Chapter 2 - THE SMALL TRANSFERS I NEVER NOTICED
Nathan begged me to stop scrolling.
That guaranteed I wouldn’t.
I searched our joint checking account first.
Nothing large.
Then I widened the date range.
Small transfers began appearing.
$300.
$450.
$700.
$250.
Always to C. Bennett.
Never enough individually to frighten me.
Spread over eighteen months, they totaled $6,840.
I stared at Nathan.
“You gave your mother almost seven thousand dollars before Hawaii.”
“She needed help.”
“With what?”
“Utilities. Car repairs. Property taxes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you always ask questions.”
I actually laughed.
“I’m a financial analyst. Questions are how money works.”
“You would’ve wanted receipts.”
“Yes.”
“That’s humiliating.”
“For who?”
He didn’t answer.
Rachel arrived while we were still arguing.
She took one look at my face and stopped.
“What happened?”
I handed her the phone.
She read the messages.
Then looked at Nathan.
“You took eighteen thousand dollars from the baby fund while my sister was about to give birth?”
Nathan rubbed his forehead.
“I’m replacing it.”
Rachel’s expression turned hard.
“With what money?”
“My bonus.”
“Guaranteed?”
He hesitated.
Rachel looked at me.
“So no.”
A nurse entered and checked my dilation.
Still early.
My daughter apparently had no interest in joining this disaster quickly.
Rachel helped me call the bank.
We reviewed the transactions.
That was when the representative mentioned something I didn’t know.
“Mrs. Bennett, there was also a request six months ago to add Carol Bennett as an emergency contact on the account.”
My heart stopped.
“Did you approve it?”
“No.”
Nathan spoke quietly.
“I did.”
The representative clarified that Carol had no withdrawal authority.
But she could receive certain account notifications if Nathan became incapacitated.
Why did she need that?
Nathan answered after the call.
“Mom said if something happened to me, she needed to know where my money was.”
I stared at him.
“Your money?”
He flinched.
“Our money.”
“No, Nathan. You said exactly what you meant the first time.”
Then Rachel asked a question I hadn’t thought of.
“Does your mom have access to anything else?”
Nathan shook his head too quickly.
Rachel noticed.
So did I.
“What else?” I asked.
“Nothing major.”
I hated those words.
“What does nothing major mean?”
He finally admitted Carol had been an authorized user on one of his credit cards for two years.
“Balance?”
“About four thousand.”
“Her charges or yours?”
Silence.
“Nathan.”
“Mostly hers.”
I felt numb.
Then my phone buzzed.
A bank email.
An archived alert triggered because I had changed security settings.
It showed that someone had attempted to access the BABY BUFFER account from Hawaii less than an hour earlier.
The login used Nathan’s credentials.
But Nathan’s phone was sitting beside me.
May you like
Carol didn’t just know about our savings.
She had his password.
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