Chapter 14 - THE DEAD NOTARY
Police questioned Carmen after the hearing.
She denied everything.
The forged signature.
The credit line.
The payroll diversion.
The office break-in.
Her lawyer quit by noon.
By evening, investigators had obtained a warrant for her condo.
They found boxes.
My tax records.
Daniel’s trust statements.
Valeria’s old college paperwork.
Copies of Sofia’s messages.
And a notebook.
That notebook became the ugliest thing I had ever read.
Carmen had written down dates when I traveled.
What Camila ate.
When Daniel drank.
What bills I paid.
What passwords she thought we used.
Beside my name she had written:
WORKS TOO MUCH. GUILTY ABOUT CHILD. EASY TO PRESSURE.
Beside Daniel:
NEEDS APPROVAL. AFRAID OF FAILURE.
Beside Valeria:
WANTS ATTENTION. USE MONEY.
She had turned her own family into a list of weaknesses.
I sat in Lena’s office holding photocopies.
“This is who she is,” Valeria whispered.
Daniel was across the table.
He looked older than he had two days earlier.
“I let her do this.”
I said nothing.
He turned to me.
“I need you to know I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I’m going to cooperate.”
“With police?”
“With everything.”
I looked at him.
“Why now?”
He stared at the notebook.
“Because I finally understand that every time I said ‘that’s just how Mom is,’ I was asking someone else to pay for my cowardice.”
It was the first honest thing he had said.
Then Detective Greene entered.
“We found something else.”
He set a small digital recorder on the table.
It had been hidden in Carmen’s kitchen.
The audio was old.
A man’s voice said, “If Mariana loses custody, Daniel can claim the trust distributions.”
Then Carmen replied:
“And if Daniel refuses?”
The man laughed.
“He won’t.”
I looked at Greene.
“Who is that?”
May you like
He answered with a name I knew.
My company’s former financial adviser.
