I also understood my mother-in-law, so I called Marlene. She answered on the fourth ring. “Elaine, hi. Are you busy at my age?”
“Constantly. I just had an argument with the pharmacy.” That was so like her. Marlene had a dry way of speaking that made everything sound both irritating and amusing.
I said, “Can I ask you something kind of strange?”
“It depends. Are you selling vitamins?” I almost laughed.
“No.”
“Then you can speak.”
I took a deep breath. “Did you recently take out a loan to match the value of your home?”
Silence. Not that kind of confused silence. That kind of thing where someone stops whatever they’re doing. Finally, she said: “No.”
I looked at the papers in front of me. “Are you sure, Elaine? I paid off this house 12 years ago.”
“I know. What is happening?”
“I’m still not sure.” There was another pause. Then Marlene said: “That’s not an answer.” She was right.
So I gave her some more. “I found some documents with your name on them.”
“Which documents?”
“Financial documents.”
“How did you find them?” I looked towards the living room. “That’s a long story.”
“Well, I don’t have a curfew until 3 PM.” This was Marlene, 78 years old, and she could still make a threat sound polite.
I told her about the envelope, not every detail yet, just enough. When I mentioned the $85,000, she interrupted me. “No.” His voice had changed.
“No, what?”
“No, no, no, I didn’t borrow that money.”
“Did Daniel ask you to sign something recently? That took longer, some paperwork.” My stomach tightened.
“What type?”
“I don’t know exactly. Estate items, insurance. He said he was helping to organize the paperwork after his father-in-law died.”
“He died six years ago.”
“I’m aware of that, Elaine. Sorry, he said some things needed updating.”
“How long has it been?”
“Maybe six weeks. Seven.” This coincided very closely. I looked at my calendar. “Did you read everything?”
Marlene gave a small sigh of irritation. “I read what he showed me. I didn’t like the writing style.”
“What does this mean?”
“It means he put small tabs on the pages where I needed to sign. He said that most of it was standard.”
“Was there anyone else there?”
“I think a notary came into play for part of this. A woman from some office. Why?” I rubbed my forehead. “Did Daniel ever tell you that he was taking out a loan against the house?”
“No.”
“Did he even ask?”
“No.”
