Chapter 5 - The Favor Her Father Was Keeping
Elise did not sneak into the house.
She called Alden and told him she would arrive at six with Calla to collect her belongings and copies of her financial records.
Maris answered the door.
“You’ve turned Calla against us.”
“Calla showed me what all three of you did.”
“She was happy to take those tires.”
“And you were happy to let her take the blame.”
Alden stood inside the study with the laptop closed beneath his hand.
The room smelled of coffee and the cedar chips he kept in the desk drawers. Family photographs covered one wall. Elise’s high school graduation. Calla’s first apartment. Elise and Alden beside her mother’s hospital bed.
He had never removed that photograph, though Maris disliked it.
“I want the spreadsheet,” Elise said.
“It’s household accounting.”
“It contains my medical payments and disability income.”
Alden looked at Calla. “You told her?”
“Yes.”
Maris stepped between them. “We are not tearing this family apart over money that was going to be replaced.”
Elise set the pharmacy notice on the desk.
“This stopped being only about money when I went back to the hospital.”
Alden opened the laptop.
The spreadsheet was more detailed than Elise expected. He had recorded her pharmacy costs, insurance premiums, rent contribution and every transfer from her account.
Some entries supported his explanation. Heating bills had risen. Property taxes were overdue. Maris’s hours at the dental office had been reduced after the practice lost a dentist.
Other entries showed choices.
Calla’s phone.
A new dining-room rug.
A weekend deposit for a family rental on Cape Cod that Elise had already said she could not attend.
Near the bottom was a line marked PRIVATE OFFSET: $9,600.
Elise pointed to it. “What is that?”
Alden’s face tightened.
Maris moved toward the laptop, but Calla blocked her.
“What is it?” Elise repeated.
Alden sat down.
Six months before Elise’s embolism, he had withdrawn money from his retirement account to cover the down payment on Calla’s car. He told Maris the money came from a matured certificate of deposit. He told Calla it was a gift.
The withdrawal created a tax bill he had not planned for.
When Elise moved home and her disability checks began entering the joint account, Alden started replacing the retirement money without telling anyone. The transfers labeled household expenses were partly covering the tax debt created by Calla’s car.
The tires had become an emergency because Alden could not admit the car had already cost the family far more than he claimed.
Maris turned toward him.
“You said the tax problem came from the roof withdrawal.”
“I was going to straighten it out.”
“You lied to me too?”
Alden shut his eyes briefly.
The major betrayal had not been Maris choosing her daughter over Elise. It had not been Calla spending money she knew was needed for medication.
Alden had created the shortage, lied to both women and then allowed them to fight over the consequences.
He had watched Maris defend Calla at Sunday dinner because Calla was the easiest person to blame.
Elise removed a flash drive from her purse.
“Copy the spreadsheet.”
Alden looked at her. “What are you going to do?”
“First, protect my account. Then decide whether this stays a family debt or becomes a criminal complaint.”
Maris inhaled sharply.
May you like
Elise kept her voice level.
“You had three days to choose honesty. Now I choose what happens next.”
