Chapter 5
I took the notebook to Mrs. Carter before school.
She read the line twice, then called Arthur. He came over after I got home. This time I asked him to sit at Dad’s table.
“Why did Dad write Vanessa’s name?” I asked.
Arthur held the notebook carefully.
“He must have wondered whether she knew more than she told us.”
“Did he ever ask you?”
“No.”
I remembered Vanessa saying Dad had stayed away because he knew it would hurt. I wondered whether she had known he was thinking of coming back.
Mrs. Carter had spoken with a lawyer named Ms. Brooks. She agreed to meet us that afternoon. Arthur drove separately, and Mrs. Carter took Lily and me. I was beginning to notice how carefully the adults made sure we were never placed alone with someone new.
Ms. Brooks asked me what I wanted to know first.
“Whether Vanessa took Dad’s money.”
She did not look surprised. She examined the pages from the folder and explained the numbers without rushing.
A payment had been made after Dad died. The funeral bills used part of it. The rest had been deposited into an account Vanessa controlled as the person handling the paperwork. Ms. Brooks would request the records before saying whether Vanessa had been allowed to use it that way.
“Should it be for us?” I asked.
“That’s one of the questions I’m checking. You deserve a clear answer.”
I liked her because she spoke to me, not just over my head.
Arthur asked whether she could also find the old bakery records. His business had closed years ago, but he kept boxes of paperwork in his garage.
“Bring what you have,” Ms. Brooks said. “Let’s find the facts before accusing anyone.”
At Arthur’s house the next day, I saw photographs of Dad as a child. He had the same crooked smile he gave Lily when she told a joke badly.
Arthur’s house was small and clean. A second bedroom held shelves and a sewing machine that had belonged to Claire. He had not prepared it for us. He showed it to Ms. Lewis during her visit and asked what would need to change if Lily and I ever stayed.
Lily touched the sewing machine.
“Did our grandma make clothes?”
“She fixed everything,” Arthur said. “She even fixed my apron when I caught it in the oven door.”
Lily smiled.
I stood in the hallway looking at a school photograph of Dad at sixteen. He was almost as tall as Arthur, though his eyes still looked like mine.
“Do you have pictures after that?” I asked.
Arthur shook his head.
“I should have.”
He opened his garage. We spent an hour sorting boxes while Mrs. Carter and Ms. Lewis spoke inside. Arthur let me choose which papers to touch. I found old menus, receipts, and a notebook of orders.
Then he found the year Dad left.
His hands slowed.
The missing deposit was written on a page in red ink. A later note said the bank had found an error in a different day’s count. The amount was almost the same.
“Is that the money?” I asked.
“I never checked the two entries together.”
We took both pages to Ms. Brooks. She asked Arthur for copies of the bank statements and told us not to assume the mistake explained everything yet.
That night, Lily and I slept at Mrs. Carter’s as usual. I had hoped finding Arthur would make everything happen quickly. Instead, everyone was checking records and asking questions.
Lily lay beside me under Dad’s old blanket.
“Do you want to live with Arthur?” she asked.
“I don’t know him yet.”
“He gave me the small cupcake because the big one had nuts.”
“He pays attention.”
“Dad did too.”
I turned toward her.
“We don’t have to stop talking about Dad.”
“I know.”
She fell asleep holding my sleeve.
Ms. Brooks called the next morning. The bank statements showed the bakery had received the money. Arthur had questioned Dad over a shortage that never happened.
I heard Arthur on speaker when she told him.
“I blamed my son for nothing,” he said.
Mrs. Carter put her hand on my shoulder. I did not know whether to feel relieved or furious.
Then Ms. Brooks added something else.
May you like
The old records showed Vanessa had made the correction months later. Her initials were beside it. She knew the deposit had been found.
She had never told Arthur.
