Chapter 10 - THE PRACTICE SHEETS
Daniel looked at the page.
“What would you like me to know about it?”
Lily pointed to the looping line at the bottom.
“That’s yours.”
“My name?”
She nodded.
“Aunt Rachel does it better.”
Daniel did not ask her to explain again.
He put the page somewhere safe and wrote down her exact words after she went back to the cartoon.
The next morning, he gave the information to the investigator.
By then, the bank had begun reviewing the disputed transfers.
Daniel had also found a form authorizing electronic withdrawals from the children’s savings account.
The signature looked like his.
He had never seen the form.
Naomi studied a copy during their next meeting.
“Did Rachel have access to your mail and financial documents?”
“Yes.”
“Your login information?”
“Not with my permission. But she used the home computer.”
He remembered leaving a folder open after speaking with the insurance company.
He remembered asking Rachel to scan paperwork.
A series of small conveniences, each harmless when you trusted the person beside you.
Together, they had opened the door.
The bank confirmed that some transfers had gone to an account in Rachel’s name.
Daniel sat in his truck while the fraud specialist explained the next steps.
“How much altogether?” he asked.
The answer was eighteen thousand four hundred dollars.
Money Anna had wanted used for the children’s future.
Rachel had been charging him for groceries while taking money he thought was untouched.
That afternoon, she finally sent a message that contained no excuses about discipline.
I borrowed it. I was going to put it back.
Daniel forwarded it to the investigator.
Another arrived.
You paid me almost nothing compared to what a full-time nanny costs.
He had paid her the amount she requested, covered her food, and given her a room.
He did not argue.
A third message appeared.
You want to talk about stealing? You stole seven months of my life.
Daniel set the phone facedown.
Across the table, Owen was coloring a dinosaur green.
“Is she mad?” he asked.
Daniel hated that his son could read the shape of a silent room.
“Her feelings are for adults to handle.”
“Is it because of me?”
“No.”
Before Daniel could say more, someone knocked.
Evelyn stood outside the hotel room.
May you like
Rachel was not with her.
But tucked under Evelyn’s arm was the same kind of yellow folder.
