Chapter 11 - Worse Than The Loan
For seven seconds, I could not speak.
Then I asked, "What did you do?"
Austin said nothing.
"You called me."
"I know."
"You said there was something worse."
"I shouldn't have said it like that."
"There is no safe way to say it now."
"Mom, I need to speak to my lawyer first."
My anger rose so quickly it made me dizzy.
"Then why did you start?"
"Because I thought I could tell you."
"Tell me."
"I can't."
"Won't."
"Fine."
He exhaled.
"I won't until I talk to counsel."
For once, I could not even blame him for taking legal advice.
I blamed him for opening another door and making me stand in it.
"Then call me when you are ready to finish the sentence."
I ended the call.
Celia called five minutes later.
"His attorney contacted me."
"That was fast."
"Austin is requesting a meeting tomorrow."
"With me?"
"With both of us."
"About what?"
"He would not say."
"I know about as much as you."
"Do you want to attend?"
"Yes."
"Remotely."
"Obviously."
"Theresa, if this becomes too much—"
"It has been too much since the funeral."
"That is not what I mean."
I softened.
"I know."
That night, I did not sleep.
I lay in the dark while the ship moved steadily south.
Every possible meaning of worse passed through my mind.
More money.
Another account.
A second forged signature.
Something involving my identity.
Something involving Ernest's medication.
I stopped myself there.
Celia had warned me not to invent crimes because reality was already terrible.
At four in the morning, I got up and opened Ernest's letter again.
Make him tell the truth before you offer mercy.
I whispered into the cabin, "You could have made this easier."
Then I imagined his answer.
Easier for whom?
At ten the next morning, I joined a secure video conference.
Austin sat in his lawyer's office.
His lawyer, Daniel Cho, sat beside him.
Celia appeared from her own conference room.
No one smiled.
Daniel spoke first.
"Mrs. Bennett, my client intends to provide additional information."
"Good."
"I need to be clear that this discussion is for settlement and cooperation purposes and does not waive any rights."
"Fine."
Austin looked at me through the screen.
He looked ten years older than he had at Ernest's funeral.
"Mom."
"Finish the sentence."
Daniel glanced at him.
Austin nodded.
"Three months before Dad died, I went to him and admitted the loan was unauthorized."
"You told me that yesterday."
"I didn't tell him everything."
"I assumed."
"I told him Chloe had pushed the amount higher and used some money for Blue Heron."
"Did you tell him it was your idea first?"
"No."
"What did he say?"
Austin looked down.
"He told me to return every dollar and tell you."
My throat tightened.
"And?"
"I said I would."
"You didn't."
"No."
"What happened next?"
He rubbed both hands over his face.
"He said he was going to Celia."
"He did."
"I panicked."
"That word has become expensive."
Daniel shifted but said nothing.
Austin continued.
"I asked him to wait."
"Why?"
"Because if the lender called the note, my company was dead."
"So?"
"I offered to sign over my share of the business to him as security."
"You did not have a valuable share."
"I know that now."
"You knew it then."
Austin looked away.
"Probably."
"Keep going."
"Dad said no."
"Of course."
"Then I told him something about you."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
Austin's eyes filled with tears.
"I told him you had agreed to the loan."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"I said you knew."
The room disappeared around me.
"Why?"
"I wanted him to think he was the only one objecting."
I felt physically sick.
"You used me against him."
"Yes."
"While I was upstairs taking care of him."
"Yes."
"Did he believe you?"
Austin shook his head.
"Not at first."
"At first?"
My voice rose.
"He asked me later whether I had signed any new financial documents."
I remembered.
The memory arrived all at once.
Ernest sitting on the edge of the bed one evening.
"Tess, did you sign anything for Austin recently?"
I had been sorting his pills.
"No. Why?"
"Nothing. Just checking."
I had kissed his cheek and gone back to the medicine organizer.
That had been the moment.
He had been checking whether his own wife was lying to him because our son had told him I was.
I pressed my hand against my mouth.
"You made him doubt me."
Austin began crying.
