Watching My Fake Sister Dig Her Own Grave novel · Chapter 22 of 32

Chapter 22: The Ledger

"No," I said.

Mom's hand jumped in mine.

"Nobody offered me anything when I was eighteen," I said. "When I was eighteen, I had pneumonia on the Lake Street stairs in January. Uncle let me sleep two extra hours because I was coughing too hard to count."

"Sweetheart..."

"I'm not asking you to believe me on a bench," I said. "I'm asking for one dinner. Tonight. You, Dad, Brendan, and the foundation's books on the table."

Behind the white door, a zipper went down.

Mom looked at the door.

Then she looked at the mittens in my lap.

"Seven o'clock," she said.

Verity drove her home.

I let her.

At six-thirty Dez dropped me at the end of the Lake Forest driveway.

"I'll be right here," he said. "In the car. With the heater lying to me."

Dad had lit the fire in the dining room.

Nobody had lit it since I'd come home.

Dad sat at the head.

Brendan came in at five to seven with a thick stack of printouts under his arm and his tie already off.

He set them in front of Dad.

"Every wire," he said. "Forty-nine. Dates, amounts, approvals."

"Where's Verity?" I said.

"Upstairs," said Mom. "She has a migraine. She went to lie down when she got home."

I looked at the ceiling.

Then I looked at Dad.

"Open it anywhere," I said. "Don't tell me where."

Dad looked at me for a long moment.

Then he put his reading glasses on and opened the stack about a third of the way through.

He kept his hand over the top of the page.

So I started at the beginning.

"December first, 2022," I said. "A Thursday. Fifteen thousand. He pinned a picture of her at a Christmas luncheon. White sweater, a red bow on the table in front of her."

Mom made a small sound.

"January third, 2023. Fifteen thousand. Not the second, because the second was the bank holiday, and he was angry all day that it was late."

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