Chapter 6: What Diane Saw
We met at a coffee shop twenty minutes from my office.
Diane was already there when I arrived, both hands wrapped around a mug, watching the door.
She looked older than I remembered.
Tired in a specific way, like someone carrying something they'd been meaning to put down.
I sat across from her.
"Thank you for coming," she said.
"What did you see?"
She looked at her mug for a moment.
Then up at me.
"Two years ago, at Christmas.
You left early.
You had a work call, remember?"
I did.
A server issue.
I had apologized and slipped out around eight.
"After you left," Diane said, "I went to get my coat from the back bedroom.
The door was half open.
Karen and Mia were inside.
I wasn't trying to listen.
But I heard them."
"What did they say?"
"Mia was upset.
She had just broken up with her boyfriend and she was talking about needing money.
Needing somewhere to go." Diane set her mug down.
"Karen told her not to worry.
She said — and I remember this clearly — she said, *'Go stay with Thomas.
He won't say no.
He never says no.
And while everyone's focused on you, I'll have time to sort out the rest.'*"
The coffee shop noise continued around us.
Someone laughed at the counter.
"Sort out the rest," I repeated.
"I didn't know what it meant at the time.
I thought maybe she meant sorting out some family argument.
I didn't think—" Diane stopped.
"I should have told you.
I've thought about it a hundred times since then.
But Karen has a way of making you feel like you misheard.
Like you're making something out of nothing."
"I know exactly what you mean."
"When I heard what Mia did with your furniture, and then someone told me about the group chat with your father's name on it—" She shook her head.
"I couldn't stay quiet anymore."
"Diane." I leaned forward slightly.
"Would you be willing to write down what you heard?
Formally.
For a lawyer."
She looked at me for a long moment.
"Yes," she said.
"That's why I called you."
I exhaled slowly.
"There's more," she said.
I waited.
"At that same Christmas, I saw Karen take a folder from your dad's study.
She put it in her bag.
I assumed it was something he'd asked her to bring.
But after everything you've said—" She paused.
"I don't know what was in it.
But it was a thick folder.
Legal-looking."
I thought about my dad's voice on the phone.
*She handles most of the paperwork.
She says I forget things.*
"Okay," I said.
"I need you to tell my lawyer everything you just told me.
Every detail.
Exactly as you remember it."
Diane nodded.
She wrapped both hands around her mug again.
"Thomas," she said quietly.
"Your mother would be furious."
I looked at the table.
"I know," I said.
"So am I."
That evening, Sandra called me before I had the chance to call her.
"Your father's appointment went well," she said.
"His lawyer has flagged several irregularities.
They're recommending a formal review."
"What does that mean practically?"
"It means the transfers are being examined.
It means Karen's access to his accounts may be frozen pending the review.
And it means—" A pause.
"Thomas, your father told his lawyer something else.
He said Karen had asked him, twice in the last six months, to sign documents he didn't fully read.
He signed them because she told him they were routine."
My chair creaked as I leaned back.
"What were the documents?"
May you like
"That's what the review is going to determine," Sandra said.
"But one of them may have been a limited power of attorney."