"Only for a few hours."
I flinched.
"Do you hear yourself?"
"I know."
"A few hours."
My voice shook.
"We had forty years, Austin."
"I know."
"And during one of his last months, you put a lie between us because you needed time."
"I'm sorry."
"That is worse."
He nodded.
"I know."
For a while, nobody spoke.
Then Celia asked, "Is that the entire additional disclosure?"
Austin looked at his lawyer.
Daniel nodded once.
"No," Austin said.
I almost laughed.
"Go on."
"After Dad realized you didn't know, he told me I had twenty-four hours to tell you."
"You didn't."
"No."
"What did you do instead?"
"I went to Chloe."
"And?"
"She said if Dad told you, we would lose everything."
"What did she suggest?"
"That we make it look like he was confused."
My skin turned cold.
Capacity problem - prepare.
"The notebook."
"Yes."
"So that began after your confession."
"The detailed plan did."
"Detailed?"
Austin swallowed.
"Chloe had mentioned before that Dad's illness could complicate documents."
"Complicate."
"I know."
"What did you do to make him look confused?"
"Nothing to him physically."
"I didn't ask that."
"We collected examples."
"Of what?"
"Times he forgot appointments."
"He was on chemotherapy."
"I know."
"Times he repeated questions."
"He was exhausted."
"I know."
"What else?"
Austin's face tightened.
"Chloe saved voicemails where he sounded weak."
"Weak is not incompetent."
"I know."
"Stop telling me what you know now."
He looked down.
"We planned to use it if he challenged the loan."
I felt a pressure behind my eyes.
"So your own father was dying, and you began assembling evidence to discredit him if he told the truth."
Austin nodded once.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I whispered, "And you called Chloe the mastermind."
"She was better at it."
"That is not absolution."
"I know."
Celia interrupted.
"Austin, did you or Chloe alter any medical records?"
"No."
"Did you fabricate any physician statement?"
"No."
"Did you contact any doctor pretending to have authority you did not have?"
Austin hesitated.
Celia leaned forward.
"Austin?"
"Chloe called Dr. Patel's office once."
My heart began pounding.
"Why?"
"She asked for a letter about Dad's capacity."
"What did the office say?"
"They refused to discuss him with her."
"Did she pretend to be me?"
"I don't think so."
"Think?"
"She said she called as daughter-in-law."
Celia made a note.
"Anything else?"
Austin shook his head.
Then he stopped.
"There is one thing about the night Dad died."
I went still.
"What?"
"Chloe didn't just go for the notebook."
Fear rose in my throat.
"Then why did she go?"
"She wanted his phone."
"Why?"
"Because he had screenshots."
"Of what?"
"Our messages."
I remembered Ernest's phone on the bedside table.
After he died, I could not find it for nearly a day.
I had assumed Rachel put it away.
Then it appeared in his study desk drawer.
"Did she take it?"
"I don't know."
"How did it move from the bedroom to the study?"
Austin stared at me.
"I didn't know it had."
Celia's expression changed.
"Theresa, who found the phone?"
I thought back.
Not me.
Not Rachel.
Austin had found it.
The afternoon after Ernest died, Austin had walked into the kitchen carrying the phone and said, "Dad must have left this in his desk."
I had thanked him.
My pulse thundered.
"Austin found it."
His face went white on the screen.
"Mom, I found it where you said."
"Did Chloe give it to you?"
"No."
"Did you move it?"
"No."
"Did you delete anything?"
He looked at his lawyer.
That was answer enough.
"Austin."
Daniel spoke.
"My client should answer carefully."
"He should have lived carefully."
Austin wiped his face.
"I deleted one email."
My breath stopped.
"From whom?"
"Dad."
"To you?"
"No."
"Then to whom?"
Austin looked directly at me.
"To Celia."
Celia went completely still.
"What email?" she asked.
"A message Dad drafted but hadn't sent."
"How do you know it was unsent?"
"It was in Drafts."
"What did it say?"
May you like
Austin closed his eyes.
"It said the person he was most afraid of wasn't me."
