Chapter 5

"Half?"

Dani left her finger on the word.

Sal nodded once.

"Frank's half."

Gina stood.

"Which she sold."

"For how much?" Dani asked.

Sal reached for the page.

Dani moved it into the light instead.

The amount was ten dollars.

She read it aloud.

Gina folded her arms.

"That's standard legal language."

"It can be," Sal said.

"That doesn't explain the rest."

His lawyer arrived before Gina answered.

A woman in a dark wool coat stepped inside.

Sal introduced her as Ruth Keller.

He gave her the transfer first.

Then the incident statement.

Ruth read both without speaking.

Her phone stayed facedown on the desk.

Finally, she looked at Dani.

"I represent Sal and the business."

"Not you."

Dani nodded.

"Then don't tell me what's good for me."

"I wasn't going to."

Ruth pulled an empty chair toward the desk.

"May I sit?"

Dani moved her coat out of the way.

Ruth examined the transfer again.

"This is a copy."

"Where's the original?"

Sal looked at Gina.

"Business storage, probably."

"We'll need to locate it."

Gina pointed to the bottom.

"She signed."

Ruth looked through the employment pages.

Renata's signature appeared on three tax forms.

The letters slanted right.

On the transfer, they stood nearly straight.

Dani saw the difference.

So did Sal.

Ruth raised a hand before either spoke.

"People don't always sign the same way."

"This needs proper examination."

Gina let out a breath.

"Thank you."

Ruth looked at her.

"That wasn't an endorsement."

Sal sat heavily behind the desk.

"She told me Renata wanted out."

"Who told you?" Ruth asked.

He looked at his wife.

Gina stared back.

"You wanted her gone."

Dani lifted her eyes.

The room stayed quiet.

Then Sal nodded.

"After you told me she stole."

"You believed me."

"Yes."

Dani slid the old photograph toward herself.

The office clock clicked above them.

Ruth asked who had witnessed the transfer.

There was one name beneath Renata's.

Regina Bell.

Gina's name before she married Sal.

"Did she sign in front of you?"

Gina's answer came quickly.

"Yes."

Ruth wrote that on a clean sheet.

Gina watched the pen.

Sal reached for the desk phone again.

Ruth stopped him.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling the accountant."

"Tomorrow."

"I want everything pulled."

"Then send a preservation request tonight."

"No disposing of records."

"No changes to the files."

She looked around the room.

"That applies to everyone."

Dani touched the ten-dollar amount.

"Did she get paid anything else?"

Sal's mouth opened.

Then closed.

"I was told debts covered the balance."

"What debts?"

"Her father's."

Ruth turned another page.

"There aren't any listed here."

Gina walked toward the window.

"Not everything from 2001 is in one folder."

Ruth agreed.

"We'll need the estate records."

"And the company records."

"And whatever supported this transfer."

Dani looked at the photograph again.

Her mother had smiled for it.

A quick, awkward smile.

One Dani remembered from school pictures.

"She cleaned motel rooms," Dani said.

Nobody answered.

"Sometimes she took me after school."

"She said the hall wasn't ours."

Sal rubbed his palm over his mouth.

Ruth closed the folder carefully.

"Tonight, we preserve what's here."

"Monday, we start obtaining records."

Dani stood.

"Can she get rid of them before Monday?"

"I'll arrange secure copies."

"And the originals?"

"We'll make an inventory."

Gina turned from the window.

"You're treating me like some criminal."

Ruth's voice stayed level.

"I'm treating disputed records like disputed records."

Dani looked at Sal.

"You were there."

He nodded.

"You owned this place afterward."

"Yes."

"Did you ever ask my mother?"

Sal stared at the signature he had accepted.

"I never asked her whether she'd sold it."