Chapter 3
I watched Margaret’s face while Emma was still talking.
She wouldn’t look at me.
That was all I needed to see.
“Margaret.”
Daniel turned.
His mother stared at the floor.
“Mom?”
Robert stepped closer to her.
“What do you know?”
Margaret shook her head quickly.
“Nothing.”
I put my phone on speaker.
Emma’s voice filled the kitchen.
“The police want to know when you can get here.”
“We’re leaving now.”
I ended the call.
Daniel grabbed his jacket.
Mark told Lisa to take Chloe home.
But Chloe clung to her father.
“No.”
“Honey—”
“I want to stay with Dad.”
Margaret snapped, “This has nothing to do with her.”
Mark looked at his mother with such disgust that she actually stepped backward.
“You don’t get to decide anything involving my daughter tonight.”
Robert picked up his keys.
“I’m coming too.”
Margaret suddenly moved toward him.
“No.”
Everyone stopped.
Robert stared at her.
“Why not?”
“Because this is ridiculous. Someone probably broke into their house randomly.”
I walked toward her.
“You know something.”
“I don’t.”
“Then why are you scared?”
“I’m not scared.”
“You’re shaking.”
Margaret hid her hands behind her back.
Daniel looked between us.
“Mom, did you go to our house?”
“No!”
The answer came too fast.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Did you give anyone access to our house?”
“No.”
“Do you have our spare key?”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“Yes, she does.”
He turned to me.
“What?”
“Last summer. We went to Chicago. You gave her a spare key in case the alarm company called.”
Daniel’s eyes slowly shifted toward Margaret.
“Give it to me.”
She didn’t move.
“Mom.”
“I don’t carry it.”
“Where is it?”
“At home.”
“This is your home.”
Margaret swallowed.
Robert’s expression changed.
“Margaret, where is their key?”
She crossed her arms.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel stared at her.
Then he walked directly past her toward a small desk near the family room.
“What are you doing?”
He opened the top drawer.
Margaret rushed toward him.
“Daniel!”
He pulled it open.
Inside were dozens of keys on labeled rings.
Garage.
Lake house.
Storage unit.
Mark’s house.
Lisa’s parents’ house.
And then Daniel found one labeled D&S.
Daniel and Sarah.
He lifted it.
Nobody spoke.
Daniel looked at his mother.
“You lied.”
“It’s just a spare key.”
“You just said you didn’t have it.”
“I forgot.”
“You forgot?”
Robert took a step back as if the woman in front of him had become a stranger.
Daniel closed his fist around the key.
“We’re going to the house.”
Margaret followed us toward the front door.
“I’m coming.”
“No,” I said.
She stopped.
“You don’t tell me what to do in my own home.”
“I’m telling you that you are not getting into my car.”
Daniel looked at me.
For once, he didn’t argue.
“Sarah’s right.”
Margaret’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“Stay here.”
“You’re taking her side now?”
Daniel’s face twisted with frustration.
“This isn’t about sides!”
“Yes, it is!”
“No, Mom. Someone entered my house.”
He held up the spare key.
“And five minutes ago, you lied about having a key.”
Margaret’s expression became strangely calm.
“You’ll regret speaking to me this way.”
I opened the front door.
“No, Daniel. He’ll regret waiting this long.”
We left.
Robert came with us.
Mark stayed behind with Chloe and Lisa.
The drive to our house took twenty-eight minutes.
Nobody spoke for the first ten.
Then Daniel said, “I should have believed you.”
I stared out the passenger window.
Streetlights streaked across the glass.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I need to explain.”
“No.”
“Sarah—”
“I said no.”
Robert sat silently in the back seat.
Daniel tightened his hands around the steering wheel.
“I thought if we found the ring in your purse—”
“You didn’t find it.”
“What?”
“Your mother planted it. There’s a difference.”
“I know that now.”
“That’s the problem.”
He glanced at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I finally looked at him.
“You keep saying that like the right combination of words will put tonight back together.”
He didn’t answer.
I turned away again.
When we reached our street, two police cars were parked outside.
Emma stood on the lawn in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, hugging herself.
I barely had my seat belt off before I opened the door.
She ran to me.
“Oh my God.”
She saw my knees.
“What happened to you?”
“Later.”
Then she saw Robert and Daniel.
Her expression changed.
“Police are inside.”
An officer came onto the porch.
“Mrs. Miller?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Officer Reyes. Your sister told us you were at a family dinner.”
“I was.”
“Do you notice anything outside that looks disturbed?”
I looked around.
“No.”
He nodded toward the door.
“There was no forced entry.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“We have an alarm.”
“Was it armed?”
Daniel looked at me.
I answered.
“Yes. I armed it before we left.”
Officer Reyes checked his notes.
“The alarm company shows it was disarmed at 7:42 p.m. using a valid user code.”
My stomach dropped.
Daniel whispered, “What?”
The officer looked at him.
“You have individual codes?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know whose was used?”
Daniel swallowed.
“My mother has one.”
