Chapter 6 - The Silver Box
Sloane brought the box through the back entrance so no one would see her carry it. It was scratched, with a blue enamel flower on the lid. I knew that flower. My mother had painted the same shape on the kitchen window of our first apartment.
“Where did Martha get this?” I asked.
“My mom's office. They were arguing over it yesterday. Martha said it belonged in storage.”
The brass key turned with a stiff click. Inside lay a folded blue scarf, three old photographs, and a stack of letters tied with string. The top envelope had my name in my mother's unmistakable writing.
My hands shook so badly Rosa had to open it for me.
Anna, if this ever reaches you, don't let anyone make you feel small for caring about people who can't repay you. Riverbend was never supposed to belong to one family. We fought too hard for that.
Hearing my mother in those words hurt more than the missing hair.
There was a second envelope addressed to an attorney, marked RETURNED TO SENDER. A letter inside described missing donation checks, forged vendor invoices, and a transfer of the Riverbend property that my mother had challenged before her final hospital stay.
Elliot went very still. “She found the fraud years before I did.”
“Did you know her?” I asked.
“Yes. She brought groceries to Riverbend every Saturday. She also tried to get my father to remove Martha as trustee.”
I stared at him. “Why didn't she tell me?”
“Your mother was sick, Anna. Maybe she wanted you to have an ordinary childhood while she still could.”
At the bottom of the box was a small digital recorder. Its batteries had leaked, but the memory card looked intact.
Nick lifted it carefully. “We can get this copied.”
Rosa was reading the back of the last photograph. Her expression changed.
May you like
“Anna,” she said, “I think you need to look at who is standing beside your mom.”
It was Martha, smiling at a Riverbend fundraiser fifteen years earlier, with her arm around June Reed. On the back, in Martha's handwriting, were five words: SHE KNOWS ABOUT THE TRANSFERS.
