Chapter 17 - THE SECOND CAMERA
The title company footage was clearer than the bank’s.
Deline entered at 2:14 p.m.
Mason was beside her.
He wore a navy baseball cap and carried a document envelope.
Deline wore large glasses.
No disguise could hide the way she moved.
I had watched her cross Thanksgiving rooms for nine years.
She sat at a conference table.
A closing assistant placed documents in front of her.
Deline signed.
Mason signed.
Then a third person entered.
Margaret.
Callum’s mother.
My stomach dropped.
In the conference room beside Claire’s office, nobody spoke.
Callum stared at the screen.
Margaret looked different than she had at Thanksgiving.
Smaller somehow.
She sat beside Deline and handed the closing assistant a folder.
Claire paused the footage.
“What was in that folder?”
The investigator beside her checked his notes.
“Copies of identification and property records.”
Callum stood.
“My mother gave them our information?”
The investigator nodded.
“That is what we are trying to establish.”
Callum walked to the window.
He looked physically ill.
I had spent weeks believing Margaret’s role was cowardice.
Maybe it was more.
We drove to her house together.
She opened the door and knew immediately.
“You saw the video.”
Callum’s voice shook.
“You gave them our documents.”
Margaret sat down without denying it.
“Deline said it was temporary.”
I almost could not believe the sentence.
“Temporary collateral?”
“She said the flower shop needed a bridge loan.”
“You gave someone copies of our identification.”
“I did not know she would sign your names.”
Callum stared at his mother.
“You watched her do it.”
Margaret began crying.
“I thought they were signing company documents.”
“You sat there.”
“I didn’t read them.”
Callum laughed bitterly.
For once, he heard his own excuses coming from someone else.
“You didn’t read them.”
Margaret covered her face.
“I was trying to keep Deline from losing everything.”
Callum stepped backward.
“And if Evelyn lost our house?”
“I never thought that would happen.”
“But you were willing to risk it.”
Margaret looked at him.
He said the words slowly.
“You did to me exactly what I did to Evelyn.”
That silenced all of us.
There was no triumph in the realization.
Only grief.
Margaret had taught Callum that avoiding conflict justified transferring risk to someone quieter.
He had repeated the lesson inside our marriage.
Callum left the house before I did.
At the front door, Margaret grabbed my sleeve.
“Please.”
I turned.
“If Deline is charged, Poppy will lose her mother.”
I removed her hand.
“No.”
“Poppy may finally learn that loving someone does not require protecting them from every consequence.”
Outside, Callum stood in the snow.
He was crying.
“I don’t know who my family is anymore.”
I looked toward the car where Renley’s booster seat was visible through the window.
May you like
“Yes, you do.”
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