Robert closed his eyes.
Officer Reyes looked at Margaret’s father-in-law—then at me.
“Do you know the code number associated with her?”
Daniel gave it to him.
The officer checked something on his tablet.
Then he looked back up.
“That’s the code.”
Nobody spoke.
My heart began pounding.
“Margaret entered our house.”
Officer Reyes raised one hand.
“We know her code was used. We don’t yet know who physically entered.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“There are cameras.”
“Your sister mentioned that.”
“We have one above the garage and one in the hallway.”
The officer’s expression became serious.
“The garage camera appears to have been disabled before entry.”
Daniel stared at him.
“How?”
“We’re still determining that.”
I pushed past them and entered the house.
The living room looked almost untouched.
A pillow was on the floor.
One cabinet door was open.
Then I reached the office.
My filing cabinet had been pulled halfway from the wall.
Every drawer was open.
Documents covered the floor.
Tax records.
Insurance papers.
Old bank statements.
Medical receipts.
Everything.
Except one folder.
The blue folder.
The folder containing the deed information for the house, our mortgage records, insurance documents, copies of our signatures, and financial paperwork from when we purchased the property.
Daniel came in behind me.
“It’s really gone.”
I turned.
“Why would your mother want our house documents?”
“I don’t know.”
Robert entered behind him.
He looked at the mess.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
Daniel noticed too.
“Dad?”
Robert stared at the open filing cabinet.
“When did you refinance?”
“We didn’t.”
Robert looked at him.
“You didn’t?”
“No.”
“Margaret told me you did.”
The room went silent.
I stepped forward.
“When?”
“About three months ago.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No. We talked about it, but rates didn’t make sense.”
Robert’s face drained of color.
“She said you needed money.”
“For what?”
“She said Sarah wanted to remodel the kitchen.”
I almost laughed.
“Our kitchen was renovated before we bought the house.”
Robert sat down heavily in my desk chair.
Daniel crouched beside him.
“Dad, what exactly did Mom tell you?”
Robert rubbed both hands over his face.
“She said you were embarrassed and didn’t want anyone knowing.”
“Knowing what?”
“That you were having financial problems.”
“We’re not.”
Robert looked at me.
“I believed her.”
My anger shifted.
This wasn’t random.
Margaret had been telling stories about us.
For months.
Maybe longer.
Officer Reyes stood in the doorway.
“Is there something we should know?”
I looked at Daniel.
He nodded.
I told the officer everything.
The ring.
The video.
The spare key.
Margaret’s lie.
The alarm code.
As I spoke, his expression became more focused.
“Do you still have the recording?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll need a copy.”
Then another officer called him from downstairs.
Reyes left.
Emma walked over and squeezed my hand.
“What the hell is happening?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel picked up one of the scattered documents.
Then he froze.
“What?”
I moved beside him.
He held a white envelope.
It had been hidden beneath the filing cabinet.
There was no stamp.
No mailing address.
Just Daniel’s name written across the front.
His mother’s handwriting.
Robert recognized it too.
“That’s Margaret’s.”
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a photocopy of some kind of financial document.
He read the first page.
Then read it again.
“What is it?” I asked.
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
I took the paper.
It was an application.
Not ours.
But our address was printed across the top.
Below it was Daniel’s name.
And beneath that—
a signature.
His signature.
Except Daniel hadn’t signed it.
The amount listed near the bottom was $185,000.
I looked at him.
“What is this?”
He whispered, “A home equity loan.”
Emma stared at us.
“But you said you didn’t take one.”
“We didn’t.”
Robert stood.
The paper shook in my hands.
Officer Reyes returned.
I gave it to him.
He studied the document.
“Where did you find this?”
“On the floor.”
He looked at Daniel.
“Did you submit this?”
“No.”
“Did your wife?”
“No.”
“Does anyone have access to your personal information?”
Daniel looked at me.
Then at his father.
Finally, he whispered,
“My mother.”
Officer Reyes didn’t react.
“Does she have financial problems?”
Robert answered before Daniel could.
“No.”
Then he stopped.
His face went blank.
I saw a realization pass through him.
“Robert?”
He sat back down.
“Three months ago, Margaret paid off my brother’s debt.”
Daniel frowned.
“Uncle Steven?”
Robert nodded.
“He owed almost sixty thousand dollars.”
“Mom paid it?”
“She said she used money from an old investment account.”
Daniel looked at the application again.
I felt sick.
“Where did the rest go?”
Nobody knew.
Then my phone buzzed.
A text message.
Unknown number.
I opened it.
There was a photograph attached.
It showed the front of Margaret’s house.
Taken from across the street.
Below it were six words.
ASK HER ABOUT THE OTHER HOUSE.
I stared at the message.
Daniel read it over my shoulder.
“What other house?”
Robert made a sound behind us.
Not a word.
More like a gasp.
We turned.
His face had gone gray.
“Dad?”
Robert looked at the floor.
May you like
Then he whispered,
“I think I know.”
