Chapter 9 - THE SEWING ROOM
The sewing room still smelled faintly of cedar.
Not Rachel.
Rooms stopped smelling like people eventually.
Anyone who said otherwise was trying too hard.
Ava opened drawers.
Pattern books.
Old buttons.
Receipts.
Photographs.
Claire searched one side.
Daniel stood near the door.
Ava looked at him.
“You can help.”
He did.
That mattered.
The three of them spent almost two hours going through Rachel's things.
No deed.
They found something better.
A notebook.
Not a diary.
Rachel hated diaries.
A household ledger.
Insurance renewals.
Roof estimates.
School expenses.
Trust payments.
Ava's braces.
Daniel's business reimbursements.
Everything practical.
On a page dated May 2010:
Deed signed. Picked up original. D. still wants time. Giving him time. Not giving up Ava's claim.
Daniel sat down.
Ava read the next line.
Original moved outside house until business line resolved.
“Where?”
No one knew.
Then another:
Claire not told yet. She'll force recording before D. can breathe. Maybe she'd be right. Still not telling her yet.
Claire stared.
Daniel looked at her.
Claire laughed once.
“Your sister loved you.”
“I know.”
“She also knew you.”
“I know.”
Rachel had been managing both of them.
Not maliciously.
Still managing.
Ava continued.
Two months later:
D. paid another 12k to trust. Good.
Then:
Told Marianne where deed is if anything happens to me.
Ava frowned.
“Marianne?”
Daniel's face changed.
Claire looked confused.
“Who's Marianne?”
Daniel answered slowly.
“Marianne Shaw.”
Ava waited.
“Who is that?”
“Title clerk.”
“From the lawyer's office?”
“No.”
Daniel sat back.
“She handled the original lot closing.”
Claire stared.
“Rachel knew her?”
“Yes.”
“How well?”
Daniel shrugged.
“Better than I realized.”
Ava flipped forward.
No more details.
Then she looked at Daniel.
“Why did your face change?”
He stood.
“It didn't.”
“Dad.”
He looked toward the window.
Same nervous habit.
“Marianne and your mother had history.”
“What history?”
“I don't know.”
“You know something.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Before Rachel and I married, she worked for a property attorney.”
“And?”
“Marianne was there.”
Claire frowned.
“Rachel never worked for a property attorney.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Yes, she did.”
“No.”
“She did for about a year.”
Claire stared.
“When?”
“1996.”
Claire's expression changed.
The sisters had been close then.
Or Claire believed they had.
“Rachel told me she was doing bookkeeping for a medical office.”
Daniel looked toward Ava.
“She told me something different too.”
There.
A small crack in the old family history.
Not enough to chase yet.
The deed came first.
Simone located Marianne Shaw within a day.
Retired.
Living in New Hampshire.
Seventy.
She answered her own phone.
When Simone identified herself as counsel for Ava's trust, Marianne became quiet.
Then:
“Rachel finally told her?”
Simone looked at Ava across the speakerphone.
Ava's skin prickled.
“Rachel died eleven years ago.”
Silence.
“Oh.”
Marianne's voice changed.
“I didn't know.”
“Did she leave an original deed with you?”
“Yes.”
Ava stood.
“Do you still have it?”
Marianne said:
“No.”
The room deflated.
Then:
“I returned it.”
“To who?”
“Rachel.”
“When?”
“2012.”
Two years after the ledger entry.
“Why?”
“She said Daniel was making payments again and she wanted to amend the percentage.”
Ava looked at Daniel.
He shook his head.
He knew nothing.
“What percentage?”
Marianne answered:
“I don't know. She never came back with the new instructions.”
“Did she tell you where the deed went after?”
“No.”
Then Marianne hesitated.
“There was something attached.”
“What?”
“A cashier's-check copy from the original land purchase.”
Daniel looked up sharply.
“That had nothing to do with the deed.”
Marianne heard him.
“Daniel?”
He went pale.
“You remember me.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at Ava.
“End the call.”
“No.”
“Ava.”
Marianne's voice came through the speaker.
“Then he still hasn't told you about the lot.”
Everyone stopped.
Ava stared at her father.
“What about the lot?”
Daniel did not answer.
Marianne spoke quietly.
“Daniel built the house.”
May you like
A pause.
“But he didn't buy all the land under it.”
