“It was easier to have one contact.”
“You made my objection part of the proof that I couldn’t be trusted.”
Her father sat down hard on the edge of a dining chair.
Cole covered his mouth.
Ruth let me finish reading before speaking.
“Sandra, the institution is making its own referral. You also have the option of filing a police report and providing a sworn statement denying authorization. I recommend it.”
“Tonight?” I asked.
“We can prepare the statement tonight. You can make the report as soon as you’re ready.”
Tara stood.
“Do you understand what that would do?”
“Yes,” Ruth said.
“I’m asking Sandra.”
I looked at the woman who had once called me Mom when she wanted my pearl earrings for her wedding.
“Tell me why you needed the money.”
Her lips pressed together.
“Tell me the truth once.”
There were overdue credit cards, she finally said. A failed attempt to start an event business. Deposits she had spent before the events took place. New charges used to cover old charges.
Cole lowered himself onto the hearth.
“How many deposits?”
“Don’t interrogate me.”
“How many people are waiting for their money?”
“Everybody would have been paid.”
“With my house,” I said.
“You weren’t going to lose it.”
“How were you going to repay the loan?”
She stared at me.
There it was. The blank space underneath everything she had told herself.
Her mother began to cry quietly.
“Perhaps we can settle this within the family.”
Ruth closed the folder halfway.
