Chapter 4 - My Name Was on the Transfer
I did not sleep.
At 6:12 the next morning, I called the bank’s trust department.
By 8:30, Mark and I were sitting across from an account manager named Denise Holt.
She printed the transactions.
Four withdrawals.
$18,000.
$12,500.
$17,000.
$17,000.
Total: $64,500.
The money had gone to Bennett Consulting Group.
I had never heard of it.
Denise showed us the authorization records.
My electronic approval appeared beside each transfer.
“That’s impossible.”
She turned the laptop.
“Your trustee credentials were used.”
“When?”
“Between March and June.”
“Were you traveling?”
March: Lily’s spring break.
April: my mother’s surgery.
May: Mark’s conference.
June: Thomas’s memorial weekend.
Perfect months for someone to assume I wouldn’t notice.
Denise said the logins came from an IP address tied to the Bennett corporate office.
Mark’s family business.
“Can you freeze the trust?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Do it.”
“All of it.”
“There’s another issue.”
A fifth transfer had been scheduled.
$110,000.
Destination: Lakeview Development Services.
The payment was set to clear Friday.
The same day Brooke said the developer’s offer expired.
“What is Lakeview?”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I don’t know.”
“According to the memo, it’s a due-diligence fee associated with the lake property sale.”
They had already started spending money for a sale I had never approved.
Denise froze the transfer.
Then she asked if we wanted fraud services involved.
“Yes,” I said.
Mark answered at the same time.
“Yes.”
Outside the bank, he sat in the car without starting it.
“My mother knew.”
“Maybe.”
“You heard the recording.”
“I heard enough to investigate. Not enough to guess the rest.”
“You’re still being careful?”
“I’m angry. I’m not stupid.”
STOP DIGGING THROUGH THINGS YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND.
Below it was a photo of Lily getting off the school bus the previous week.
Mark went pale.
I called the police.
May you like
Then another message arrived.
THIS WAS NEVER ABOUT THE CAKE.
