She didn’t rush.
That was one of the things I liked about her.
When everyone else became emotional, Mara became precise.
She read the first page, then the second.
“Your father signed this?”
“Yes.”
“Voluntarily?”
“He believed I needed three million dollars to avoid prison.”
“And who told him that?”
“Kyle.”
Susan made an irritated sound.
“You don’t know what Kyle told him.
Norman is old.
He may have misunderstood.”
I turned slowly.
“My father understood the words ‘your daughter may go to prison.’”
Susan folded her arms.
“Well, maybe Kyle was trying to protect you from something you haven’t told us.”
Mara finally looked at her.
“Mrs.
Walker returned directly from a successful business assignment.
There is no company investigation into missing funds involving her.”
Susan’s mouth opened.
I hadn’t told Susan that detail.
Until then, she could still pretend Kyle’s story might somehow be true.
Now that possibility was gone.
Heather stared at her mother.
“Mom?”
Susan snapped, “Don’t start.”
Mara returned to the document.
“This authorization appears designed to permit financing against the Nebraska property.
It doesn’t itself prove where the proceeds were intended to go.
We need the associated loan instructions, account information, communications, and anything your father received from Kyle.”
“I photographed his messages before he left.”
For the first time, Mara smiled slightly.
“Good.”
I sent them to her.
The messages were worse when read in sequence.
Kyle had written that my company had discovered a three-million-dollar accounting discrepancy.
He claimed I was being held in Salt Lake City while lawyers negotiated.
He claimed I had begged him not to tell anyone because publicity would destroy my career.
He told Dad that if the money could be produced quickly, the matter might disappear before formal charges.
And again and again, he warned Dad not to call me.
The final message contained instructions for the mortgage paperwork.
Heather had stopped pretending not to listen.
“Why would Kyle need three million dollars?” she asked.
Susan glared at her.
“Enough.”
That one word changed the room.
Heather looked at her mother carefully.
“You knew?”
“I said enough.”
I felt anger rise, but Mara lifted one finger without looking at me.
Restraint.
That was why I had called her.
People reveal more when they believe they’re still allowed to talk.
