Chapter 2 - THREE DAYS EARLIER
Alexander reached for the recorder.
“Where did you get this?”
“Thursday.
Your wife invited me over to discuss your Mother’s Day surprise.”
Bianca shook her head.
“She’s twisting everything.”
“I arrived early.
You were on the patio.
The sliding door was open.”
I had stood in the kitchen holding a peach pie while Bianca and her parents discussed my future as if I were already gone.
My house.
My savings.
A room in a facility they had never asked me to visit.
I left the pie on the counter and went home.
Then I made one phone call.
Now Alexander listened while Lydia’s recorded voice said, “She forgets things.
We can make that work.”
His face changed.
Not dramatically.
Something simply drained out of it.
“My mother doesn’t forget things.”
“She forgot your birthday dinner,” Bianca said.
“You told me it was canceled,” I replied.
“That’s not—”
“And you told Alexander I refused to come.”
He looked at me.
“Mom?”
“I still have the message.”
Ewald put the envelope on the table.
“There’s obviously been a misunderstanding.”
“Then leave the money,” Alexander said.
“It’s already on the table.”
“All of it.”
We watched Ewald reach into his jacket and place another stack beside the envelope.
Lydia stopped smiling.
Bianca grabbed Alexander’s wrist.
“You’re humiliating my parents over some edited recording?”
He pulled away.
“Did you discuss selling my mother’s house?”
“We were planning for her.”
“Without her?”
“You never make hard decisions.”
I opened my handbag and removed a folded page.
There had been a time when I thought showing proof would make everything simple.
The guilty would admit it.
The innocent would apologize.
Families would choose decency.
At seventy-two, I knew better.
“This arrived in my mailbox yesterday.”
Alexander unfolded it.
It was a confirmation from a title company.
A closing had been scheduled for Friday.
Seller: Helga Morgen.
Property address: mine.
His eyes stopped at the bottom.
“Why does this say I’m your authorized representative?”
“That’s what I came to ask.”
Bianca moved toward him.
“Alex, listen to me before you get upset.”
He held up the page.
“Did you use my name?”
Ewald stepped between them.
“Your wife was trying to solve a family problem.”
Alexander looked at the signature.
May you like
Then he whispered something that made my stomach drop.
“That looks like mine.”
