“I didn't steal anything.”
Maya said it before I could speak.
That was what my family had done to her.
Even in a hospital bed, she thought she had to defend herself first.
“I believe you.”
She studied my face.
“You've said that before.”
I deserved it.
Three weeks earlier, she had shown me a strange transfer on a statement mailed to our house.
Forty-eight hundred dollars from the small trust my father had left me.
The description said household reimbursement.
I had told her Martin would explain it.
“He did,” she said.
“He said your mother bought furniture for us. I asked which furniture.”
There hadn't been any.
So Maya had checked the older statements in our filing cabinet.
There were other withdrawals, spread far enough apart to look ordinary.
She had called the bank to ask how to request a complete history.
Because she wasn't an account holder, they couldn't give it to her.
“They said you would have to ask.”
“And you were waiting for me.”
“I texted you before your flight.”
I remembered.
Something off with the trust. Please call when you land.
I had called from a crowded airport.
Mom says Martin is sorting it out, I had told her.
Let's not turn this into another family fight.
Maya watched recognition settle over me.
“Your mother came Monday morning. She said some of your father's records were in the shed.”
I gripped the chair.
“She shut the door behind me. I thought she was kidding.”
Her voice flattened.
She stared at the edge of the blanket.
“I kept waiting for her to open it.”
Ortiz arrived while Maya was describing the first night.
She asked whether Maya wanted me to stay.
Maya hesitated.
Then she nodded.
Martin had come on the second day.
He brought papers and told Maya she could come inside after signing them.
A confession to taking trust money.
A statement saying Caleb knew nothing about it.
“Today he brought the recorder,” she said.
“He told me to say the words clearly.”
“Did you?” Ortiz asked.
“Some. I was scared. Then I asked for water, and he got angry.”
She swallowed.
“When they left, I pushed everything behind the bins. I wanted them to think I'd broken it.”
Ortiz closed her notebook.
“We'll document all of it.”
My phone lit up on the bed rail.
May you like
A message from Martin.
Don't make any statements until we talk. Your signature is on those withdrawals too.
