Chapter 6: Patricia Finally Speaks
Patricia asked to meet at a quiet diner near the courthouse.
She arrived without Richard and placed a small black device beside my coffee.
“It connects to the kitchen speaker,” she said.
“It records voice commands and saves the room audio after an alarm.”
“Why did the alarm activate?”
“Terrence knocked a glass against the control panel after you left.”
David opened his laptop.
“What does the recording contain?”
Patricia pressed both palms around her cup.
“Richard and Terrence discussing the loan.”
“Did you know before Thanksgiving?” I asked.
“I knew they wanted money.
I didn’t know how far they had gone.”
“You knew they used my signature.”
Her eyes dropped.
“Say it out loud,” I said.
“I saw the authorization after Terrence printed it.”
“And you said nothing.”
“Richard told me it was only temporary.”
“He wrote that you said I would never notice.”
Patricia’s hands began to tremble.
“I did say that.”
The words sat between us.
“Why?”
“Because every time Richard made a mess, you cleaned it up.” Her voice cracked.
“I told myself you would fix this one too.”
“You called my son a mistake.”
Patricia wiped her cheek.
“I wanted Richard to stop blaming me for letting you keep Leo during those difficult first months.
So I stood beside him and handed the blame to a four-year-old.”
“You chose your comfort over us.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“I did.”
I pushed my chair back, but Patricia caught the edge of the table.
“Please listen before you leave.”
“Then play it.”
David connected the device.
Richard’s voice filled the booth.
“Once the money arrives, we’ll pay the apartment balance and move the rest offshore.”
Terrence answered, “What if Nicole checks the title?”
“She never checks anything unless I ask her to.”
“And the signature?”
“You copied it well enough.
Calvin will argue she forgot signing.”
Patricia’s recorded voice entered next.
“This could ruin Nicole.”
Richard laughed.
“Nicole exists to solve family problems.”
The recording ended.
I pressed both hands over my face.
Patricia moved around the table but stopped before touching me.
“I am sorry,” she said.
“Sorry won’t erase Leo asking if he was a mistake.”
“No.” Tears ran down her face.
“But I will sit in court and tell them I said it.
I will tell them everything.”
The diner door opened.
Richard walked in.
He saw the device and crossed the room.
“You took that from my house?”
“It isn’t your house,” I said.
He reached for the recorder, but David closed his hand around it first.
“Sit down, Richard.”
“You turned my wife against me.”
Patricia stood.
“You used our grandson to frighten Nicole.”
“Our grandson wouldn’t be involved if Nicole had obeyed.”
I moved between him and Patricia.
“You forged my permission, tried to take six hundred thousand dollars, and filed a false complaint about my child.”
Richard pointed at Patricia.
“She approved all of it.”
“I approved staying silent,” Patricia said.
“That was bad enough.”
His face hardened.
“Come home now, or don’t come home at all.”
Patricia removed her house key and placed it on the table.
“Then I won’t come home.”
Richard stared at the key.
“You’ll regret choosing her.”
“I regret not choosing her sooner.”
He walked out, but his final look was directed at the recorder.
David copied the file to three secure locations.
Before we left, his phone rang.
“The Westchester house alarm was disabled ten minutes ago,” he said.
Patricia went pale.
“Terrence knows where Richard keeps the laptop.”
We drove to the house with a police escort.
The office door stood open, and the laptop was gone.
A metal wastebasket in the fireplace contained blackened pieces of paper.
David lifted one unburned corner with a gloved hand.
“They tried to destroy the application file.”
My phone chimed with a photograph from Eleanor.
Terrence stood inside the bank beside Richard and a third man holding a notary stamp.
May you like
I recognized him immediately.
I had built his business website for free.
