Chapter 5 - Fourteen Months of Lies
Vanessa remained in the doorway while I sat on the bed, papers across my knees.
"You think going back there changes anything?" she said. "You cannot manage that property alone. The taxes will increase. Your husband handled everything."
There. The sentence she shouldn't have said.
"How long have you been speaking to the developer?" I asked.
"Months."
"How many?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Before my husband died?"
Silence.
I stood. "How long?"
"Fourteen months."
Richard had still been alive. Fourteen months earlier, he'd come home with mud on his shoes, a business card on the kitchen table. He'd torn it in half.
"We're not selling trees so somebody can name a subdivision after them."
"You approached Richard," I said.
"I mentioned an opportunity."
"He said no."
"He refused to consider reality."
"You mean he refused you."
"He refused Daniel."
"I never knew," Daniel said from the hallway.
Vanessa froze.
"You complained about money constantly," she said, turning.
"I complained about the mortgage."
"You said you wanted a larger emergency fund."
"That is not permission to sell my mother's property."
"I was solving a problem."
"You created a second mortgage."
Daniel checked his phone. "The attorney wants copies of everything. He says don't contact the developer yet."
"Your attorney cannot stop a recorded deed with a phone call," Vanessa said.
"There is no recorded transfer under Mom's parcel number," Daniel said.
For half a second, her control slipped.
"You checked the wrong database."
"I checked the county register."
She grabbed her purse. "I'm done being interrogated."
Daniel stepped aside. Didn't block her.
That mattered.
May you like
A minute later, the front door closed.
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