Mercer authorize an $80,000 transfer?”
“She agreed to help us with the mortgage.”
“I did not,” Mom said.
Laura turned on her.
“You told me Daniel deserved security after everything he sacrificed.”
“I said I would consider contributing to repairs on the house.
I did not agree to empty my investment account into yours.”
The distinction mattered.
Laura knew it.
So did Dr.
Patel.
He opened the bank section of my file.
I had arranged it chronologically: redirected statements, password-reset attempts, the draft transfer, the destination account, and the dates Laura had logged in.
The destination was not our mortgage account.
It belonged to a limited-liability company Laura had formed eight weeks earlier.
When I discovered it before dawn, I had searched the state business registry.
Laura was the sole member.
The company’s stated purpose was property management, though it owned no property and had conducted no legitimate business.
Dr.
Patel tapped the page.
“What is LJM Holdings?”
Laura looked at me instead of him.
“A future investment,” she said.
“For our family.”
“Why transfer Mrs.
Mercer’s money into it?”
“I told you, she agreed.”
“Then why were her statements redirected to your email?”
“To simplify things.”
“Why were three months of security footage deleted?”
“Because the system was full.”
I spoke for the first time in several minutes.
“Cloud storage does not work that way.”
She glared at me.
“You’ve been home less than a day, Daniel.
You have no idea what your mother has put me through.”
“I know her bedroom was locked from the outside.”
“For her safety.”
“I know her phone was hidden beneath the spare tire in your car.”
Laura blinked.
That was the first fact she had not known I possessed.
I had found the phone at five that morning after checking the vehicle for anything Mom might have been prevented from reaching.
It had been powered off, wrapped in a dish towel, and pushed beneath the trunk floor.
“I was keeping it away from her,” Laura said.
“She called the police twice for no reason.”
Mom looked at me.
“Once.”
“What did you tell them?” Dr.
Patel asked.
“That Laura had taken my bank papers and would not let me leave.”
Laura cut in.
“And when the officer came, Evelyn acted perfectly normal.
She said it was a misunderstanding.”
Mom’s eyes lowered.
“Why did you say that?” Dr.
Patel asked.
