Chapter 4 - THREE YEARS OF MONEY

Mark’s face hardened.

“What complaint?”

Deputy Collins did not answer immediately.

He asked Mark to step outside.

Shawn stayed with his parents while paramedics moved them upstairs.

Maria refused to let go of his hand.

In the kitchen, she finally told him what had happened.

Three years earlier, Brenda offered to help them with online banking.

Don’s hands had begun shaking from arthritis. Maria hated computers. Brenda said she would make bill paying easier.

A month later, Shawn’s monthly transfers stopped appearing in their checking account.

They assumed Shawn had stopped sending money.

“We didn’t want to ask,” Maria whispered.

“Why not?”

“Because we knew you were busy.”

That hurt more than anger would have.

Shawn opened his banking app.

Every month, without exception, two thousand dollars had left his account.

Thirty-six months.

Seventy-two thousand dollars.

Don stared at the screen.

“We never got that.”

Shawn called his bank’s emergency fraud number.

The representative confirmed something strange.

For years, the transfers had gone to the same account ending in 4419.

Thirty-seven months ago, the destination changed.

Shawn had approved the change through a digital authorization.

“I never changed it.”

The representative asked him to verify an email address.

It was not his.

It was one letter different from his real address.

A fake.

Shawn slowly looked across the kitchen.

Brenda had helped him set up online transfers years ago when his parents first needed support.

She knew the account numbers.

She knew his security questions.

Deputy Collins returned.

“Mr. Dalton left with another deputy for questioning.”

Brenda stood near the fireplace, arms folded tightly.

Shawn asked, “Where did my money go?”

“I don’t know.”

“Seventy-two thousand dollars.”

“I said I don’t know.”

“Did it pay for the new kitchen?”

Her eyes flicked toward the stone counters.

That was enough.

Then his mother whispered, “There’s more.”

She pointed toward the pantry.

“Behind the flour bin.”

Shawn pulled it out.

Taped beneath the shelf was an envelope.

Inside were notices from the county recorder.

One showed that the family home had been transferred into a newly created trust.

Trustee: Brenda Miller.

The second showed a pending sale.

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Closing date: December 27.

Two days after Christmas.