Chapter 7 - Walter Learned What He Had Helped Derek Use
Walter did something Claire did not expect.
He apologized for the years before Derek.
They sat outside the cancer center after an oncology appointment.
“You were right about something,” he said.
Claire raised an eyebrow.
“That sounds dangerous.”
He smiled faintly.
“I did take over.”
“When?”
“After your mom died.”
Claire looked down.
Walter continued.
“You’d say your car needed tires and I’d buy tires before asking what you wanted. You’d mention money and I’d put money in your account. You brought home that idiot from college—”
“Evan.”
“I deliberately forgot his name.”
Claire laughed despite herself.
Walter’s smile faded.
“I thought helping meant preventing you from making mistakes.”
Claire understood immediately.
“Derek noticed.”
“Yeah.”
Walter looked toward the parking lot.
“He knew exactly what to say to make you believe calling me meant losing control.”
Claire rested her head against the seat.
“That doesn’t make what he did your fault.”
“I know.”
Walter’s voice was quiet.
“But if I’m going to ask why you didn’t call me, I have to be willing to hear part of the answer.”
That sentence stayed with her.
Later that afternoon, Rebecca called.
Financial records had started arriving.
The retirement loan proceeds went first into the joint account.
Then most of the money moved into the mysterious account ending in 7719.
That account belonged to Derek alone.
So did another $43,000 transferred from savings.
The money had not disappeared into medical care.
Derek had accumulated more than $70,000 separately while Claire’s condition deteriorated.
Some of it remained.
Some had been used for a deposit on an apartment across town.
Lease start date:
October 1.
Claire stared at it.
Derek had already chosen where he planned to live after throwing her out.
The cruelty in the bedroom had not been a spontaneous explosion caused by caregiver exhaustion.
May you like
He had been preparing his exit for months.
And Claire’s biggest fear—that she would become too sick to survive without him—had been exactly the fear keeping her from discovering it.
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