Chapter 10 - Lorraine's Secret
Lorraine had sold my grandmother’s gold brooch.
I remembered the piece immediately.
It was small and old-fashioned.
My grandmother wore it every Easter until arthritis made fastening it difficult.
After she died, my mother gave it to me.
I kept it inside the cedar chest.
According to the receipt, Lorraine had pawned it for eight hundred and fifty dollars.
I called her from the cottage.
She answered after six rings.
“What do you want?”
“I found the pawn receipt.”
Silence.
“Which receipt?”
“The one with your name on it.”
Another silence.
Then anger arrived.
“That jewelry was abandoned.”
“It was inside my cedar chest.”
“You never wore it.”
“It did not belong to you.”
“Andrew said he needed money.”
I closed my eyes.
“So you stole from me.”
“Do not use that word.”
“What word would you prefer?”
“You had more than you needed.”
Matthew heard that.
His expression hardened.
Lorraine continued.
“You inherited everything.”
“Andrew had nothing after his father died.”
“That does not make my grandmother’s belongings his.”
“You never treated him like an equal.”
I almost could not believe what I was hearing.
I had paid most of the down payment.
I had covered Lorraine’s groceries.
I had paid property taxes when Andrew’s commission dropped.
I had helped pay for the cottage roof.
Equality, in Lorraine’s mind, apparently meant unlimited access to whatever I possessed.
“How much did you take?”
“I do not remember.”
“Try.”
“I helped my son.”
“How much?”
Her voice sharpened.
“Ask Andrew.”
Then she hung up.
Gabriel later helped identify the storage facility’s management company.
Because I could document ownership of several items shown being moved from my property, Nora contacted the appropriate authorities rather than trying to access the unit herself.
Within days, the dispute had become much larger than adultery.
Money had vanished.
Property had vanished.
Documents had been copied.
Emails had been imitated.
And the woman who threw a pot at me had apparently helped sell things that belonged to my family.
Andrew’s attorney contacted Nora that afternoon.
Andrew wanted a private settlement.
Fast.
Very fast.
Nora read the proposed terms aloud.
Andrew would repay twenty thousand dollars over three years.
I would agree not to pursue claims related to the cottage property.
He would take responsibility for Lorraine’s relocation.
In exchange, he wanted fifty percent of the current equity in the Rochester house.
I laughed.
Nora did not.
“He is testing whether you are frightened.”
“He really thinks I will pay him half of a house mostly funded by my inheritance after he stole from our savings.”
“He is hoping you want this finished more than you want it finished fairly.”
I looked through the cottage window toward the lake.
For years, I had been the person who ended arguments because I hated tension.
Andrew knew that.
He had built his strategy around it.
“Reject it.”
Nora nodded.
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
That evening, Andrew called from a number I did not recognize.
I answered before realizing it was him.
“Claire, please do not hang up.”
“You have an attorney.”
“So do you.”
“Then use them.”
“This has gone too far.”
I looked around the nearly empty cottage.
“You emptied my grandmother’s house.”
“Our cottage.”
“You sold her things.”
“I did not sell everything.”
That answer stopped me.
“What did you sell?”
Silence.
“Andrew.”
“I was going to replace it.”
“What?”
“The jewelry.”
My stomach turned.
“You knew Lorraine sold it.”
“I needed liquidity.”
“For Serena?”
“No.”
“For what?”
He whispered his answer.
May you like
“Because I owed money.”
That was the first time I realized the affair was not the only secret he had been hiding.
