“Then let her speak.”
Mom sat.
I sat beside her.
The detective remained across from us.
A recorder was placed on the table.
“Mrs. Vance.”
“Tell me what happened from the beginning.”
Mom looked at me.
I squeezed her hand.
Then she began.
“Julian came to my house around one-thirty.”
“Did you call him?”
“No.”
“Did you invite him?”
“No.”
“Why did he come?”
“He said we needed to talk.”
“About what?”
Mom swallowed.
“My bank accounts.”
My chest tightened.
“What about them?”
“I found transfers.”
Julian had told me she accused him of stealing.
That part was true.
But apparently there was a reason.
Mom continued.
“I was paying bills yesterday.”
“I noticed money missing from my investment account.”
“How much?”
“Almost eighty thousand dollars.”
I stopped breathing.
Detective Keene leaned forward.
“When did the transfers occur?”
“Over several months.”
“Where did the money go?”
