Chapter 18 - The Things She Couldn't Take

Dad, Eli, and I drove to Bell & Flour while Grandma called Officer Holloway. We did not chase Corinne. We didn't know who had gone inside, or whether it was safe.

When we reached the corner, a silver SUV stood near the loading door. The bakery lights were on. A figure hurried toward the car carrying the steel box.

"That's Grant," Dad said.

We stayed across the street as a patrol car turned into the alley. Grant tried to shut the trunk. Officer Holloway approached him, spoke with him, and directed him to step away while she sorted out the access dispute and the ongoing complaint.

I could see the box clearly now. Gray metal, dented on one corner, with Mom's fading blue sticker of a mixing bowl.

Corinne came out of the building a moment later. She saw us and stopped. Her face was pale beneath the streetlight.

"You set me up," she shouted.

"No," Dad answered. "I finally stopped covering for you."

The officer separated everyone, documented the scene, and took statements. The contents of the box were handled through the investigation, not handed to me as a prize. I watched it leave in an evidence bag, and for a moment that hurt. It was the last thing Mom had used to store handwritten receipts and holiday sketches.

"What was in it?" I asked Dad afterward.

"Her old ledgers. And copies of the letters Mercer sent years ago. Corinne wanted the originals gone before anyone compared them with the new contracts."

"You knew she took it?"

"I suspected. I told myself it wasn't my business once she'd said it was just records."

"It was always your business."

He nodded. "I know."

The police did not announce charges that night. The title company maintained its hold. Maya said our next steps were to secure the building, complete the electrical repairs, and keep documenting the financial losses.

I stood outside the bakery as the snow started again. The front windows reflected the streetlamps, dark where the holiday lights usually burned.

Eli came over carrying a bakery key.

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"I found this in the old office drawer," he said. It was Mom's handwritten recipe notebook, wrapped in wax paper to protect it from the damp.

Tucked between its pages was a note in her handwriting: TESSA'S FIRST CHRISTMAS IN CHARGE.