Chapter 2 - The Guest List

Natalie folded the notice before Brooke's camera could read it. "Nothing important. A holiday form."

"From whom?" Ryan asked.

"Can we discuss this inside? There are children freezing out here."

"There is no inside," he said.

The truth was that Natalie had sent twelve invitations while Evelyn attended a medical appointment in Madison. She had told everyone the house was theirs for the entire holiday week. The invitation even described Evelyn's bedroom as "the kids' bunk room." Natalie had never mentioned that particular detail to her husband.

Her brother Colin wheeled two bags toward the porch. "I took off work for this. Are we seriously being kicked out?"

"Mom is making a point," Ryan said, but the explanation sounded weak even to him.

The front window lit up. An alarm panel glowed red behind the glass. Brooke tilted her phone toward it.

"Don't post the address," Ryan warned.

"People deserve to know how your mother treats family."

"Then put the camera away and ask her what happened," he snapped.

Natalie took the group to a diner seven blocks away. She offered hot chocolate she couldn't afford and smiled whenever someone looked at her. Under the table she texted a number saved as LENA OFFICE: We have a problem. Need new access code immediately.

The reply came almost at once: Don't contact me again. You said she agreed.

Ryan watched Natalie read it. "Who is Lena?"

"The rental manager."

"What rental manager?"

Natalie held his gaze for two long seconds. Then she slid her phone into her coat pocket.

A waitress brought coffee and a folded note someone had asked her to deliver. It contained a business card: MARA KLINE, ATTORNEY AT LAW. On the back, Evelyn had written, Ryan, call me alone. Bring the photograph.

Ryan called from the diner restroom. "Mom, what is happening?"

"Did Natalie tell you the house was listed online?"

He pressed his back against the cold tile. "Listed for what?"

"For rent, Ryan. Under my name. For forty-eight thousand dollars."

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Outside the restroom, Natalie was already telling the family that Evelyn had become confused with age. Ryan opened the rental listing Evelyn had texted. The first photograph showed his mother's bedroom, and the description promised a locked room in the basement was "strictly off-limits to guests."

There was only one locked room in the basement. His father had kept it that way for twelve years.