Chapter 11
Nora told me not to go there.
So I called the fire department and the police.
By the time I arrived with Robert, smoke was pushing from the chimney in thick gray bursts.
Margaret stood on the front lawn yelling at two firefighters.
"It's a fireplace. This is ridiculous."
Lisa was sitting in her car crying.
The police found shredded paper in trash bags and half-burned documents in the fireplace.
One page survived almost intact.
A spreadsheet.
Column headings:
FAMILY SUPPORT.
BUSINESS DRAW.
EMILY OFFSET.
I stared at the third column.
Every time Margaret paid Lisa's mortgage or covered Daniel's restaurant debt, she entered the amount against my name.
As if my inheritance were a family account they could keep spending.
Robert read it over my shoulder.
"She was treating your money like a permanent subsidy."
Margaret shouted from the driveway.
"She gave it to the family!"
I turned.
"I gave money to my husband because he told me he was saving his business."
"Same thing."
"No. It isn't."
Daniel arrived ten minutes later.
He saw police cars and went straight to Margaret.
Not me.
Of course he did.
"Mom, are you okay?"
I laughed.
He looked at me.
The sound embarrassed him.
Even now.
Nora walked up with a process server.
"Daniel Brooks?"
He turned.
The man handed him an envelope.
Divorce petition.
Daniel stared at it.
"You're doing this here?"
"You were okay doing everything else here."
His face crumpled.
Margaret stepped toward me.
"You think a piece of paper makes you powerful?"
Robert answered for me.
"No. The truth does."
Then a detective came out of the house holding a red folder in an evidence sleeve.
"Mrs. Brooks?"
Margaret turned.
"We found this behind the furnace."
Her face changed.
I knew before he opened it.
May you like
The current ledger had finally been found.
And my name appeared on almost every page.
