Chapter 7 - The Money That Came Back
Otis obtained the bank's transaction summary through Margaret's fraud claim. The loan opened eleven months earlier for $5,800, then increased four times until it reached $19,400. Payments came from Caroline's checking, not Wade's company account. The latest was $800, posted the day Margaret's preschool transfer was reversed. Caroline had not punished her mother by returning the money. She had redirected it to keep the loan current. Confronted, Caroline admitted Wade used the old power of attorney after a lender rejected him. He said it was temporary and Margaret would never see it. "I found out after the second increase," she said. "Why didn't you tell me?" Margaret asked. Caroline rubbed at the bare spot where her wedding ring had been. "Because by then I was making the payments." She had taken extra shifts at the dental office, sold vacation days, and stopped contributing to retirement. The Hilton Head trip, she'd said, was Wade's attempt to impress a partner who might save his role.
