Chapter 4
I asked Maya to keep Leo home from the diner the next evening.
Leo protested.
“I can’t just miss a shift.”
“I called your manager,” I said. “She understands there’s a family emergency.”
“What if Victor comes there?”
“He won’t find you there tonight.”
I didn’t want Leo to see how afraid I was.
Evelyn told me to save Brenda’s message and report the contact to the police. An officer took my statement, including the warning about Victor knowing Leo’s workplace. He said to call immediately if Victor appeared or contacted Leo directly.
Then Evelyn obtained the new account records.
We read them in her office.
The account had been opened at a small lender under Leo’s name. The application listed him as eighteen. It included a copy of his identification with the birth year changed.
Leo’s signature appeared on one page.
It was the page Brenda had put in front of him.
The lender had stopped the application before releasing money because another document did not match. Someone had continued trying to complete it.
I read Leo’s name above the false date of birth until the letters blurred.
“Can they make him pay?” I asked.
“Not for an agreement he never knowingly entered,” Evelyn said. “We’ll dispute it formally and provide his real records. The altered identification is important evidence.”
“What was the loan for?”
“Twenty-five thousand dollars.”
I thought of my son counting tips at the diner while Brenda took five hundred dollars from him each month.
“Did the rent payments go to Victor?”
“Some of the amounts appear in the transfers. We need the full account history to trace the rest.”
I called Maya before I left Evelyn’s office. Leo was with her, finishing homework. He had not heard from Victor.
Brenda was waiting outside our house when I got home. She had packed two suitcases and placed them by her car.
“I’ll stay with my cousin,” she said.
“That’s best.”
She looked past me toward the empty driveway.
“Where’s Leo?”
“He’s safe.”
“I never wanted him involved in a loan.”
I turned to face her. “His name is on it.”
“Victor said the application was a safeguard. He told me it would help release my money.”
“What money?”
Brenda wiped her eyes.
“My father left me an inheritance. Victor contacted me about it.”
“Your father died fifteen years ago.”
“There was an account I didn’t know about. Victor had documents.”
“Did you see the money?”
“No.”
“How much have you sent him altogether?”
She stared at the suitcases. “More than Leo gave me.”
“How much, Brenda?”
“About fourteen thousand.”
I stepped back.
She had emptied her savings. When that was gone, she had taken money from Leo. Then she had given Victor his identity.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
“Because the first payment was a mistake. After that, he kept saying one more fee would release everything. I thought if I brought the money home, I could repay Leo before anyone knew.”
“Were you going to tell him what he signed?”
“I didn’t understand the form.”
“You didn’t understand it, and you handed it to a child.”
She covered her face.
I could feel sorry that someone had deceived her. I could also see every choice she had made after she knew she was in trouble.
“Give Evelyn every message, letter, and number Victor used,” I said.
“He told me he’d ruin us if I did.”
“He’s already trying.”
Brenda promised to bring the records in the morning. I watched her drive away, then locked the front door.
When I went to Maya’s house, Leo was sitting on the couch with his schoolbooks. I told him about the application.
His mouth opened, but no words came out.
“I’m in debt?” he finally asked.
“No. Someone tried to put a debt in your name. The lender stopped it. We’re making sure it stays stopped.”
“I signed it.”
“You signed a page after an adult lied about what it was. You did nothing wrong.”
He pressed his hands over his eyes.
“I should’ve read it.”
“You asked to read it. She told you not to.”
Maya sat on his other side.
“You can be angry,” she said. “You don’t have to make this your fault.”
Leo’s shoulders began to shake. I held him while he cried.
The next morning, Brenda arrived at Evelyn’s office with her phone and a folder. I waited in the hall while Evelyn spoke to her.
After half an hour, Evelyn called me in.
She laid out several printed messages.
Victor had promised an inheritance. He had demanded fees. Then, when Brenda ran out of money, he had proposed using a “family member’s qualifying account.”
One message stood out.
Have Leo sign before his father sees the form. He may ask questions that delay us.
Brenda had replied:
I can handle Leo.
May you like
I looked at her across the desk.
She didn’t try to explain.
