Chapter 5: The Call That Should Have Been Impossible
James couldn't move.
His phone rang in his hand.
The name on the screen remained unchanged.
*MICHAEL CARTER.*
He had deleted his brother's number from his favorites after the funeral because seeing it every time he opened his contacts had been unbearable.
He had never deleted the number itself.
Somehow, that felt different.
Now the same name was glowing on his screen, and James could hear his own heartbeat beneath the ringing.
Patricia backed away from the window.
“Don't answer it,” she whispered.
James looked at her.
“Why?””
“Because you don't know who's calling.””
“Then explain how my dead brother's number is calling me.””
“I can't.””
The phone continued ringing.
James pressed the answer button and put it on speaker.
“Hello?””
Silence.
Then a man's voice emerged, low and distorted.
“James.””
He gripped the phone.
“Who is this?””
“You need to stop looking into the money.””
James glanced toward the window. The man in the sedan was still watching the house.
“Are you outside my home?””
The voice ignored the question.
“Your wife made a mistake. You can still fix this.””
James's eyes narrowed.
“What mistake?””
A brief pause.
“Ask her about the money Michael took.””
Patricia made a small, strangled sound.
James turned toward her.
“What money?””
The voice continued.
“Ask her why your brother was at the house that night.””
James felt the floor shift beneath him.
“I already know he was here.””
“Then you know she lied.””
The call ended.
For a moment, James heard nothing but the soft hiss of the speaker.
Then the phone returned to its home screen.
He immediately called the police.
Patricia grabbed his arm.
“James, don't do that!””
He pulled away.
“Why shouldn't I?””
“Because you don't understand what's happening!””
“Then help me understand!””
She looked at the phone, then at the window.
The sedan's headlights came on.
The driver didn't move.
James gave the dispatcher his address and explained that an unknown person had contacted him repeatedly, threatened him, and appeared to be watching his home. He also mentioned the financial transfers and the suspicious call.
The dispatcher asked him to remain inside.
James agreed.
When he ended the call, Patricia was pacing beside the Christmas tree.
“You've made this so much worse,” she said.
James stared at her.
“Someone is threatening me, Patricia. Someone is using my dead brother's phone number. Someone knows about the money. And you're worried I've made things worse?””
“You don't know who these people are!””
“Then tell me!””
She pressed both hands against her temples.
“I can't.””
James's voice dropped.
“You can, but you don't want to.””
Before she could answer, Maya appeared in the doorway.
“Dad? What's going on?””
James immediately softened his voice.
“Nothing you need to worry about right now.””
Maya glanced at the phone in his hand.
“I heard you call the police.””
Zoe appeared behind her, supporting Evelyn by the elbow.
“Is somebody outside?”” Zoe asked.
James looked toward the window.
“Yes.””
Evelyn's expression changed.
“Is it about Michael?””
James turned toward her.
“Grandma, what do you know?””
Evelyn lowered herself into the nearest chair.
For several seconds, she stared at the empty envelope James had placed on the table earlier.
Then she spoke.
“Michael came to see me about a month before he died.””
James slowly sat opposite her.
“What did he want?””
“He asked me if I still kept the old family papers.””
“What papers?””
“The documents your grandfather left us. The property papers. The old bank records. Some letters.””
James frowned.
“Why would he ask about those?””
Evelyn shook her head.
“He said he needed to check something. He looked frightened, James. I asked if he was in trouble, and he told me not to worry.””
“Did he tell you what he was checking?””
“No. But he asked whether I had ever signed anything giving someone else control over the family property.””
James glanced at Patricia.
She was staring at Evelyn as if she'd just revealed something dangerous.
“Did you sign anything?”” he asked his grandmother.
“Not that I remember.””
“What property?””
Evelyn hesitated.
“The house your grandfather owned before he died. The little place on Maple Street.””
James knew the property. It had been rented for years, and his grandfather had left it to Evelyn in his will. James had helped her handle some of the maintenance when the roof needed repairs.
It wasn't a mansion, but the property was worth a substantial amount.
“Michael thought somebody was trying to take it?”” James asked.
“I don't know. He only said that if anyone came asking me to sign documents, I should call him first.””
James looked at Patricia again.
She had stopped pacing.
Her hands were shaking.
“Patricia,” he said, “what do you know about Maple Street?””
She swallowed.
“Nothing.””
Maya looked at her mother.
“Mom, why do you keep saying you don't know anything?””
“Because I don't!””
“Then why are you scared?””
Patricia's eyes flashed.
“I'm scared because your father is treating me like a criminal!””
Zoe shook her head.
“No. He's asking questions.””
Patricia turned away.
James's phone vibrated.
A message from the bank had arrived confirming that the supplementary card had been locked. Beneath it was an alert about an attempted transaction made minutes earlier.
The card had been used at a jewelry store across town.
The transaction had been declined.
James showed Patricia the screen.
“Were you trying to buy something else?””
She stared at it.
“No.””
“The card was in your possession earlier.””
