Chapter 6: What Lily Knew
Megan called Lily from the mall parking lot, sitting in her car with the engine off.
It rang four times.
Then: "Mom?"
Lily was twenty-one.
She was in her second year of graduate school, three states away.
She called on Sundays and texted on birthdays and had her father's eyes and her grandmother's stubbornness in equal measure.
"Your father just told me to call you," Megan said.
"He said you know something."
A long pause.
"Lily."
"Mom, I didn't know what to do.
I didn't know if it was real or if I was misunderstanding something, and every time I tried to bring it up with you, you seemed so sad about Grandma and I just—"
"Tell me."
Another pause.
Then: "Dad called me in February.
He said he needed my help with something for your anniversary.
He said he wanted to surprise you with a trip and he needed to move some money around without you noticing." Her voice was careful, like she was walking on ice.
"He asked me to sign a witness form.
He said it was just a formality for a travel insurance policy."
Megan closed her eyes.
"I signed it, Mom.
I didn't read it properly.
I was in the middle of exams and he said it was just a travel thing and I—" Lily's voice broke slightly.
"What did I sign?"
"I don't know yet."
"Is it bad?"
"I'm going to find out." Megan kept her voice steady.
"Lily, this is not your fault.
Do you hear me?
Whatever it was, he used you.
That is on him, not you."
"Mom, what is happening?"
"Your father has been doing things I didn't know about.
For a long time.
I'm only finding out today."
"What kind of things?"
Megan thought about how to answer.
She thought about the bracelet, the forged signature, the accountant's email, the forty-four thousand dollars that had been her mother's entire life savings.
"The kind that have consequences," she said.
Lily was quiet for a moment.
Then: "There's something else."
Megan waited.
"He called me again last week.
He said you'd been acting erratic.
He said he was worried about you and that if you ever called me saying strange things, I should remind you to take your medication."
Megan's hand tightened on the phone.
"I don't take medication, Lily."
"I know that."
"Did you tell him that?"
"He said you'd stopped.
He said that was part of the problem." A pause.
"Mom, I didn't believe him.
I want you to know that.
But I didn't know what to do with it."
"You're doing it now," Megan said.
"That's enough."
She sat in the quiet car for a moment after she hung up.
The afternoon light was flat and gray through the windshield.
A family walked past in the parking lot — two small children, a stroller, a man carrying shopping bags.
She picked up her phone again and searched for a name she hadn't thought about in years.
Patricia Howe.
Family law attorney.
They'd been in the same book club twelve years ago, before Megan stopped going.
The office number was still listed.
She pressed call.
It rang twice.
A receptionist answered.
"I need to speak with Patricia Howe," Megan said.
"My name is Megan Blake.
It's urgent."
"Can I ask what it's regarding?"
Megan looked through the windshield at the mall entrance.
"My husband has been forging documents in my name.
He's transferred my mother's estate without my consent.
And I think my daughter may have been used as a witness to something she didn't understand." A pause.
"I need to know what I can do, and I need to know today."
A brief silence on the other end.
"Let me see if Ms.
Howe is available," the receptionist said.
"Please hold."
The hold music was something soft and instrumental.
Megan didn't hear it.
She was thinking about the bracelet.
About the way Grant had fastened it around Diane's wrist, smiling, easy, like a man who had never taken anything that wasn't his.
Then Patricia Howe's voice came on the line.
May you like
"Megan.
Tell me everything."
