Chapter 6
The investigator’s name was Detective Brooks.
She met us in a plain office and spoke directly to Zoria, not over her.
“I know you’ve told this story more than once,” she said. “I’ll ask only what I need to understand the form.”
Zoria opened her folder.
She showed Detective Brooks her real signature on the scholarship acceptance, the forged signature on the withdrawal, and the messages from Bellmont. She explained when Vanessa took her mail and what she had said about Kendra.
I sat beside her and answered questions about the party.
Detective Brooks then told us Vanessa claimed Zoria had asked her to withdraw the application because she was afraid to tell me herself.
“That isn’t true,” Zoria said.
“I understand. I’m giving you a chance to respond.”
Zoria looked at the folder.
“I spent four years working toward Bellmont. I cried when they accepted me. I would never have asked someone to give it back for me.”
Detective Brooks nodded and wrote it down.
As we left, Zoria’s hands began to shake. She held them against her sides until we reached the car.
“I hate that she said I asked her,” she told me.
“So do I.”
“What if they believe her?”
“They’re checking the records. You gave them your account, and Bellmont flagged the form before we knew about it.”
She looked out the window.
“I want to stop having to prove it.”
I couldn’t make that happen as quickly as she needed. I drove us to Renee’s house, where Kendra was waiting, and let Zoria decide whether to talk.
She asked Kendra to come sit with her.
I went into the kitchen with Renee.
“How is Kendra?” she asked me.
“She wants to love her mother without defending what she did.”
“That’s a painful place for a kid.”
“She’s eighteen. I keep calling them kids.”
“They’re old enough to know what they want. They still need somewhere safe to come home to.”
I thought about that all afternoon.
Later, Kendra asked me whether she could speak to Detective Brooks too.
“I saw Mom working on a form the week before the party,” she said. “She told me it was for a family insurance policy. I didn’t see Zoria’s name, but I remember her asking me to leave the room.”
“You can tell the detective what you remember. Don’t guess at what you didn’t see.”
“I won’t.”
The next day, Kendra gave her statement.
Vanessa called me after hearing about it.
“You let my daughter turn against me,” she said.
“Kendra made her own decision.”
“You should have stopped her.”
“From telling the truth?”
“She didn’t even know what the form was.”
“Then that’s what she told them.”
Vanessa began to cry.
“I’m losing both of them.”
I leaned against the kitchen counter.
“You can still have a relationship with Kendra. She wants one. But you have to stop asking her to carry your version of what happened.”
“She’s all I have.”
“Then listen when she tells you what she needs.”
I ended the call exhausted.
That evening, Zoria found me looking at old family photos. There was one from the girls’ first year together, both wearing oversized winter coats. Kendra had her arm over Zoria’s shoulders.
“Did you know things were getting bad?” Zoria asked.
“I knew Vanessa worried about Kendra. I didn’t know she had begun taking that worry out on you.”
“You heard her compare our grades.”
“I did. I should have challenged it every time.”
Zoria sat beside me.
“I don’t want you saying everything is your fault.”
“I’m not saying that. I’m telling you what I should have done differently.”
She picked up the photograph.
“We look so little.”
“You were.”
“Kendra tried to teach me to skate that day. We both fell.”
“I remember.”
“She’s scared I’ll leave and we’ll stop being sisters.”
“Have you told her how you feel?”
“I’m going to.”
The girls talked late that night. I heard their voices through the wall, then laughter, then quiet.
The following morning, Zoria came down with an idea.
“I don’t want another big party,” she said. “But I’d like to celebrate getting the scholarship back. Just us, Renee, and a few friends.”
“We can do that.”
“And I want Kendra there beside me.”
Kendra, standing in the doorway, blinked hard.
“I’ll be there,” she said.
Before we could plan a date, my phone rang.
May you like
Detective Brooks told me Vanessa had asked to change her statement.
This time, she wanted to admit she signed the form herself.
