Chapter 3 - The Joint Account
Rachel Cohen met Elena and Margaret at her office forty minutes after they left the house.
Elena still wore the red top and cream skirt she had put on that morning. Margaret carried the same purse Brandon accused her of searching through.
Rachel closed the conference-room door.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
Elena did.
The missing cash.
The accusation.
The broken vase.
The ultimatum.
Brandon’s reaction to the phone call.
Rachel took notes without interrupting.
When Elena finished, she turned her laptop around.
“I need you to understand what I found.”
Elena stared at the transaction history.
Their joint household account had contained a substantial emergency reserve two weeks earlier.
Now it was almost empty.
Three large transfers had moved out within five business days.
All authorized electronically.
“Where did it go?”
“I’m still tracing destination information.”
“Did Brandon transfer it?”
“The credentials used were associated with his profile.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Margaret reached for her hand.
“How much?”
Rachel shook her head.
“The exact amount matters legally, but right now the important fact is that nearly all available funds were removed.”
“Why were you looking at our account?”
That was the question Rachel had expected.
She leaned back.
“Because you asked me last month to review the refinancing documents Brandon wanted you to sign.”
Elena remembered.
Brandon had brought home a packet related to their mortgage and said refinancing would lower their monthly payment.
Something in the document bothered Elena.
A variable rate.
An unfamiliar lender.
A clause she did not understand.
She sent it to Rachel.
Rachel told her not to sign until she finished reviewing it.
Brandon had been furious.
“I thought you were only reviewing the mortgage papers.”
“I was. But the documents referenced the joint account as proof of reserves.”
“And?”
“The stated balance didn’t match the balance confirmation I obtained with your authorization.”
Elena stared.
“How far off?”
“Enough to make me investigate.”
Margaret whispered, “Oh, God.”
Elena looked at Rachel.
“What does this have to do with Mom?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“The cash?”
“I don’t know that either.”
Elena thought of Brandon’s certainty.
She took it.
Not maybe.
Not we need to figure this out.
Margaret took it.
As if he needed the accusation established before anyone checked.
Rachel continued.
“There’s something else.”
Elena almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
“Yesterday, someone attempted to transfer money from an investment account held only in your name.”
Elena stared.
“What investment account?”
“The one inherited from your grandmother.”
Margaret’s head snapped up.
Brandon knew about that account.
Everyone in the family did.
But it had never been marital money.
Elena had inherited it six years earlier and left it untouched.
“Did the transfer happen?”
“No. The institution required additional verification.”
“To where?”
“I’m working on that.”
Elena looked at her mother.
Then at the conference-room window.
Only hours earlier, she had believed she was walking away from an ugly marriage argument.
Now she wondered whether Brandon had created that argument because he needed her out of the house.
Or because he needed Margaret blamed.
Maybe both.
Rachel interrupted her thoughts.
“Elena, I need to ask you something uncomfortable.”
“Go ahead.”
“Does Brandon have access to your passwords?”
“No.”
“Old passwords?”
“Possibly.”
“Tax returns?”
“Yes.”
“Copies of identification?”
“Yes.”
“Your grandmother’s account statements?”
Elena swallowed.
“In the filing cabinet.”
“Where?”
“Brandon’s study.”
May you like
Margaret squeezed Elena’s hand.
And suddenly the accusation about Margaret being inside that room looked very different.
