Chapter 5
I opened the envelope.
Inside were bank statements and a printed email chain.
The first transfer had been made from my mother’s personal savings. The later amount had come from the home equity line.
“What was the money for?” I asked.
Dad rubbed his forehead.
“Lauren said she had invested in a business with a friend. The friend disappeared with the money.”
“Was there a business?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see paperwork?”
“No.”
“Then why did you give her eighteen thousand?”
“I didn’t give it to her. Your mother did.”
“You knew about it.”
“I found out later.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“I thought it was a private matter.”
“Everything becomes private when Lauren is involved.”
He looked at James, then back at me.
“I was trying to keep her from making a desperate choice.”
“What desperate choice?”
“She said someone was threatening to report her.”
“To whom?”
“Her employer.”
“Lauren has a job?”
Dad’s eyes dropped.
“She worked at a dental office.”
“Worked?”
“She was fired two months ago.”
I stared at him.
“She never told me.”
“She said she was looking for something else.”
“What did she do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dad, you know more than you’re saying.”
He opened the email chain.
The messages were between Lauren and my mother. Lauren had asked for money, but she had also asked Mom to delete old text messages from a shared family tablet.
“Why?”
“I didn’t know.”
“What was on the tablet?”
“Lauren used it when she stayed at the house.”
“Did she use it to message Colin?”
“I don’t know.”
James leaned forward.
“Did you contact the military investigator?”
“No.”
“Has Lauren?”
“I don’t think so.”
I looked back at the messages.
One line from Lauren read:
If Claire finds out what happened to the other money, she’ll never let me near the baby.
My skin went cold.
“What other money?”
Dad shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ask?”
“I did.”
“What did she say?”
“She said it was nothing.”
“And you believed her?”
“I wanted to.”
The answer was painfully honest.
My father had spent his life trying to keep the family peaceful. Sometimes peace meant silence. Sometimes it meant letting Lauren walk away from what she had done.
He had believed that if he waited long enough, the trouble would disappear.
Now the trouble had a name and a bank statement.
James asked for copies of the emails.
Dad hesitated.
“They’re between your mother and Lauren.”
“One of those emails may be connected to a threat against James,” I said. “We need to know if it is.”
My father passed the papers over.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at him.
“For which part?”
“For not asking questions. For letting your mother carry the fear alone. For treating Lauren like she couldn’t be held responsible.”
The apology was the first I had heard from him that didn’t come with a request to calm down.
“I need time,” I said.
“I understand.”
“Mom can’t see Emma right now.”
His face fell, but he nodded.
“I’ll tell her.”
We took the papers home.
The email chain showed that Lauren had been receiving money from my mother for almost a year. The amounts ranged from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.
The total was over thirty-two thousand.
Some payments came from Mom’s savings. Some were cash withdrawals.
I recognized one transfer date. It was the week James had told me his pay was delayed.
The thought made me sick.
“Do you think Lauren took the money James sent and gave it to Mom?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” James said.
He read the message again.
If Claire finds out what happened to the other money, she’ll never let me near the baby.
“There may be an account we haven’t found.”
We searched the old emails Dad had copied. Most were ordinary requests. A few mentioned “the fund” and “the balance.”
One message from Lauren said:
I’ll put it back before anyone notices.
Another said:
Don’t tell Claire. She has enough going on with Emma.
I felt my hands shake.
“What fund?” I said.
Dad had been right: there was more he didn’t know.
We called my mother. She refused to answer. Then she sent a text saying she needed time.
That evening, Lauren called me.
“Did Dad tell you about the money?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to repay it.”
“With what?”
“I’m getting a new job.”
“That doesn’t explain where the rest went.”
Silence.
“What rest?”
“Your message says ‘the other money.’”
“You read my private messages?”
“They were on the documents Dad gave me.”
“They weren’t meant for you.”
“They mention Emma.”
“I was trying to protect her.”
“By hiding money?”
Lauren took a sharp breath.
“I did not use Emma’s money.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“Then stop accusing me.”
“I’m asking what the other money is.”
“You always do this. You make me confess to things I haven’t done.”
“Then tell me what you did do.”
She ended the call.
A few minutes later, my mother called.
“You need to stop pushing Lauren.”
“Why?”
“She’s fragile right now.”
“She hit my daughter.”
“She apologized.”
“She said she was sorry Emma was scared. That isn’t taking responsibility.”
“She doesn’t know how.”
“Then she can learn.”
“She’s your sister.”
“And Emma is my daughter.”
My mother began crying.
“Claire, I didn’t know the money was connected to anything dangerous.”
“Is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did Lauren invest in?”
“She said it was a private loan.”
“To whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mom, you gave her your savings.”
“I wanted to help.”
“You could have asked where the money was going.”
“I was afraid she’d stop talking to me.”
“So you let her take more?”
“I didn’t know how much it had become.”
The words brought me back to the Christmas table.
Nobody wanted to challenge Lauren.
Not then.
Not now.
“I’m not coming between you and her,” I said. “But I’m not letting you use Emma to make me stay quiet.”
My mother sobbed softly.
“I love you.”
“Then tell the truth.”
She didn’t answer.
The next day, a letter arrived from a lawyer representing the dental office where Lauren had worked. It demanded that Lauren return a set of patient records and a missing cash deposit.
The amount: $14,600.
Dad read the letter twice.
“She told us she quit.”
My mother had told him Lauren had resigned.
The letter said she had been dismissed after an audit.
I felt the pieces begin to connect.
May you like
The money Dad and Mom had given her might not have been lost in a failed investment.
Some of it might have been taken from her employer.