“I haven't touched it since you took it.””
James checked the timestamp.
The attempted purchase had occurred while they were all in the living room.
Someone else had the card details.
He immediately contacted the bank's fraud department and asked them to freeze the account's vulnerable payment methods while they investigated.
Then he opened the notebook again.
The entry beside his name was followed by a string of numbers.
An account number.
James didn't recognize it.
But Patricia did.
He saw her expression change when he read the first four digits aloud.
“What's this account?””
She closed her eyes.
“It's an account Daniel told me to use.””
“Whose account is it?””
“Mine.””
“You opened an account without telling me?””
“I thought I was protecting our money.””
James gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
“You've been secretly moving money around, investing in something you can't explain, and hiding transactions connected to my dead brother. How is any of that protecting us?””
Patricia looked at the floor.
“I was trying to get the money back.””
“Where did the forty-two thousand dollars go?””
Her head snapped up.
“You know about that?””
James held the notebook open.
“It's written here.””
Patricia stared at the page.
Then she whispered, “I didn't take that money.””
James froze.
“Explain.””
“I never received your insurance payout. I never touched that account.””
“Then why is the amount written beside my name?””
“Because Michael said someone had been using your identity.””
The words seemed to suck all the air out of the room.
James stood.
“What?””
Patricia backed toward the fireplace.
“Michael called me the week before he died. He said he had discovered transfers connected to your name. He believed somebody had opened accounts using your personal information.””
James's mind raced.
He remembered receiving a letter from a bank he didn't use. Patricia had told him it was probably a marketing offer and had thrown it into the recycling bin.
He remembered a request to verify his identity for an insurance document. Patricia had offered to handle the paperwork because he was busy.
He remembered signing several forms without reading every page.
His stomach tightened.
“Did Michael tell you who was doing it?””
Patricia shook her head.
“He said he was trying to find out.””
“And you never told me?””
“He begged me not to. He said if the person found out he was investigating, it could put you in danger.””
James stared at her.
“Then why didn't you tell the police after he died?””
“Because I received a message two days after the funeral.””
“What message?””
She pulled her phone from her handbag with trembling fingers.
For a moment, James thought she would refuse again.
Instead, she opened a folder and handed him the device.
The message was dated two days after Michael's funeral.
*YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU TALK. THE MONEY WILL BE YOUR PROBLEM NOW. KEEP JAMES OUT OF IT.*
Beneath it was a photograph of the house on Maple Street.
James looked up.
“Why didn't you show me this?””
Patricia's face crumpled.
“Because I was afraid.””
“Of whom?””
“I didn't know.””
“Then why did you start sending money?””
“Because they told me they could make it stop. Daniel said he knew how to recover the funds and close the accounts. He said if I paid what was owed, they'd leave us alone.””
James stared at her.
“And you believed him?””
“I wanted to believe him.””
He looked at the notebook.
“How much have you paid?””
She covered her mouth.
“Patricia.””
“Almost twenty thousand.””
Maya gasped.
Zoe sat beside Evelyn, her eyes filling with tears.
James felt anger rising, but beneath it was something more frightening: the realization that the situation was bigger than his wife's dishonesty.
Someone might have been using his identity.
Someone might have been threatening his family.
And Michael might have died while trying to uncover the truth.
A siren sounded faintly in the distance.
The sedan across the street suddenly reversed.
James moved toward the window.
The car accelerated away, disappearing around the corner before he could see the license plate.
“Dad!”” Maya called.
He turned.
Evelyn was staring at the phone Patricia had handed him.
“James,” she whispered, “look at the date on that message.””
He glanced down.
Two days after Michael's funeral.
Evelyn leaned forward, her silver hair falling across her forehead.
“That was the day I received a package.””
James frowned.
“What package?””
“A small box. No return address. Inside was a copy of a document with my signature.””
“What document?””
Evelyn looked at Patricia.
Then she looked back at James.
“A deed transferring the Maple Street property to someone else.””
James's mouth went dry.
“Did you sign it?””
“No.””
“Then who did?””
Evelyn's fingers trembled.
“I thought it was a forgery. I hid it in the bottom drawer of my bedroom dresser because I was afraid to tell anyone.””
James looked at the empty medicine envelope still lying on the table.
The same dresser.
The same room where the money had disappeared.
He turned slowly toward Patricia.
“Did you know about the deed?””
Patricia began shaking her head.
“No, James. I swear to you, I didn't.””
But before he could respond, Evelyn spoke again.
“There was something else in the box.””
James crouched beside her.
“What?””
“A photograph.””
“Of whom?””
Evelyn swallowed hard.
“Your brother Michael. Standing outside the property on Maple Street.””
She reached into her cardigan pocket and pulled out a folded scrap of paper.
“I kept the name written on the back.””
James opened it.
A name had been written in black ink.
*DANIEL REED.*
May you like
Then, beneath it, in Evelyn's careful handwriting, were six words that made James's hands go cold.
*THE MAN MICHAEL WAS AFRAID OF.*
