Chapter 5 - Rebecca’s Half of the Truth
Rebecca gave her full statement at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office with her lawyer beside her.
She had no immunity.
That mattered.
She had received money through Midwest Guest Services, lied on vendor certifications, and helped conceal her relationship with Dad. Cooperation might reduce her consequences. It would not erase them.
Rebecca explained that Midwest Guest Services began as Mom’s idea during the worst year of the pandemic.
Cash occupancy fell. Credit-card disputes rose. The city still expected hotel-tax payments. The mortgage lender required financial ratios the Lakeside could no longer meet.
Mom created the shell company using Rebecca’s address because she did not want the connection appearing under the Bennett name.
The motel paid Midwest for services that never occurred. Rebecca returned most of the money in cash to Mom, who used it to cover payroll shortages, overdue property taxes, and personal family expenses without showing the bank how weak the business had become.
“At first, she said it was temporary,” Rebecca told us.
Every family fraud begins with that word.
Dad knew about the shell company but did not create it. He signed vendor approvals and used some of the diverted money for repairs and gambling debts.
His affair with Rebecca began a year later.
“When Susan found out, she didn’t leave,” Rebecca said. “She told Mark that if he stopped helping with the cash returns, she’d expose both of us.”
Mom turned the affair into control.
Dad kept sleeping with Rebecca anyway.
Rebecca stayed because Mark promised that when the property was sold, they would move to Wisconsin and open a smaller lodge together. He claimed Mom would receive enough money to retire.
“Did Susan know he planned to leave?” I asked.
“I don’t know. She knew about us. I don’t think she knew what he promised me.”
The afternoon of my assault, Rebecca had warned Dad that I was reviewing Room 214 and the Midwest invoices. She told him to admit the affair before I discovered the financial records.
Dad did the opposite.
After I filmed them, he chased me downstairs.
Rebecca followed as far as the office. She heard Mom shouting near the maintenance corridor.
Then she heard the garage door slam.
“Why didn’t you call 911?” I asked.
Rebecca looked at the floor.
“Because I was afraid the police would find the vendor records.”
That answer cost her more than any apology would have helped.
“What made you copy the footage?”
“After the ambulance left, Mark came into the office and said you wouldn’t stop telling the truth. Susan told me the garage camera had malfunctioned and ordered me to clear the DVR before the police returned.”
Rebecca had managed the security system after repeated thefts from the vending machines. Months earlier, she installed a small audio-capable camera in the office without telling my parents because she suspected Dad was taking cash from her drawer.
That camera recorded his statement.
She copied the relevant files before Mom deleted the visible timeline.
“What is on the second drive?” Detective Hale asked.
Rebecca looked at me.
“The hidden garage feed. And a conversation Susan had with Mark before he went after Nora.”
Before anyone played it, she added one warning.
“Your mother wasn’t trying to protect the affair.”
May you like
My ribs tightened beneath the hospital wrap.
“She was trying to protect what she put in your name.”
