The whisper from upstairs was so quiet that, for half a second, I wondered whether the rain had played a trick on me.
“Mom…
don’t let them find the safe.”
Then I saw Brittany’s face.
Every drop of color left it.
Deputy Harris stopped with his hand halfway toward the black envelope.
Ron pushed away from the fireplace.
Sheila lowered my mug so quickly that coffee spilled over her fingers.
Evan finally looked up.
Not at me.
At Brittany.
That told me more than anything he had said all afternoon.
Deputy Harris glanced toward the staircase.
“Who’s upstairs?”
Brittany recovered first.
“Nobody important.”
The deputy’s expression changed.
It was subtle, but I saw it.
People who have nothing to hide rarely describe another person that way after calling the police over an alleged intruder.
I slid one finger beneath the flap of my attorney’s envelope.
“Perhaps,” I said, “we should begin with the part everyone downstairs seems afraid to explain.”
Brittany stepped forward.
“That envelope doesn’t prove anything.”
“I haven’t opened it yet.”
Her jaw tightened.
Deputy Harris noticed that too.
I removed the first document and laid it flat on the kitchen table.
It was a certified copy of the deed.
My name appeared exactly where it had appeared since Richard’s estate had been settled.
The house.
The acreage.
The access road.
Mine.
Deputy Harris studied the page, then asked for my identification.
This time I handed it over.
He compared the name, looked again at the deed, and turned toward Brittany.
“You said this was your rental cabin.”
“It is,” she said quickly.
“Who are you renting it from?”
Brittany looked at Evan.
Evan looked at the floor again.
That habit was beginning to disgust me.
Finally he said, “I told her we could stay here.”
The words were barely audible.
I stared at him.
“You told her you could stay in my house?”
He swallowed.
“Just temporarily.”
Ron jumped in.
“This is a family misunderstanding.
That’s all.”
I turned toward him.
“A family misunderstanding does not require changing locks.”
No one answered.
Deputy Harris asked, “Who changed them?”
Brittany crossed her arms.
