Chapter 2 - The Card She Never Gave Away
Lena did not drive far.
Her skin burned from the coffee, and her hands shook too badly to continue.
She stopped beneath the bright lights of a twenty-four-hour pharmacy.
Inside, a pharmacist helped her rinse the affected skin with cool water and advised her to seek medical attention.
Lena photographed the stains on her blouse, the redness on her cheek, and the time displayed on the pharmacy receipt.
She had learned something important during years of auditing financial fraud.
Memories could be challenged.
Records were harder to erase.
Then she called her friend and attorney, Rachel Morgan.
Rachel answered on the third ring.
“Lena?”
“I need somewhere safe tonight.”
“What happened?”
“Diane threw hot coffee at me.”
Rachel became silent.
“And Eric?”
“He watched.”
Lena looked at the cream folder on the passenger seat.
“He also gave her my bank card.”
Rachel told her to come directly to her house.
When Lena arrived, Rachel examined the card activity.
The five-thousand-dollar demand was not the first withdrawal.
Over eight months, Diane had charged groceries, clothing, hotel rooms, salon visits, cash advances, and several payments to a company called Westlake Senior Consulting.
The total exceeded forty-three thousand dollars.
Lena had noticed smaller irregularities before.
Eric always explained them away as household expenses.
Now she understood why he never allowed her to speak to Diane alone about money.
They were not dealing with emergencies.
They were using her salary as a private allowance.
Rachel looked at the folder.
“Is that what I think it is?”
Lena nodded.
The folder contained the trust agreement, original purchase documents, renovation records, and deed for the house on Maple Ridge Lane.
Eric often called it his family home.
Diane behaved as though Lena lived there by permission.
But neither Eric nor Diane had paid the down payment.
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Lena’s grandmother had.
And the deed did not list Eric’s name anywhere.
