Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO SAW EVERYTHING
Mrs. Alvarez called at eight the next morning.
"There's a young woman here asking about you," she said.
"She says her name is Tessa and that she knows your brother."
I nearly told her to send the woman away.
Then Mrs. Alvarez added, "She looks scared."
We met Tessa on our porch with Daniel beside me and the camera recording.
She was twenty-seven, wore a grocery-store uniform, and twisted the strap of her bag until her knuckles whitened.
"I used to live with Jason," she said.
That explained the fear in her face.
She had helped him move out of his apartment when the landlord declined to renew the lease.
At first she had believed he was staying with our parents.
Then she overheard a phone call.
"Your mother said the nursery would be his new room because you couldn't say no while you were in labor."
The words hit harder coming from an outsider.
Tessa showed us a message Jason had sent her.
It said, "Once I get settled in Hannah's house, Mom's lawyer can make them keep me there."
Daniel asked whether she would share the message with Mr. Collins.
She nodded, then looked toward the street.
"There's more."
She described Jason meeting a man named Warren Pike, an acquaintance who advertised inexpensive legal forms and property help online.
Pike had boasted that most people panicked when confronted with official-looking paperwork.
Tessa had heard him tell Jason, "They'll spend a fortune proving it's fake."
My stomach twisted.
Tessa had saved screenshots because Jason still owed her money and she feared he would blame her for his latest scheme.
She had not come to rescue us, she said.
She had come because someone needed to stop him.
We thanked her and connected her with our attorney.
Before leaving, Tessa turned back.
"He keeps saying there's something in your grandfather's journal that proves your mother is right."
"Did he see it?"
"He said they already have the journal."
After she left, Daniel made coffee neither of us drank.
We searched old photographs for clues about the journal.
I remembered Grandpa writing in it whenever someone asked for a loan.
He called the pages his memory when his actual memory began to slip.
He recorded dates and amounts, but also his reasons for refusing certain requests.
Had Jason stolen the journal to find an advantage, or to hide something more damaging?
Mr. Collins advised against confronting Pike ourselves.
He would pass the information through appropriate channels and assess any civil remedies.
At noon my father called from a grocery-store parking lot.
He sounded breathless.
"Margaret knows I met you."
"How?"
"She saw my car in a photograph on Jason's phone."
A long pause followed.
"She's telling people I stole from her."
I closed my eyes.
The pattern was spreading.
Anyone who refused to cooperate became the villain.
"Come stay with us for a few nights," Daniel offered when I repeated the conversation.
But Dad refused.
"If I leave, I won't be able to find what she's hiding."
He promised to call that evening.
He never did.
At eleven, a text arrived from his phone.
"Don't contact me again. You have no idea what your grandfather did."
I stared at the words.
They did not sound like my father.
May you like
Then the message was deleted from the thread.
