Chapter 4 - THE QUESTION HER FATHER HAD ALREADY ANSWERED
Martin Keller had prepared Rachel’s parents’ taxes for almost twenty years.
He was seventy-two now and worked three days a week from a small office above a dental practice in downtown Naperville.
He could not discuss Helen’s finances without her permission.
Rachel did not ask him to.
“I only need to know something about me.”
Martin adjusted his glasses.
Rachel explained the supposed debt.
His expression became cautious.
“Your father did help with school.”
“I know.”
“Do you remember how he described it?”
“A gift.”
Martin nodded slowly.
“That’s how I remember it too.”
Rachel’s throat tightened.
“Do you have anything that proves it?”
Martin turned toward his computer.
“I can’t give you your father’s records unless they’re part of your records. But there may be something else.”
Ten minutes later he found an old email Rachel herself had been copied on but had forgotten.
Her father had written it after transferring the tuition money.
Glad we can do this for you. No paying us back. Just make sure you someday help somebody when they need it.
Rachel stared at the screen.
She remembered reading it in an airport eleven years ago.
She had saved thousands of emails since.
That one had disappeared into the pile.
Martin printed it.
Rachel was halfway to the door when he added, “Your brother-in-law knew about that gift.”
She stopped.
“How?”
“Derek emailed me after your father died. Asked whether there were any outstanding family loans that needed to be listed for estate purposes.”
“And?”
“I told him no.”
Rachel turned slowly.
“You told him specifically?”
“I said your father had never reported loans to either daughter.”
Both daughters.
Meaning Derek had not misunderstood.
He had asked.
He had received an answer.
Then he had told Helen the opposite.
Rachel drove straight to her sister Laura’s house.
Laura opened the door wearing scrub pants from her shift at Edward Hospital.
Rachel showed her the email.
Laura’s eyes moved across it.
Then she sat down.
“You knew,” Rachel said.
Laura’s head snapped up.
“No.”
“You knew Derek asked about Dad’s loans.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“Laura.”
Her sister rubbed both hands over her face.
“I knew he was sorting through the estate stuff. I didn’t know what he told Mom.”
Rachel watched her.
“Did he ever tell you my payments were debt repayment?”
Laura hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
“When?”
“Last Christmas.”
“And you didn’t say anything?”
“I thought maybe Dad had told him something I didn’t know.”
“You could have asked me.”
Laura looked toward the stairs, where Mason’s bedroom door was closed.
“You know what Derek gets like when he thinks people are questioning him.”
Rachel’s anger cooled into something worse.
Fear.
Not Rachel’s.
Laura’s.
“What exactly are you afraid of?” Rachel asked.
May you like
Laura lowered her voice.
“I’m afraid that if you keep pulling on this thread, my whole marriage comes apart.”
