PART5

“Because he was afraid that if you knew what was happening, you would confront your sister before he could gather the evidence he needed.”

She slid a document across the table.

“Four months before Tom died, he received a substantial payment from a business partnership he had invested in years earlier. The payment was $250,000. He placed most of it into a protected account for your family’s future.”

I stared at the document.

Tom had never mentioned any business partnership to me. He had invested a small amount years earlier, but I thought the company had failed.

“He told me we were running out of money,” I whispered.

“Your husband’s medical expenses were considerable. But he also knew that you would worry if you learned he had money set aside and then saw it disappearing through unexplained transactions.”

I looked up.

“Did Marla take the money?”

Eleanor folded her hands.

“According to the records Tom preserved, someone transferred $75,000 into an account belonging to your sister. The transfer was described as a temporary loan. However, the authorization documents appear to have been altered, and the required approval was not properly documented.”

“Can we prove she did it?”

“We have evidence that warrants a formal investigation. But I won’t tell you that we have proven criminal wrongdoing until the relevant records are verified.”

I appreciated her honesty, but my heart was breaking.

“Why would Tom let her borrow that much money without telling me?”

“He didn’t knowingly authorize everything that happened. That was one of his concerns.”

Eleanor reached into the folder and removed another envelope.

“This is the letter he asked me to give you if you came here.”

My fingers trembled as I opened it.

My Jen,

If you’re reading this, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you everything while I was alive.

You have always believed the best in people. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with you. But sometimes, the people who know our hearts best also know how to hurt us most deeply.

Marla came to me shortly after I learned that my illness was getting worse. She said she was struggling financially and begged me for help. I agreed to help her with a small amount, provided she signed a proper repayment agreement.

Later, I discovered that a much larger transfer had been made. When I questioned her, she told me it was a misunderstanding. She promised to correct it.

She never did.

I wanted to confront her, but my health was deteriorating. I was afraid of leaving you with a family war while you were already preparing to lose me.

I gathered the documents and asked Eleanor to preserve them. I also made sure that Abby’s future would not depend on anyone’s promises.

Please don’t let this destroy your heart. I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life hating my memory of your sister. But don’t let anyone use your kindness against you again.

Love you always,

Tom.

I pressed the letter against my chest and cried.

Not because of the money.

Not because Marla had betrayed us.

I cried because Tom had been frightened, sick, and running out of time, yet he had still been trying to protect us.

And I hadn’t known.

Eleanor waited until I could speak again.

“There’s something else,” she said gently.

She opened a second folder and placed a copy of a trust document in front of me.

“Tom established a trust for Abby. The funds remaining in the account were reserved for her education and essential expenses. He also made arrangements for you to receive support if his death left you in financial difficulty.”

I stared at the document.

“How much?”

“Approximately $175,000 was supposed to remain protected after the transfer in question, subject to the account’s other documented transactions. We need to reconcile the complete records to establish the exact balance.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

All those months, I had been rationing groceries, turning the heat down, and telling Abby that we couldn’t afford the little things her classmates took for granted.

Meanwhile, the money Tom had saved for our daughter’s future had been tangled up in a dispute I knew nothing about.

“What happens now?” I asked.

“We preserve the evidence, obtain the complete banking records, and pursue recovery of any money that was improperly transferred. If the evidence supports it, we can refer the matter to the appropriate authorities.”

I nodded slowly.

For the first time in months, I had a plan.

But I still had one question.

“Why was the evidence hidden in Kayla’s jacket?”

Eleanor looked surprised.

“Kayla’s jacket?”

I explained everything: the eighty dollars, Marla’s sudden demand to get it back, and the hidden envelope.

When I finished, Eleanor leaned back in her chair.

“Tom told me he had made copies of the essential records and kept them in several secure places. He didn’t tell me about a jacket.”

I thought about the photograph of Tom and Marla.

Perhaps he had hidden that particular copy somewhere Marla wouldn’t look.

Or perhaps the jacket had been used to move the papers without drawing attention.

I couldn’t be certain.

But I now understood why my sister had been so desperate to retrieve it.

She was afraid of what I might discover.

And she had every reason to be afraid of the truth.

The confrontation

When I returned home that afternoon, Marla’s car was parked outside my house.

She stood on the porch, pacing with her phone pressed to her ear.

The moment she saw me, she ended the call.

“Where have you been?”

I walked past her and unlocked the door.

“Visiting a lawyer.”

Her face drained of color.

“You actually went?”

“Yes.”

“Jen, I told you not to get involved in this!”

I turned toward her.

“Get involved? Marla, my husband died believing he had to protect his daughter from a problem you helped create. You took money from his account, and you let me believe we were completely broke.”

“I didn’t steal anything!”

“Then explain the transfer.”

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

CONTINUE FOR NEXT PART6…