Chapter 13 - Derek's First Lie
I waited until Patricia drove away.
Then I turned to my brother.
“Inside.”
He followed me into the kitchen.
Mom tried to come with us.
I stopped her.
“You don't need to hear this.”
She looked at Derek.
“Yes, I do.”
So we sat together.
The same three people who had once eaten cereal at that kitchen table after Dad's funeral.
Everything felt different now.
I placed the forged power of attorney in front of Derek.
“Whose idea?”
He said nothing.
Mom whispered, “Derek.”
He looked at her.
Then his eyes filled with tears.
“Mine.”
The word landed harder than I expected.
Melissa had been cruel.
Melissa had isolated Mom.
Melissa had stolen money.
But my brother had opened the first door.
“I was desperate,” he said.
I stood.
“Stop using that word.”
“Rachel.”
“Desperate people ask for help.”
“Desperate people sell their cars.”
“They file bankruptcy.”
“They get jobs.”
“They don't forge their mother's signature.”
He started crying.
Mom reached toward him automatically.
I gently caught her hand.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“Mom, he needs to sit with what he did.”
Derek wiped his face.
“My company was collapsing.”
“I owed employees.”
“I owed taxes.”
“I thought if I could access equity temporarily, I'd repay it before anyone knew.”
“But there was no equity for you to access.”
“I knew that.”
There it was.
“You knew I owned the house.”
“Yes.”
“And you lied to Melissa.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she thought I was successful.”
I stared at him.
“You let Mom suffer because you were embarrassed to tell your wife you were broke?”
He looked down.
“At first, Melissa thought Mom owned the property.”
“She wanted Mom to transfer it.”
“When I admitted she couldn't, Melissa went insane.”
“Then what?”
“She said if the trust couldn't be changed, we'd make it look like it had been.”
Mom began trembling.
Derek looked at her.
“I am sorry.”
She whispered, “Why didn't you just ask me for help?”
His face collapsed.
“Because I had already taken too much.”
Silence filled the kitchen.
Then Caroline called.
I answered on speaker.
“We found Melissa.”
“Where?”
“She used one of the cards in your mother's name.”
“Where?”
“A hotel near the airport.”
I grabbed my keys.
Caroline stopped me.
“Rachel, don't go.”
“Why?”
“Police are handling it.”
My stomach tightened.
“What happened?”
“There's an active fraud investigation now.”
Mom looked frightened.
Caroline continued.
“And Rachel?”
“Yes?”
“The lender sent over the application packet.”
“What did they find?”
“A life-insurance policy.”
I frowned.
“Whose?”
“Your mother's.”
Mom stared at the phone.
Caroline's voice became quieter.
“Melissa purchased a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar policy on her six months ago.”
Nobody moved.
May you like
Then Mom whispered the question none of us wanted to ask.
“Why would she need insurance on me?”
