Chapter 6 - THE FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS A MONTH
Blaire spent Saturday reviewing seventeen months of household records.
It was humiliating.
Not because the numbers were complicated.
Because she should have noticed them earlier.
Jeremy managed the joint checking account used for variable household expenses.
Blaire deposited $7,500 each month.
Jeremy deposited between $3,000 and $5,000 depending on business cash flow.
He told Blaire Edith separately covered approximately $4,000 in household costs.
Yet the total spending did not reflect that much additional money.
Rachel recommended a forensic accountant only after preliminary review suggested the flows were worth tracing.
A week later, the first explanation arrived.
Edith did pay several bills.
Electricity.
Groceries.
Pool service.
Housekeeper.
Approximately $4,000 monthly.
Jeremy had not lied about that part.
He lied about where Edith got the money.
Every month, Carter Coastal Renovations transferred between $5,000 and $6,500 into Edith’s account.
Description:
Investment distribution.
Edith believed it was return on her $350,000 house investment.
Then she used roughly $4,000 for household expenses.
Jeremy told Blaire:
“Mom contributes four thousand.”
Technically true.
But Carter Coastal was funding the distribution.
Where was Carter Coastal getting the money?
Increasingly from the Morgan-Carter household.
Company expenses Jeremy charged personally were reimbursed through the joint account.
Vehicle payments.
Client meals.
Insurance.
A company credit card paid periodically from household funds.
Over seventeen months, Blaire’s deposits into the joint account indirectly covered a large share of the money Jeremy’s company sent Edith.
The circle was absurd.
Blaire funded household.
Household supported Jeremy.
Jeremy’s company paid Edith.
Edith used part of that money to “contribute” to household.
Then criticized Blaire for wasting electricity Edith believed she was paying for with returns on her own equity.
Rachel’s accountant summarized it carefully:
“This is not literally the same dollar moving in a circle each month. But economically, there is substantial cross-subsidization.”
Blaire stared at the flow chart.
“So I was helping fund the money he told me his mother was contributing.”
“Yes.”
“And she thought the payments were returns on money she invested in my house.”
“Yes.”
Blaire leaned back.
For seventeen months, Jeremy had built family harmony out of accounting fog.
Not actual harmony.
Hierarchy.
Edith believed she paid enough to make rules.
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Blaire believed Edith paid enough that challenging every rule seemed petty.
Jeremy benefited from both beliefs.
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