Chapter 33 Chapter 33I unfolded the papers. The first was a statement from Bank of America. It had Dick’s name on the account, but the address was a PO box over on the mainland. Interesting. I’d seen bank statements come here to the house. Either he had closed this account and opened one with the bank here on the island, or he had a separate account. I checked the date on the statement; it was the month before the boating accident. I wondered why Nate’s mom wasn’t on the account. The account had just over $100,000 in it. That was a nice chunk of change.
The second paper was a printout of an email, with a number scribbled at the bottom of the page. I checked the date; it was in early February, right around the time of the boating accident. I read through the email quickly.
In response to your call to our office inquiring as to the diminished balance in the account, we confirm that funds in the amount of $543,000.00 were transferred from the trust account set up for your daughter, Evelyn Wickham, to an account in your husband’s name. These withdrawals occurred over a period of seven years, starting immediately after the settlement was determined in your daughter’s case.
Your request for money to be transferred to Progressive Rehab to cover the costs for a therapist to work with Evelyn has to be denied at this time, as there are not sufficient funds to cover this withdrawal. The account currently has a balance of $5,550.00. Copies of the monthly statements can be provided at your request.
The trust for your daughter was set up in both your and your husband’s names following the settlement from the malpractice case. You each hold independent signing authority for these funds. The signed releases for each withdrawal are available for your review if desired. As to what these monies were used for, I am unable to comment, as we have no way to track the funds following them leaving the trust.
While I understand your distress, I can assure you this firm has acted in accordance with both the law and the confines of the trust agreement. If you were unaware of these withdrawals, I respectfully suggest that you and your husband, Mr. Wickham, discuss this in more detail. If there is anything further we can do, please do not hesitate to contact our office.
Sincerely,
Brian Hudson
Hudson, Vickers, and Ackerly Law Firm
Holy shit. I folded up both pieces of paper and tucked them back into the book. Talk about going down the rabbit hole. My heart was beating quickly as I started to run through the logic in my head.
1. Dick had a private account.
2. Dick spent his daughter’s settlement money without telling his wife, and no one other than Dick seemed to know where the money went.
3. Sylvia, Dick’s first wife, didn’t find out about this until just before her death.
My mind leaped to a possible number four: Sylvia confronted Dick about the missing money and he killed her over it. I wasn’t a homicide detective or anything, but I watched enough Law & Order to know that over half a million dollars provided at least 500,000 motives for murder.
I unfolded the paper again and looked at the number someone had scrawled at the bottom. There wasn’t a name written down, but it was a Seattle number. It seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
I stuck the book under my arm and slipped out of the library. The house was still deathly silent. I put the flashlight back in the kitchen. I looked at the phone and debated my options. It made more sense to wait until tomorrow. Nate would be home, plus my call wouldn’t wake anyone up. On the other hand, I was never known for my ability to delay gratification. I picked up the phone and dialed before I could think about it anymore, and hoped whoever owned the number was the kind of person who liked to stay up late.
I was prepared to tell whoever answered that I must have dialed wrong, but it wasn’t a personal line. A business voice mail picked up. As soon as I heard the voice on the line, the blood ran out of my head and I could feel a cold wet sweat break out.
“You’ve reached the office of White, Watts, and Kleinmann. Our office is now closed. If you know the extension of the party you want to reach, you may press it now.”
I hung up and slid down the cabinets until I was sitting on the floor. The voice on the machine was my mom’s. The reason the number was familiar was because it was the main line of the law firm she used to work for. They must have left her out-of-office message on the machine even though she had quit a month ago when Dick proposed. White, Watts, and Kleinmann was a law firm that specialized in one area: divorce.
It bothered me that my mom married Dick so quickly after meeting him, but now I realized there was something that might bother me more. What if my mom knew Dick when he was still married? What if they’d been dating for a long time? And if I believed there was a chance Dick was somehow involved with his wife’s murder, what did it mean if he and my mom were already a couple? Thinking your creepy stepdad might be involved in murder was one thing. Thinking your mom might be was a different thing altogether.
Dr. Mike had made it sound like taking control of my life would be a good thing. We never covered what it would mean to take control of something you wished you never knew.