“This is a private family matter,” my father said. “There’s been some kind of mistake—”
“It’s not a mistake,” I said.
Everyone turned to look at me.
I walked to the front door. I stood beside Dalton and faced my family.
“It’s my house,” I said. “And I’m inviting them in.”
My father looked at me. Really looked at me. And for the first time in my whole life, I saw my father not know what to do.
Then he stepped aside.
They came into the living room. There were suddenly too many people. My mother was still holding the plate of cookies. Chloe had put her feet down and was sitting straight up, one hand on her belly, looking from face to face.
“Mom?” she said. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing, sweetie. It’s nothing. Kate’s just—”
“Ma’am,” said Sergeant Payne. “Are you Evelyn Hollis?”
My mother’s voice went up an octave. “Yes.”
“Mrs. Hollis, we’re investigating the use of a power of attorney on the bank accounts of Captain Katherine Hollis. We have reason to believe that document was forged. We also have records showing forty-five thousand dollars was transferred from Captain Hollis’s accounts to an account in your name while she was deployed overseas.”
The plate of cookies tipped a little in my mother’s hands. One slid off and hit the carpet.
“Forty-five thousand dollars?” said Chloe.
Nobody answered her.
“Kate gave us that,” my mother said. “She gave us permission. She signed the paper before she left.”
“No, I didn’t,” I said.
“You did! You don’t remember. You were so busy packing, you signed all kinds of things—”
“Evelyn,” said my father sharply.
My mother stopped talking.
Captain Morales stepped forward with a folder. She opened it and held up the power of attorney. Then, next to it, a copy of the page from my grandfather’s
