Chapter 6: What Cora Said
I let it ring.
She called again twenty minutes later, while Renata was still at the table writing.
I stepped into the hallway and answered on the fourth ring.
"I think we should talk," Cora said.
"Just the two of us.
Before this gets any further."
"I'm listening."
A pause.
"Not on the phone.
Can you come to the house?
Or I can come to you."
"You can come here," I said.
"Noon."
Another pause, longer.
She had expected me to refuse, or to agree to neutral ground, or to say I needed to check with my attorney first.
She hadn't expected me to say yes, come here, noon.
"All right," she said.
"Noon."
I went back to the kitchen.
Renata looked up.
"Cora's coming at noon," I said.
Renata's expression didn't change, but she set her phone face-down on the table.
"Do you want me to leave?"
"I want you to go into the living room and stay quiet."
She picked up her phone and went.
Cora arrived at five past twelve.
She had dressed carefully — not formally, but carefully, the way people dress when they want to appear reasonable.
She came in and sat across from me at the kitchen table and folded her hands and looked at me with an expression I can only describe as managed concern.
"I want to explain about the holding company," she said.
"All right."
"It was never meant to be permanent.
It was a vehicle — a temporary structure to hold the funds while we figured out the cleanest way to transfer them without triggering tax consequences.
Wesley was trying to protect the value of the estate."
"By putting the funds in a company registered in your name."
"In both our names, effectively.
Wesley is a silent partner."
"The documents Daniel has show only your name."
A small tightening around her eyes.
"The internal agreement—"
"Isn't what was filed."
She unfolded her hands and refolded them.
"The sixty-thousand-dollar debt is real.
If that becomes public — if creditors come looking — it could affect the house.
Wesley was trying to move assets ahead of that."
"By forging my signature."
"That word is—"
"Page three," I said.
"My signature.
On a document I never saw.
That's the word for it."
Cora looked at the table.
When she looked up again, the managed concern had shifted into something more direct.
"What do you want?"
"I want the money returned.
All of it.
Every charge on my card, every withdrawal from the account, every fee paid to your holding company.
I want it documented and returned within thirty days."
"That's not—"
"And I want the property documents corrected.
Whatever Wesley filed that gives him any authority over this house — reversed.
Completely."
"Wesley will fight that."
"He's welcome to."
Cora leaned back slightly.
"If this goes to court, the debt comes out.
Gerald's name comes out.
Is that what you want?"
"Gerald made a mistake," I said.
"That's between him and me and whatever I decide to do about it.
It has nothing to do with what you did."
"We were protecting you."
"You were protecting the money."
She was quiet.
"You set up that company four months before my husband died," I said.
"I'd like you to explain to me what you were protecting me from in that particular moment."
The kitchen was very still.
Cora picked up her bag from the floor.
She stood.
"I'll talk to Wesley," she said.
"You do that," I said.
"Daniel's number is on the letter you already have.
He's expecting to hear from someone by Friday."
She walked to the door.
She stopped with her hand on the frame and turned back once.
"For what it's worth," she said, "Wesley does love you.
In his way."
"I know," I said.
"That's the part that took me the longest to understand."
She left.
I waited until I heard her car back out of the driveway.
Then I walked to the living room doorway.
Renata was sitting on the couch with her phone in her lap.
She had been recording.
She held it up so I could see the waveform still moving.
"All of it?" I asked.
"All of it," she said.
My phone rang.
Daniel.
"She just left," I said when I answered.
"I know," he said.
"Wesley called my office twenty minutes ago.
He wants a meeting."
"When?"
"He said tomorrow.
I said Friday.
He agreed." A pause.
"He also said something you should know about."
I sat down next to Renata.
May you like
"Tell me."
"He said the sixty-thousand debt isn't the only one."
