Chapter 15 - THE DEBT INSIDE OUR HOUSE
I drove home in silence.
Callum was making dinner with Renley when I arrived.
Tomato sauce simmered on the stove.
Renley was drawing a rabbit wearing sunglasses.
For thirty seconds, I stood in the doorway and watched them.
I wanted the scene to be true.
Not temporary.
Not borrowed.
Not resting on another hidden document.
“Renley, sweetheart, can you finish your picture upstairs?”
She looked at my face.
“Are you mad?”
“Not at you.”
She collected her markers.
After she left, I put the statement on the counter.
Callum read the balance.
His face changed.
“I don’t know what this is.”
I almost laughed.
“I need you to understand how little comfort that sentence gives me now.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
He pulled out his phone and opened our bank app.
The line did not appear.
“It’s not through our bank.”
“Correct.”
The lender was a private finance company called North Ridge Capital.
Callum searched his email.
Nothing.
I searched mine.
Nothing.
Then Claire called.
“The application lists the borrower as Hollow Brook Holdings.”
I gripped the counter.
“Then why is our house involved?”
“Your property appears as additional collateral.”
“How?”
“A recorded agreement.”
“Signed by whom?”
“You and Callum.”
Neither of us spoke.
Claire continued.
“I already requested the original.”
Callum leaned against the counter.
“This has to be Deline.”
“Maybe.”
I looked at him.
“But this time I’m not deciding based on what anyone says.”
“I’m deciding based on evidence.”
The following morning, Claire found something more disturbing.
The filing had been recorded with the county.
That meant the document had passed through a title company.
The title company had mailed confirmation.
To our address.
I never received it.
Callum never saw it.
Somebody had intercepted our mail.
I thought about the previous spring.
Margaret had stayed at our house for ten days after minor surgery.
Deline visited almost daily.
She brought soup.
Flowers.
Groceries.
She also collected our mail twice when Callum and I worked late.
When I told Claire, she wrote it down without comment.
That afternoon, I changed the locks.
Callum watched the locksmith work.
“You think my family had keys?”
“I know your mother did.”
He nodded.
“And Deline knew where she kept them.”
“Yes.”
That night, he placed his house key on the kitchen island.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll stay at a hotel.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because you shouldn’t have to wonder whether I’m protecting you or reporting back to them.”
For once, he was leaving before I had to ask.
I did not stop him.
At 10:13 p.m., my phone lit up.
It was Deline.
A new number.
One message.
You have no idea what your husband did for you.
Then another.
May you like
Ask him where the $73,000 went.
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