Chapter 15 - The Aunt Emily Thought Had Forgotten HerRebecca arrived the next morning.
Emily stared at her from behind James’s arm.
Rebecca looked almost exactly like Sarah around the eyes.
That made the moment harder.
She was thirty-four now.
Shorter hair.
Older.
But when she whispered, “Hi, Emmy,” Emily’s face changed.
“You remember me?”
Rebecca’s eyes filled.
“Every day.”
Emily looked at James.
“I thought she didn’t want us.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
James felt anger stir again.
Not toward her.
Toward the person who had built that lie.
They sat together in Thomas’s office.
Rebecca brought a folder.
Inside were birthday cards.
Christmas cards.
Letters.
All returned.
Some marked ADDRESS UNKNOWN.
Others marked REFUSED.
James stared.
“I never saw these.”
“I know.”
Rebecca looked down.
“After Sarah died, Linda told me you wanted distance from Sarah’s side of the family.”
James shook his head.
“She told me you hated Rebecca.”
Emily looked confused.
Rebecca’s eyes hardened.
“She told you that?”
James nodded.
“After the funeral, Linda said you blamed me for encouraging Sarah to create the trust.”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“She told me you blamed me for Sarah’s stress.”
The pattern was obvious.
Linda isolated people.
Then controlled the story each person heard.
Rebecca looked at Emily.
“I came to the house twice.”
Emily blinked.
“When?”
“About two years ago.”
Emily shook her head.
“I never saw you.”
“Linda wouldn’t let me in.”
James felt his jaw tighten.
Rebecca continued.
“The second time, Roy told me you had moved.”
James looked at Thomas.
“How did this continue for years?”
“Because everyone believed a different lie.”
That was Linda’s talent.
No single lie needed to survive forever.
Only long enough to keep people separated.
Emily opened one of the returned birthday cards.
Inside was a drawing of a fox.
She smiled faintly.
“I like foxes.”
Rebecca laughed through tears.
“I know.”
“How?”
“Your mom told me.”
Emily traced the drawing.
James watched her.
For the first time since he returned, something other than fear appeared in her face.
Connection.
A piece of her mother returned.
Then Rebecca turned toward James.
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
James almost hated those words now.
“What?”
“Six months ago, Linda called me.”
James frowned.
“Why?”
“She wanted me to sign something.”
“What?”
“A statement saying Sarah was mentally unstable before she died.”
James stared.
Rebecca continued.
“She said it had to do with correcting some estate problems.”
“Did you sign?”
“No.”
“What did you do?”
“I called Thomas.”
Thomas nodded.
“That’s when we became suspicious someone was trying to challenge trust provisions.”
James leaned back.
Linda had been preparing attacks on multiple fronts.
Discredit Sarah.
Discredit James.
Discredit Emily.
Anyone standing between Linda and money became unstable, difficult, confused, or dangerous.
“What happened after you refused?”
Rebecca’s expression darkened.
“She threatened me.”
James went still.
“How?”
“She said she knew about my old debt.”
Rebecca had struggled financially in her twenties.
Sarah once helped her.
“I told her I didn’t care.”
“And?”
“She said if I came near Emily, she’d report me for harassment.”
James laughed bitterly.
“She threatened everybody with authority.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Because it worked.”
Then Emily spoke.
“Aunt Rebecca?”
“Yes?”
“Did Mom know Aunt Linda was mean?”
The adults went silent.
Rebecca looked at James.
He nodded gently.
Rebecca turned back to Emily.
“Your mom knew Linda could be controlling.”
“Did Mom hate her?”
“No.”
Rebecca thought.
“Your mom was scared Linda cared more about getting what she wanted than about hurting people.”
Emily looked down at the cards.
“She was right.”
James’s throat tightened.
Thomas changed the subject carefully.
“We need to discuss where Emily stays while the investigation continues.”
James immediately said, “With me.”
“Of course. I mean the house.”
James understood.
Police could preserve evidence, but he still owned the property.
Linda and Roy could not simply be thrown onto the street without process unless arrested or subject to protective orders.
However, because of the child-abuse allegations and evidence, emergency restrictions could likely keep them away from Emily.
James wanted his house back.
But Emily did not.
When he asked her, she shook her head violently.
“No.”
“Okay.”
“I don’t want the basement.”
“You’ll never sleep there again.”
“I don’t want the kennel.”
“It’s going away.”
Emily looked at him.
“I don’t want them to know where we sleep.”
James knelt.
“They won’t.”
She swallowed.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Later that afternoon, James received another call.
This time from a federal financial investigator coordinating with local authorities because some identity theft involved military-related records.
“We found an application using your information,” the investigator said.
“For what?”
“A substantial loan.”
“How substantial?”
“Three hundred thousand dollars.”
James stopped walking.
“Against what?”
“The house.”
He closed his eyes.
“Rejected?”
“Yes.”
Relief lasted one second.
“However…”
James’s stomach dropped.
“What?”
“They submitted a second application.”
“Also rejected?”
A pause.
“No.”
James went cold.
“How much?”
“One hundred and fifty thousand.”
“Where is the money?”
“We’re tracing it.”
“When was it funded?”
“Yesterday morning.”
James stared toward the office window.
Yesterday.
While Emily was still in the kennel.
Linda had known the house scheme was collapsing.
May you like
And before James could freeze everything—
she had moved $150,000 somewhere.
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