Chapter 2 - THE SECOND ACCOUNT
My house had been paid off for six years.
I knew the exact date because I still had the letter from the mortgage company in a folder upstairs.
PAID IN FULL.
I remembered holding that letter at the kitchen counter after my husband died and crying so hard I had to sit down.
That house was supposed to be my safety.
My one thing nobody could take from me.
Now Mara was telling me somebody had borrowed money against it.
“How much?” I asked.
Nobody answered.
“Mara.”
She looked at me.
“How much?”
“Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
Nicole gasped.
My knees nearly gave out.
She caught my elbow.
“Mom.”
I pulled away because I did not want anybody holding me up.
Not yet.
I looked at Ethan.
“You mortgaged my house?”
“I didn’t.”
Mara’s voice stayed calm.
“The application was submitted online six months ago.”
“That proves nothing.”
“It used Patricia’s Social Security number, her date of birth, her property information, and a scanned copy of her driver’s license.”
Ethan spread his hands.
“Anybody could get that stuff.”
“Not anybody.”
“People steal identities every day.”
Mara nodded.
“They do.”
For half a second, Ethan looked relieved.
Then Mara continued.
“They don’t usually upload documents from their own home Wi-Fi network.”
Amber stepped back from him.
“What are you saying?”
Mara pulled out another page.
“The loan application originated from the Reynolds residence on Meadow Creek Drive.”
Amber blinked.
“That’s our address.”
Ethan turned on her.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Start acting stupid.”
Amber’s face changed.
“You better watch how you talk to me.”
“This is obviously some kind of setup.”
Nicole gave a bitter laugh.
“By who? Mom?”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
That hurt differently.
Not because I believed him.
Because I realized he was willing to say anything.
Anything at all.
“You’re saying I stole my own identity?” I asked.
“I’m saying maybe you’re trying to make this look like me.”
“For what possible reason?”
“You always liked Nicole better.”
Nicole stepped forward.
“Oh, screw you.”
“Stay out of it.”
“No. You dragged all of us into it when you humiliated Mom in front of everyone.”
Ethan pointed at me.
“She knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That the money was gone.”
I froze.
Technically, he was right.
Three days earlier, I had tried to move $20,000 from my retirement account into a bank certificate of deposit.
The transfer failed.
When I called the bank, the representative asked me to verify recent transactions.
I recognized none of them.
The bank froze the account immediately.
I spent the next day at a branch office filling out fraud paperwork.
I had told only Nicole.
I had not told Ethan.
I had not told Amber.
I had not told anybody else.
The bank told me not to contact anyone I suspected.
At the time, I suspected nobody.
I thought some stranger had stolen my information.
I never imagined the stranger would have my last name.
“I found out three days ago,” I said.
Ethan’s eyes sharpened.
“Aha.”
“Aha what?”
“You knew before tonight.”
“Yes. I knew money was missing. I did not know who took it.”
“Convenient.”
Mara interrupted.
“Mr. Reynolds, it would be wise for you to stop speaking.”
He turned toward her.
“Is that a threat?”
“No. It’s advice.”
“I don’t need advice.”
“You may change your mind.”
Amber stared at him.
“Ethan, where did the loan money go?”
He ignored her.
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Where did it go?”
“Get off me.”
She let go, shocked.
I had never seen him speak to her that way.
Not in front of us.
Maybe not at all.
Mara opened another folder.
“The loan funded into an account in Patricia’s name.”
Ethan smirked.
“There. See?”
“Then it moved three minutes later.”
The smirk disappeared.
“To where?” I asked.
Mara looked at Amber.
“A business account.”
“What business?”
“Ridgeway Consulting LLC.”
Amber frowned.
“I’ve never heard of it.”
Mara kept looking at her.
“It’s registered to your husband.”
The room exploded again.
Amber slapped a hand over her mouth.
Ethan started backing away.
“No.”
Mara continued.
“From Ridgeway Consulting, the funds were split into six transfers. Two went to offshore betting processors. One went toward a Mercedes lease. One paid a credit card balance. Another went to a cryptocurrency exchange.”
“And the last one?” Nicole asked.
Mara hesitated.
Then she looked at me.
“It went to a private account.”
“Whose?”
She checked the page.
“Someone named Cassandra Vale.”
Amber’s face became completely blank.
“Who,” she asked, very quietly, “is Cassandra Vale?”
Ethan stared at the floor.
Nobody moved.
Then Amber walked toward him.
“Ethan.”
He raised his eyes.
She slapped him across the face.
Hard.
“You stole from your mother,” she said, shaking, “and sent money to another woman?”
Ethan grabbed his cheek.
“Amber, listen to me.”
“No. You listen to me.”
Her voice cracked.
“I want to know who Cassandra is.”
Mara interrupted.
“Mrs. Reynolds?”
I turned.
“There’s something you should know before this gets any worse.”
I almost laughed.
“Worse?”
She slid a photograph across the table.
It showed Ethan leaving a hotel.
Beside him was a woman I had never seen.
Mara tapped the date printed at the bottom.
“The bank’s investigation uncovered more than financial fraud.”
Amber looked at the photograph.
Then at Ethan.
Then back at the photograph.
Her hands began to shake.
“Who is she?”
Ethan said nothing.
Amber reached for the picture.
May you like
And when she turned it over, there was a handwritten note on the back.
A note addressed to me.
