Chapter 5 - The Brother I Was Told Not to Trust
Darius Cole had been banned from our house two years earlier.
Not by me.
By Simone.
She told me he gambled, lied, borrowed money, and blamed everyone else for his problems.
“Never give him cash,” she once warned me. “He’ll drag us down with him.”
Now his name was on the same deposit slip as the money from my dead wife’s necklace.
I photographed everything.
At breakfast, Simone acted like we had simply had a bad argument.
She poured coffee.
She made eggs.
She asked Caleb about soccer practice.
Maya didn’t come downstairs.
I waited until the kids left for school.
Then I placed the pawn ticket on the table.
Simone stopped moving.
“Where did you get that?”
“Wrong question.”
“Andre—”
“Where is Renee’s necklace?”
She sat slowly.
“I can explain.”
“Start.”
“Darius owed money.”
I almost laughed.
“So you stole from a twelve-year-old?”
“I borrowed it.”
“You pawned it.”
“I was going to get it back.”
“With what money?”
She looked away.
I pushed the deposit slip toward her.
“Why is his name on this?”
“He needed proof of funds.”
“For what?”
No answer.
I leaned closer.
“For what, Simone?”
“A business opportunity.”
I stared at her.
She had slapped my daughter over sneakers after stealing a family heirloom to fund her brother’s “business opportunity.”
But something still didn’t fit.
Six hundred eighty dollars wasn’t enough to fund much of anything.
“What else did you give him?”
Her eyes flickered.
There.
That was the answer.
I stood.
“How much?”
“Don’t do this.”
“How much money did you give your brother?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
I grabbed my phone and opened our joint account.
For months, I had trusted Simone to handle routine household spending because my construction firm kept me out of town several days a week.
I searched transfers.
Nothing obvious.
Then I searched by small amounts.
$214.
$389.
$572.
$160.
Dozens of transfers.
Not to Darius.
To payment apps.
Each labeled with boring notes: groceries, school, utilities, kids.
I added the amounts.
More than $18,000.
My throat went dry.
“You’ve been sending money out.”
Simone stood. “That account is ours.”
“Not when you lie about where it goes.”
“It was my money too.”
“Then why disguise it?”
She slapped her palm on the table.
“Because you would say no!”
The house went silent.
I stared at her.
“So you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That I wouldn’t agree.”
She realized what she had admitted.
I picked up the pawn ticket.
“I’m getting the necklace back.”
“You can’t.”
“Why?”
Her voice dropped.
“Because Darius picked it up yesterday.”
I froze.
“You said you pawned it.”
“I did.”
“Then why does your brother have it?”
Simone’s face drained of color.
Before she could answer, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man said, “Mr. Carter? This is Detective Rollins with the county financial crimes unit.”
I looked at Simone.
She was already backing away from the table.
May you like
The detective continued.
“We need to speak with you about accounts opened using your daughter’s Social Security number.”
