The letter was dated four years ago.
Six weeks before my trial.
“Son.
If you’re reading this, Vonetta has already started lying to you, and I’ve been too slow, and I’m sorry.
I want to write the true things down while I can still write.
One.
You did not take that money.
I know because I know where it went, and I know who signs my company’s checks when I’m tired, and I know that I let him because it was easier than a fight.
Two.
I have been forgetting things.
Names.
The shop’s combination.
The word for spatula, for eleven minutes, last Tuesday.
Dr. Ifeoma says early onset and says it will move.
Three.
I signed a power of attorney because Dr. Ifeoma told me to have one, and I made a mistake in who.
I am fixing it.
Ruth Adler has the new one and it revokes the old one and it names you.
Four.
Storage 108 has everything: the ledgers, the checks, the account statements, and a recording I made on the shop telephone which I am told is legal in this state as long as one person on the line knows, and I knew.
Five.
If I am not where you’re looking for me, I am not gone.
Ask Ruth.
Don’t ask Vonetta anything.
