Vague Answers
Chapter 04 - Vague Answers
Rachel drove to Daniel’s apartment the next evening.
He lived above a pharmacy in a renovated brick building downtown.
The hallway smelled of curry, dryer sheets, and old radiator heat.
Daniel opened the door wearing a white shirt with a coffee stain near the pocket.
“You could have called.”
“I did.”
He stepped aside.
The apartment looked expensive in unfinished ways.
New sofa.
No art.
Two unopened boxes beside the television.
Rachel sat at the kitchen island.
Daniel remained standing.
“I have thirty minutes.”
“You have as long as it takes to explain Mom’s money.”
He opened the refrigerator.
“Water?”
“No.”
He took one anyway.
Ice clicked in the glass.
“What exactly did Maple Grove tell you?”
“That Mom pays every month from pension and savings.”
“That is normal.”
“Where is the house money?”
Daniel drank.
“Some went to sale expenses.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know off the top of my head.”
Rachel placed the property record on the island.
“Four hundred eighty-six thousand.”
He looked at the page.
“You pulled records.”
“Yes.”
His mouth tightened.
“There was a mortgage balance.”
“How much?”
“About ninety.”
“Then we are still missing almost four hundred.”
“Taxes.”
“How much?”
“Rachel.”
“Repairs?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“I said this is complicated.”
She touched the ring.
“No. Complicated is a business acquisition. This is subtraction.”
Daniel looked toward the window.
Traffic moved along the street below.
“Mom signed everything.”
“That does not answer where it went.”
“She knew there were obligations.”
“What obligations?”
He placed the glass down.
“A restaurant investment went bad.”
Rachel stared.
“What does that have to do with the house?”
Daniel rubbed his jaw.
“I put money into a place with two partners.”
“When?”
“Around the sale.”
“Did Mom invest?”
“No.”
“Then why are you mentioning it?”
He said nothing.
Rachel’s thumb stopped on the ring.
“Did you use her money?”
“No.”
The answer came too fast.
She waited.
Daniel looked toward the sink.
“I borrowed against proceeds temporarily.”
“How much?”
“I planned to repay it.”
“How much?”
He picked up the glass again.
“Things collapsed faster than expected.”
Rachel’s voice dropped.
“Daniel.”
“About one hundred sixty.”
The number hit, but she kept still.
“One hundred sixty thousand dollars.”
“Yes.”
“From Mom.”
“From the proceeds.”
“Which were Mom’s.”
He looked irritated.
“I was managing everything.”
“That is not ownership.”
“I kept the restaurant alive for six months.”
“Did it survive?”
“No.”
“Did you repay her?”
“No.”
Rachel looked around the apartment.
New sofa.
Large television.
A framed photograph of Daniel at a charity dinner.
No photograph of Eleanor.
“Where is the rest?”
He walked to the counter.
“There were debts.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
The admission came quietly.
Rachel closed her eyes for one second.
*Not yet.*
She opened them.
“How much did Mom receive?”
“I paid for some things.”
“What things?”
“Moving costs. Initial Maple Grove deposit. Storage.”
“How much?”
“Maybe twenty-five.”
Rachel looked at him.
“So you used hundreds of thousands and let her pay her own care.”
“I intended to restore it.”
“For three years?”
“My business never recovered.”
“Then tell her.”
He looked away.
“That would have destroyed her.”
“No.”
Rachel’s voice stayed calm.
“You decided shame was worse than theft.”
His face changed.
“Do not call me a thief.”
“What should I call someone who uses an aging parent’s home sale to cover his own debt?”
“I am her son.”
“That did not stop you.”
Daniel pushed away from the island.
“You were not here.”
The accusation arrived at last.
“You were traveling. You were too busy. Every decision came to me.”
Rachel absorbed it.
There was truth inside it.
Not enough to excuse him.
“I should have looked closer.”
“Yes.”
“I should have helped.”
“Yes.”
She touched the ring.
“But I did not take her money.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“You left me with everything.”
“You volunteered.”
“Because someone had to.”
“And then you used the role to hide what you did.”
He walked to the window.
Rachel looked at the back of his shirt.
A small tear near the cuff.
He did not look like a villain.
He looked like her brother.
That made the betrayal harder, not smaller.
“I need every closing document,” she said.
“No.”
“You can give them voluntarily.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I get an attorney.”
He turned.
“You would drag Mom through court?”
“You already dragged her through three years of believing she could not afford care.”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“I said I will fix it.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not a plan.”
He looked tired.
Real shame had entered his face now.
Rachel felt it and did not retreat.
“Did you ever promise to visit Saturdays?”
He stared at her.
“What?”
“Mom waits every week.”
“I call.”
“No.”
“She knows I’m busy.”
“She gets dressed.”
His face tightened.
“I never told her every Saturday.”
“She wrote it down.”
Rachel took the porch photograph from her bag.
She placed it on the island.
The whole family.
Before debt.
Before absence.
Daniel looked at it and stepped back.
“She keeps this in her purse,” Rachel said.
He did not touch it.
“She still protects you.”
Daniel looked toward the window again.
Rachel gathered the record.
At the door, she stopped.
“Mom thinks she cannot afford proper care, Daniel.”
He closed his eyes.
“Meanwhile you sold that house for almost half a million dollars.”
May you like
Rachel held his gaze.
“Where did it go?”
