Chapter 4 - THE MARRIAGE I DEFENDED
Michael and I argued in the hospital parking garage.
The concrete walls threw our voices back at us.
“Your sister is trying to redirect suspicion,” he said.
“Why did Dad change the locks?”
“How would I know?”
“You installed the old ones.”
“That was five years ago.”
“Did you still have a key?”
He laughed once, without humor.
“Now I’m a suspect?”
“I asked a question.”
“No, Emily. You came down here already believing her.”
“I believed you when you showed me the camera.”
“Because the video was clear.”
“The video showed Kara carrying food. It didn’t show her putting anything in it.”
Michael moved closer.
“She lied about being there.”
“So did you.”
His face changed.
“What are you talking about?”
“You said you hadn’t been to their house in weeks.”
“I haven’t.”
“Dad asked you to repair the basement breaker last month.”
“That was before Labor Day.”
“That was three weeks ago.”
He looked away.
It was a small movement, but after eleven years of marriage, I knew it.
Michael looked away only when he was deciding how much truth to give me.
“I forgot,” he said.
“You never forget service calls.”
“It wasn’t a service call. It was your dad complaining about a light.”
“Why did he change the locks afterward?”
“You’ll have to ask him.”
“I did.”
Michael’s jaw tightened.
“What did he say?”
“That someone used my name to steal from them.”
His expression shifted from anger to concern so smoothly that I almost admired it.
“Emily, that’s serious.”
“The approvals came from our home internet.”
“Then someone spoofed the address.”
“Is that possible?”
“Of course it’s possible.”
“Could Kara do it?”
“Derek could.”
“You always have an answer.”
“Because I understand technology better than your father.”
I stared at him.
“Mom was afraid when she saw you.”
“She had been poisoned.”
“She said Kara didn’t do it.”
“She was confused.”
“She asked for a blue folder.”
At that, Michael went completely still.
Only for a second.
Then he shrugged.
“What blue folder?”
“I thought you might know.”
“I don’t.”
He walked toward our car.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“My parents are upstairs.”
“And your sister is turning their hospital into a courtroom.”
He unlocked the car.
“You can stay and let her poison you against me, or you can come home with your husband.”
The sentence landed harder than he intended.
My mother was upstairs because someone had poisoned her.
Michael had used the same word to describe Kara’s influence over me.
I remained beside the elevator.
“I’m staying.”
His face closed.
“Fine.”
He drove away without me.
Kara found me twenty minutes later sitting alone near the chapel.
She did not sit beside me. She took the chair across from mine.
“Are you ready to listen?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s more honest than you were yesterday.”
I flinched.
“You told me I would hate myself.”
“I was angry.”
“You wanted me to believe my husband tried to kill our parents.”
“I wanted you to stop treating him like the only person who could tell the truth.”
She placed a photograph on the table between us.
It showed a blue accordion folder on my parents’ kitchen counter.
“I took this Monday night,” she said. “Mom told me it contained loan documents, transfer records, and copies of checks.”
“Where is it now?”
“Missing.”
“Why didn’t you take it with you?”
“Dad wouldn’t let me. He said it was safer in the house.”
“What did the records show?”
“A company called Buckeye Municipal Systems received three transfers totaling one hundred eighty-six thousand dollars.”
I knew the name.
Michael’s electrical company was Carter Industrial Electric.
Buckeye Municipal Systems was one of its subcontractors.
“I asked Derek whether he knew it,” Kara continued. “He said it was dissolved last year.”
“Who owned it?”
“Public records listed a man named Vincent Hale.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Kara watched my face.
“Michael’s mother’s maiden name was Hale.”
My stomach tightened.
“That proves nothing.”
“No. It gives us a question.”
“Why didn’t Mom and Dad come to me?”
“Because every time they criticized Michael, you defended him.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“Last Christmas, Dad asked why Michael needed access to their brokerage account. You accused Dad of disrespecting your marriage.”
“He was helping them move money.”
“Exactly.”
Kara leaned forward.
“They were afraid you would warn him before they had proof.”
I remembered Christmas dinner.
Dad had asked Michael why a maintenance fee appeared under an unfamiliar company.
Michael said the brokerage had outsourced part of its security system.
I accused my father of treating Michael like a contractor instead of family.
Dad apologized.
Michael remained angry for days.
“Kara, why did they suspect you first?”
“They didn’t. That’s what I was trying to tell you.”
She wiped at her eyes.
“Dad asked whether Derek could identify the company. When I realized they had hidden this from me too, I felt accused. I stormed out because that’s what I do when I’m hurt.”
“You left the casserole.”
“Yes.”
“Who served it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who else knew it was there?”
Kara’s eyes settled on mine.
“Mom texted you at seven thirty that night.”
I checked my messages.
There it was.
A message I had never opened because I was working late.
Kara brought dinner. Your father wants to discuss something with you and Michael tomorrow. Please call when you can.
The text had been marked as read.
May you like
I had not read it.
Someone with access to my phone had.
