Chapter 3: The Lie Between Two Sisters
Diane lunged for the phone, but I stepped between her and the table.
Iris cried from the bassinet, and my mother did not even turn her head.
“Rachel,” I said, “tell me now.”
“I never asked for gaming consoles,” Rachel whispered.
“My children don’t even have birthdays this month.”
Diane’s face changed.
“She’s confused,” she said.
“Rachel has always been terrible with dates.”
“Stop it, Mom,” Rachel replied through the speaker.
“You told me Elena offered to cover my rent again.
You said she felt guilty for not visiting.”
“I sent twelve hundred dollars for your rent,” I said.
“Mom withdrew three thousand.”
There was silence on the line.
Rachel finally spoke.
“I received eight hundred.”
Diane grabbed the blue folder, but I caught the other end.
Papers slid across the floor between us.
“Let go,” she ordered.
“Why did you keep four hundred dollars from Rachel?”
“I managed it for her.
She wastes money.”
“And the other eighteen hundred?”
“You are recovering from childbirth,” Diane said.
“You’re exhausted and imagining conspiracies.”
I lifted the highlighted statement.
“Then explain why transfers marked ‘Rachel emergency’ went into an account carrying your name.”
“That account paid family expenses.”
“What expenses?”
Diane pressed her lips together.
Rachel’s voice came through the phone.
“Ask her about Penny.”
Diane kicked one loose statement beneath the table.
“Penny is a friend who needed temporary help,” she said.
“You told me Penny needed $3,000,” I replied.
“Then your text said Rachel’s children needed it.
Which lie am I supposed to believe?”
“You don’t speak to me that way.”
A knock sounded against the open front door.
My neighbor, Mrs.
Alvarez, stood on the porch in slippers, holding her phone.
“I heard the baby screaming,” she said.
“Do you need help?”
“This is a private family discussion,” Diane snapped.
Mrs.
Alvarez walked past her and lifted Iris from the bassinet with careful hands.
“A private discussion doesn’t require frightening a week-old baby.”
Diane pointed toward the door.
“Get out.”
“This is Elena’s home,” Mrs.
Alvarez replied.
“She can ask me to leave.”
I looked at Iris settling against the older woman’s shoulder.
“Please stay.”
Diane’s mouth fell open.
“You’re choosing a stranger over your own mother?”
“I’m choosing the person who noticed my daughter.”
Rachel drew a shaky breath over the speaker.
“Elena, Mom made me send those messages about sacrifice.
She said you would stop helping if I sounded grateful.”
I gripped the edge of the table.
“You knew she was lying to me?”
“Not all of it.
But enough.”
Diane snatched her handbag from the chair.
“Rachel, if you keep talking, don’t expect me to protect you when your landlord calls.”
“Protect me?” Rachel said.
“You kept Elena’s money and let me beg her for more.”
Diane moved toward the door, but I held up one final page.
“This transfer says Penny Holdings.”
She stopped.
“That isn’t a person, is it?”
Diane slowly turned around.
Mrs.
Alvarez shifted Iris against her shoulder.
“Elena, your mother just stepped on a paper.”
I bent down and pulled it from beneath Diane’s shoe.
It was a credit notice addressed to me, but the mailing address belonged to Diane.
The balance was $42,000.
“I never opened this account,” I said.
Diane reached for the page.
“Give that to me.”
“No.”
Her eyes hardened.
“By tomorrow morning, you’ll wish you had.”
Then she walked out, leaving the front door wide open.
May you like
Rachel’s next words came as a whisper.
“Elena, she has your Social Security number.”
