Chapter 2
I asked Leo to sit at the kitchen table.
He did, still holding his cap. Brenda remained by the refrigerator with her arms crossed so tightly her fingers had turned white.
“Tell me about the envelope,” I said.
“It was last month. She brought it to my room after work.”
“What did it look like?”
“Big and brown. There were papers inside. She put one page on top and pointed to a line with my name.”
“Did you read it?”
“I tried. She said it was only a receipt and she had to mail it that night.”
Brenda shook her head. “You’re frightening him.”
“You can help by telling us where the paper is.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Who does?”
She said nothing.
I pulled out my phone and photographed every receipt and transfer while Brenda watched. When I finished, I put the papers back in the box and carried it to the table.
“You’re not taking these away,” I said.
“Those are my private records.”
“They have Leo’s name on them.”
Leo rubbed his palms against his jeans.
“Am I in trouble?”
The question nearly knocked the breath out of me.
“No. I should have noticed something was wrong. I’m sorry.”
His eyes filled. “She said if I complained, you’d think I couldn’t handle working.”
“I’m proud of how hard you’ve worked. You should never have had to give her that money.”
Brenda took a step toward us.
“I never said your father would be disappointed.”
“You said he’d be angry if I made a fuss,” Leo replied.
She stopped.
I called my sister Maya and asked if Leo could stay with her for the night. She lived ten minutes away and had always been close to him. I told her enough that she didn’t ask questions while Leo could hear.
Brenda waited until he went upstairs to pack.
“You’re sending him away to make me look dangerous?”
“He needs a quiet place to sleep. I need to find out what he signed.”
“I can explain it.”
“Do it now.”
She sat down across from me.
“Victor helped me with a problem.”
“What problem?”
“Debt.”
“You told me you’d paid off your credit cards.”
“I had. This was different.”
“How different?”
Brenda glanced toward the stairs.
“I borrowed money before we were married. Victor collected it for someone.”
“That doesn’t explain Leo’s signature.”
She reached for the box. I slid it away.
“I needed to show where the payments came from,” she said. “That’s all.”
“Why would a lender need our son’s name?”
She didn’t answer.
Leo came downstairs with his backpack. His shoulders were hunched as if he expected someone to stop him.
Brenda stood.
“Leo, I didn’t mean for tonight to happen like this.”
He looked at her. “You said Dad knew.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it.
Maya arrived a few minutes later. She gave Leo a hug and took his bag without asking him to explain. At the door, he turned to me.
“Will you call me?”
“As soon as you get there.”
When their car pulled away, I went back inside.
Brenda was putting the groceries away.
I wanted to yell. Instead, I asked for Victor’s phone number.
“I don’t have it.”
“Then how did you arrange the transfers?”
“He gave me the account.”
“Show me every message you’ve had with him.”
She picked up her phone, held it for a moment, and set it down again.
“I deleted them.”
I thought of Leo signing a page he hadn’t read.
“Is Victor threatening you?”
Brenda stared at the floor.
That frightened me more than anything she had said.
I called the bank number on the transfer confirmations. The account belonged to Brenda alone, so the representative could not tell me much. She could confirm the documents were real. I thanked her and ended the call.
Then I found the name of a lawyer who handled family and financial matters and left a message.
Brenda listened from the doorway.
“You’re going to call a lawyer over a few rent payments?”
“Over a paper our son signed for a stranger.”
She looked away.
At eleven, Maya texted that Leo had fallen asleep on her couch. I went upstairs to get clothes for work, though I knew I wouldn’t sleep.
In our bedroom, Brenda’s bedside drawer stood open. She must have searched it while I was on the phone.
Inside lay a torn corner of an envelope.
I picked it up.
The printed return address said Hale Family Services.
Underneath, in small letters, were the words Youth Account Department.
I went downstairs with the scrap in my hand.
Brenda was sitting in the dark.
May you like
“What kind of account did you open in Leo’s name?”
She closed her eyes.
