“To discuss the account charges and my phone.”
Kendra laughed, but the sound was brittle.
“You’re acting insane.”
“Ten o’clock.”
I ended the call.
The next morning, Jordan arrived at nine thirty carrying coffee and a plain folder with metal clips inside.
We arranged the evidence in order: the device report, the purchase history, the messages, the bank notice, and photographs of the shattered phone.
I placed the phone in the center of the kitchen table.
The cracks caught the morning light.
At ten twelve, someone pounded on my door.
Kendra entered first, wearing dark sunglasses and carrying no replacement phone.
Mom followed with her purse clutched against her chest.
Kendra saw Jordan and stopped.
“Why is Jordan here?”
“As a witness,” I said.
Mom’s face tightened.
“Mallory, this is family business.”
“It became financial business when my accounts were used without permission.”
Kendra dropped into a chair and removed her sunglasses.
“This is ridiculous.
I came because Mom begged me, but I’m not participating in some trial.”
I slid the first page across the table.
Her device name was printed at the top.
She glanced at it and pushed it back.
“That could be anybody’s iPad.”
“It carries your device name, your model identifier, and the activation date.”
“Names can be copied.”
I placed the next page beside it.
“This purchase was approved from that device at 8:14 p.m.
on March seventh.
At 8:09, you texted me asking to borrow my phone.
At 8:17, you thanked me.”
Kendra’s eyes moved from the report to the screenshot.
Mom leaned forward.
“What purchase?”
“A yearly editing subscription,”
I said.
“It renewed last month.”
Kendra folded her arms.
“You told me I could use the app.”
“I told you that you could use my phone to check something.
I did not give you permission to attach your iPad to my account or charge my card.”
“It was one subscription.”
I opened the folder wider.
The metal clips snapped against the table.
“No.
It was forty-seven transactions.”
I spread the pages in front of them.
Kendra’s purchases were marked in one column.
Mom’s were marked in another.
Dates, amounts, device IDs, and locations formed a pattern neither of them could explain away.
Mom picked up a receipt from a department store.
“I remember this,” she said slowly.
“You said the payment came from a rewards balance.”
Kendra turned toward her.
“It practically did.
