Chapter 7 - THE MAN MY SISTER MARRIED
The first thing Lauren did was defend him.
“He must have gone there to ask questions.”
Nobody answered.
She heard how ridiculous it sounded.
Then she stopped defending him.
For the next three hours, Detective Hale questioned her.
Ben’s full name was Benjamin Pierce.
Thirty-five years old.
Financial consultant.
At least that was what he had told the family.
But by evening, detectives had found another name.
Benjamin Porter.
And before that, Benjamin Price.
Three states.
Two civil lawsuits.
One fraud investigation that ended when the victim refused to cooperate.
Lauren sat beside my hospital window looking like someone had removed the floor beneath her.
“I married him.”
“Yes.”
“I lived with him for four years.”
“Yes.”
“How could I not know?”
I could have said something cruel.
Part of me wanted to.
Then I remembered how many times I had ignored warning signs in my own family because loving people made suspicion feel disloyal.
“I don’t know.”
That was all I said.
Julian entered carrying another file.
“We found the source of North Pine’s initial funding.”
“How much?”
“One hundred thousand dollars.”
“From whom?”
He looked at my father.
Dad closed his eyes.
My stomach dropped.
“Dad?”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“I invested with Ben.”
Lauren stared at him.
“You what?”
“He said he had an opportunity.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
“How much?”
“A hundred thousand.”
“Your money?”
Silence.
I knew.
Of course I knew.
“Mine?”
Dad’s voice became defensive.
“From the emergency account.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Apparently every emergency in this family has your name on it except mine.”
Mom whispered, “Richard.”
Dad stood.
“I was trying to fix things.”
“You were trying to replace money you already lost.”
His face hardened because I was right.
Ben had known everything.
The debts.
The account access.
The will.
The resentment Lauren carried toward me.
He had walked into a family already willing to misuse my money and simply learned how to use them.
Julian handed Detective Hale another transaction record.
“There’s something else.”
The original hundred thousand had not stayed with North Pine.
Most of it moved through three shell companies.
Then forty thousand returned to an account tied to my father.
I looked at him.
“What is that?”
Dad looked genuinely confused.
“I don’t know.”
Julian zoomed in.
The description read:
CONSULTING FEE — R.H.
Dad stared.
“I never received that.”
Julian nodded.
“That’s what worries me.”
Someone had opened an account using my father’s identity too.
May you like
Ben wasn’t only stealing from me.
He had been creating a paper trail that could make my father look like his partner.
