Chapter 3 - THE LEDGER
Lily didn't explain anything at the table.
She simply stood and walked toward the hallway.
I followed.
Behind us, Marcus called out.
“Where are you going?”
I turned.
“To bed.”
He stared at me suspiciously.
My mother smiled.
“Of course, sweetheart.”
But I could see it.
The fear in her eyes.
She knew Lily had something.
We entered the bedroom.
I closed the door.
Lily locked it.
Then she turned toward me.
For the first time since I had returned, I saw something besides exhaustion in her eyes.
Fear.
But beneath the fear was determination.
“What is the ledger?”
She swallowed.
“Your money.”
“I know.”
“No. You don't.”
She walked to the closet.
She pulled aside a loose piece of wood.
Behind it was a narrow hole.
She reached inside.
And pulled out a black notebook wrapped in plastic.
I stared.
“How long have you had that?”
“Three years.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I tried.”
My chest tightened.
“What do you mean?”
She looked at me.
“I called you.”
“You never got through.”
“I called twenty-seven times.”
I remembered.
There had been months when my mother told me Lily refused to speak to me.
“She said you were angry with me.”
“I wasn't.”
“I know.”
She opened the notebook.
The first page contained dates.
Then amounts.
Then names.
I read the first line.
Daniel — $2,000 — transferred to Elaine — medical expenses.
The next.
Daniel — $1,500 — Marcus — vehicle repair.
The next.
Daniel — $3,200 — Elaine — mortgage emergency.
Then another.
And another.
Hundreds of entries.
My money.
But beside many of them was something else.
A second column.
Actual use.
I stared.
The $3,200 wasn't for a mortgage.
It had gone toward Marcus's gambling debt.
The $1,500 wasn't for repairs.
It had been used for a vacation.
The $2,000 wasn't medical expenses.
It had paid a credit card.
I turned pages faster.
Then I saw something that made my blood run cold.
A transfer.
$18,000.
Recipient:
Elaine Carter Holdings LLC.
Date:
Six months after I left.
“What is this?”
Lily shook her head.
“I don't know.”
I turned another page.
There were dozens of transfers.
$12,000.
$25,000.
$40,000.
$17,500.
Then one enormous amount.
$96,000.
I looked at Lily.
“Where did that go?”
She whispered.
“I don't know.”
“Who recorded these?”
“Marcus.”
“What?”
“He thought I couldn't read the handwriting.”
I stared at the page.
Then Lily pointed toward the back.
“There.”
A handwritten note.
Purchase completed. Property transferred.
Below it was an address.
My stomach dropped.
It was our house.
The house I had bought with my own money before leaving for Canada.
I looked at Lily.
“They transferred my house?”
She nodded.
“I found the papers three months ago.”
“Why didn't you leave?”
“They took my identification.”
I felt something inside me crack.
“Who?”
“All of them.”
My mother.
Marcus.
And someone else.
“Who?”
Lily hesitated.
Then she whispered:
“Your uncle Richard.”
I stared at her.
“My uncle died two years ago.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He didn't.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“What?”
“He disappeared.”
She opened the ledger to another page.
There was a photograph taped inside.
A man standing beside my mother.
Beside Marcus.
And behind them—
my uncle Richard.
Alive.
The photograph had been taken only eight months ago.
I stared at it.
Then I heard footsteps outside.
Lily's face turned white.
Someone stopped directly outside the bedroom.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Then came three soft knocks.
My mother's voice.
“Daniel?”
I looked at Lily.
She quickly hid the ledger.
I opened the door.
Elaine stood there smiling.
“Everything all right?”
I smiled back.
“Perfect.”
She looked past me.
Her eyes searched the room.
Then she said:
“I was just wondering if Lily gave you anything.”
My heart stopped.
I said nothing.
Elaine's smile disappeared.
“Because if she did…”
May you like
She leaned closer.
“…you should know she has been lying to you for years.”
