Chapter 12 - THE THING I COULDN’T IGNORE
“No.”
I said it immediately.
Too fast.
Too loud.
Arthur had died from a massive stroke.
Doctors had explained it clearly.
There had been no mystery.
No suspicious medication.
No unexplained injury.
I refused to let grief turn coincidence into conspiracy.
“Do not suggest that.”
Brittany shook her head.
“I’m not saying Darren did anything.”
“You just implied it.”
“I’m telling you what happened.”
Ethan stood.
“Did you ever see Darren near Dad?”
“No.”
“Did he threaten him?”
“Not directly.”
“Then stop.”
Brittany wiped her face.
“I said I didn’t know.”
I looked at Janet, who had joined the meeting remotely on Patricia’s tablet.
“Is there any evidence connecting Darren to Arthur personally?”
“No.”
“Any contact?”
“We are reviewing communications.”
“Any reason to believe Arthur’s death was anything other than natural?”
“No.”
“Good.”
I looked at Brittany.
“Then we do not turn my husband’s death into a story because it makes yours more dramatic.”
She nodded.
Ashamed.
For once.
Ethan sat beside her.
Not touching.
Not comforting.
Just sitting.
I looked at them both.
“You need lawyers.”
Brittany’s eyes widened.
“Criminal lawyers?”
“I don’t know.”
“Margaret—”
“You admitted knowingly processing transactions you believed were improper.”
“I didn’t take money.”
“That matters.”
“I can fix this.”
“That is not up to me.”
She started crying again.
This time quietly.
“I’m going to lose everything.”
I thought of the funeral.
Her friends laughing.
The old woman she sent toward the sale rack.
Helen.
Mia.
The customers she dismissed.
Then I remembered something Arthur told me thirty years earlier.
Consequences are not revenge.
Do not confuse them.
I looked at Brittany.
“You may.”
She stared at me.
“You’re happy.”
“No.”
“You hated me.”
“I didn’t know you well enough to hate you.”
That hurt her.
I saw it.
Good.
Some truths should.
“I thought you looked down on me.”
“I did.”
Her head snapped up.
“At times, yes.”
“Because I came from nothing?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because you acted like everyone else existed to measure your worth.”
She said nothing.
“I should have addressed it earlier.”
“You never liked me.”
“I never trusted the way you treated service workers.”
Her face reddened.
“I noticed years ago.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because Ethan would have called me judgmental.”
My son looked down.
He knew I was right.
I continued.
“I confused staying quiet with keeping peace.”
I looked toward Arthur’s empty chair.
“That was my mistake.”
The next forty-eight hours were ugly.
Company investigators found that Darren had redirected store credits into two shell customer accounts.
From there, credits were used to purchase goods.
Those goods were collected after hours.
Then resold.
Brittany had processed four of the seven suspect returns.
She had not received the proceeds.
At least not according to the evidence.
But she had received something.
An envelope containing five thousand dollars.
Mia’s mystery envelope.
Brittany insisted it was a “bonus” Darren gave her.
Not company payroll.
Cash.
No paperwork.
Her lawyer told her to stop talking.
Probably the smartest advice she had received all month.
By Monday, police had been contacted by the company’s legal team.
Darren resigned before he could be terminated.
The resignation changed nothing.
The investigation continued.
Then Janet called me.
“We’ve reached an employment decision regarding Brittany.”
I closed my eyes.
“Don’t tell me.”
“Margaret.”
“I mean it.”
“You own the company.”
“And I’m her mother-in-law.”
“You’ll learn eventually.”
“Then let me learn when she does.”
Janet was quiet.
“Fair enough.”
At four that afternoon, Brittany arrived at headquarters with her attorney.
Ethan came too.
He waited outside.
I stayed home.
At 4:36, my phone rang.
Ethan.
I answered.
He said nothing.
“Ethan?”
“She’s been fired.”
I closed my eyes.
May you like
He took a breath.
“And she says our marriage is over.”
