Chapter 17 - AUNT SUSAN
Susan arrived at the police station with a lawyer the next morning.
She cried before anyone asked a question.
"Evelyn said it was just to scare Rebecca," she told investigators. "She said Daniel needed to see what kind of woman he'd married."
I sat behind the one-way glass and listened.
Susan admitted hiding the cash envelope behind the kitchen trash can.
She admitted slipping the brass study key into my purse.
She admitted lying at lunch when Evelyn accused me.
"Why?" Hayes asked.
Susan covered her face. "Because Evelyn has been taking care of me financially for years."
There it was again.
Control disguised as generosity.
Susan had a gambling debt. Evelyn paid it. Then she owned her.
When I left the station, Susan was waiting in the hallway.
"Rebecca."
I kept walking.
"Please."
I stopped.
She looked twenty years older.
"I'm sorry."
"You watched her drag me by my hair."
"I was scared."
"So was I."
She cried harder.
"Can you forgive me?"
"Not today."
Her face crumpled.
At home, I found a voicemail from Evelyn's attorney asking whether I would consider supporting a plea agreement.
I deleted it.
Then Walter called.
"There's something I want to give you."
"I don't want money."
"It isn't money."
He asked me to come to the old Carter factory.
The building had been closed for renovations, empty except for the sound of our footsteps.
Walter led me to a small office overlooking the production floor.
"This was Samuel Reed's office," he said.
On the desk sat a framed photograph of a smiling man with two young daughters.
"I kept it after he died. I told myself that meant I cared."
He looked out the window.
"But caring without courage didn't save him."
He handed me a folder.
Inside was a proposal for a permanent independent ethics and fraud office at Carter Industrial.
Director: Rebecca Carter.
I stared at him.
"You want to hire me?"
"No. I want to ask. There's a difference."
Before I could answer, my phone rang.
May you like
County jail.
Evelyn was calling me.
