Chapter 4 - The Locked Card
At 1:12 a.m., Lena froze the household card.
At 1:15, Diane attempted another transaction.
Five thousand dollars at a private financial service.
Declined.
At 1:17, Eric called Lena.
She did not answer.
At 1:19, he called again.
Then Diane called.
Then Eric sent a message:
Come home. Mom is upset.
Lena stared at the screen.
Not:
Are you injured?
Not:
I’m sorry.
Not:
What she did was wrong.
His concern remained fixed on Diane’s emotions.
Rachel advised Lena not to return.
They saved every message.
At 1:32, Eric wrote:
You can’t freeze our household money without discussing it.
Lena replied once.
The account is in my name. The card was issued to me. You gave it away without permission.
He responded immediately.
We’re married. That money belongs to both of us.
Rachel read it.
“He just admitted he knowingly shared access.”
Lena felt no satisfaction.
Only a heavy clarity.
Eric had not been manipulated by his mother.
He had participated.
Diane’s transaction history revealed the purpose of the missing five thousand.
Westlake Senior Consulting was not a care provider.
It was a shell company registered three weeks earlier.
The registered manager was Eric Mercer.
Lena looked at Rachel.
“Why would he create a company in his own name?”
“Maybe he thought you’d never look.”
They searched public records.
Westlake Senior Consulting had applied to purchase a small condominium in Diane’s name.
The planned down payment was forty-five thousand dollars.
Almost exactly the amount taken from Lena’s account.
Eric and Diane had been using Lena’s money to buy Diane a separate home.
Yet Diane continued living rent-free in Lena’s house.
Rachel leaned back.
“They were preparing an exit.”
“For Diane?”
“Maybe for both of them.”
Then Lena received an alert from the home security system.
Someone had opened the office drawer in the kitchen.
May you like
The drawer where the cream folder had been hidden.
Eric was looking for documents that were no longer there.
