Chapter 17 - What My Mother Owed
Elaine had been borrowing money against promises she couldn't keep. The trust property wasn't hers, and she had no authority to pledge it. But the loan application included an altered ownership statement and a copy of my signature taken from an unrelated family tax form.
"How much?" I asked Priya.
"The application sought one hundred and sixty thousand. The lender stopped processing it after discrepancies surfaced. We're helping the investigators obtain the records."
It was money I had never seen and a debt Wren had never owed.
My mother finally agreed to meet with Detective Park and counsel present. I didn't attend. The next day, Park told me only what she could: Elaine had acknowledged helping prepare documents with West and Celia. Her account of the soup incident was still being examined.
I went for a walk with Hannah because I couldn't sit inside another room waiting for someone else to tell the truth.
"She was my mother," I said. "I keep wanting to find a reason this isn't her."
"She's still your mother," Hannah answered. "That doesn't make what she did less real."
At the curb, a truck rattled past and Wren flinched. She hadn't wanted to leave Hannah's house, so Rose had come with us for the walk. I watched my daughter grip Rose's sleeve, then slowly relax.
"Daddy," Wren said, "can people be good sometimes and bad sometimes?"
"Yes," I said. "But when someone hurts you, their good days don't erase it."
She thought about that. "Grandma used to make pancakes shaped like bears."
"I remember."
"I liked those pancakes."
"You're allowed to."
May you like
That night, Priya sent an update: the state had opened a separate investigation into the documents and money transfers. Elaine and West were under scrutiny.
Then Wren asked for the first time, "Can I tell the judge what happened?"
