Chapter 9 - THE THING I SIGNED
Martin had brought that affidavit on a Sunday.
There had been football on television.
Evelyn had been in our kitchen, complaining that Maya bought the wrong coffee.
He said the bank needed one final housekeeping form.
I signed beside a plate of untouched cookies.
Now Daniel placed a copy in front of me.
“This is yours?”
“Yes.”
“Did you review the distributions?”
“No.”
“Then that's what you tell the truth about.”
He explained that investigators would consider what I knew and what evidence supported it.
He couldn't promise where that would lead.
“What if it hurts Maya's case?”
“Lying about it will hurt everyone.”
We arranged an interview.
Daniel sat beside me while Ortiz asked about the affidavit, the accounts, and my relationship with Martin.
I told her where we'd been sitting.
What he'd called the form.
How quickly I'd signed.
“Did your wife question these finances before the shed?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I told her to stop worrying.”
Saying it into an official record felt worse than thinking it.
It should have.
Maya was discharged the following afternoon with instructions for follow-up appointments and rest.
Her doctor was encouraged by her progress, but there would be more monitoring.
I had booked a quiet hotel near her clinic.
I told her on the way to the elevator.
She stopped walking.
“I asked Nora if I could stay with her.”
I looked at my sister, then back at my wife.
“For how long?”
“I don't know.”
“I wasn't going to take you back to the house.”
“I know. But you made another plan without asking me.”
The elevator opened.
People stepped around us.
“Do you want me there?” I asked.
“Not tonight.”
I took her bag to Nora's car.
I didn't make her comfort me before leaving.
At the hotel, I sat on the edge of a bed that looked too neatly made for the day I'd had.
Then my phone buzzed with a message from a cousin.
How could you do this to Aunt Evelyn?
Underneath was a screenshot of a family group chat.
May you like
My mother's statement had already been copied a dozen times.
Maya threatened me with a knife. I locked the door to protect myself.
