Chapter 3 - The Numbers Aaron Hid
The bedroom door opened another inch.
Aaron moved in front of Elena.
“Who’s there?”
No answer.
Elena clutched the envelope against her chest.
The door opened fully.
A teenage boy stood in the hallway.
He couldn't have been older than seventeen.
Elena recognized him after a second.
“Evan?”
Diane's nephew.
Aaron's cousin.
Evan lived twenty minutes away with his mother, but he occasionally came over to help Diane with computers, security cameras, and anything else she called “technical nonsense.”
Tonight, his face was pale.
“Why are you here?” Aaron demanded.
Evan looked downstairs.
“I came in through the garage.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Evan lowered his voice.
“Your mom called me.”
Elena's grip tightened around the papers.
“When?”
“About an hour ago.”
Before Robert arrived.
Before the confrontation.
“What did she want?”
Evan looked at the envelope.
Aaron saw it.
“Evan.”
The teenager swallowed.
“She wanted me to delete something.”
The words changed the room.
Elena stepped closer.
“What?”
“I don't know exactly.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“I'm not.”
Aaron closed the bedroom door behind him.
“Start over.”
Evan shifted nervously.
“Aunt Diane called and told me to come over. She said there were old files on the computer in the room behind the garage. She wanted them erased.”
Elena frowned.
“What room behind the garage?”
Evan looked confused.
“You don't know?”
Aaron's expression answered before he did.
Elena turned toward her husband.
“There is a room behind the garage?”
“It's storage.”
Evan shook his head.
“No, it isn't.”
Aaron glared at him.
“Stay out of this.”
“You asked me.”
“I didn't ask you to make it worse.”
Elena stepped between them.
“What is in that room?”
Evan looked at her.
“Computers. Filing cabinets. A printer. Boxes of paperwork.”
A cold sensation traveled through Elena.
“What kind of paperwork?”
“I don't know.”
“You've been inside.”
“Yeah.”
“Then what did you see?”
Evan hesitated.
“Bank stuff.”
Aaron cursed quietly.
Elena stared at him.
“You knew.”
“I knew Mom kept records.”
“You knew about the room.”
“Yes.”
“And you let me live here for six months without telling me?”
“It wasn't relevant.”
Elena held up the credit report.
“Someone opened three accounts in my name.”
“I didn't know about those.”
“But you knew your mother had copies of financial documents?”
“Yes.”
“And you knew she had access to my information?”
“No.”
“You knew she had my passwords?”
“No.”
“You knew she had my Social Security number?”
“No!”
Aaron's voice cracked.
He stepped backward.
“I didn't know, Elena.”
For once, she believed him.
That didn't make her feel better.
It made everything worse.
Because if Aaron wasn't lying about those accounts, someone else had crossed a line even he hadn't crossed.
Elena looked at Evan.
“Did you delete the files?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Evan pulled his phone from his pocket.
“Because I saw your name.”
Aaron stared at him.
“What?”
“On one of the folders.”
“What folder?”
Evan unlocked his phone.
“I took pictures.”
Elena's pulse jumped.
“Show me.”
He opened the photo gallery.
The first photograph showed a computer monitor.
A directory filled the screen.
BROOKS RESIDENTIAL.
TAX.
PROPERTY.
LOANS.
Then several folders labeled with names.
DIANE.
THOMAS.
AARON.
ELENA.
Elena swiped.
The next photograph showed the contents of her folder.
Scanned identification.
Tax documents.
Employment records.
Credit reports.
A photograph of her signature.
Then something labeled AUTHORIZATION_TEMPLATE.
Elena stopped.
“What is that?”
“I didn't open it.”
Aaron leaned over her shoulder.
His breathing changed.
“I know what it is.”
Elena looked at him.
“Tell me.”
“When Mom started the company again, she had templates made for financial documents.”
“With my signature?”
“No. Generic ones.”
Evan spoke quietly.
“That one wasn't generic.”
Aaron turned.
“How do you know?”
“Because I opened it after I took the picture.”
Silence.
“What did it say?” Elena asked.
Evan looked at her.
“It was a letter giving Diane permission to manage financial accounts in your name.”
Elena felt sick.
“I never signed that.”
“I figured.”
“How?”
Evan looked embarrassed.
“Because the signature looked copied.”
Robert's voice came from the hallway.
“Copied from what?”
Everyone turned.
Robert stood outside holding Caleb.
The baby had fallen asleep against his shoulder.
Diane was nowhere behind him.
Robert entered.
“Elena?”
She handed him Evan's phone.
Robert studied the photographs.
His expression grew colder with each swipe.
“Who is this young man?”
“Evan,” Elena said. “Diane's nephew.”
Robert looked at him.
“You took these photographs?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are the original files still there?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“I didn't delete anything.”
“Good.”
Aaron stiffened.
“Dad—”
Robert looked at him.
Aaron corrected himself.
“General Hayes.”
“Robert is fine.”
Aaron didn't look comfortable using either name.
Robert handed the phone back.
“Where's Diane?”
“Downstairs,” Elena said.
“No.”
Elena frowned.
“She was downstairs.”
“She isn't now.”
Aaron immediately moved toward the door.
Robert blocked him with one sentence.
“Where would she go?”
Aaron stopped.
“The garage.”
Evan whispered, “The computer.”
They all understood at once.
Robert handed Caleb carefully to Elena.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Elena—”
“No, Dad.”
She adjusted Caleb against her chest.
“This is my identity. My debt. My marriage.”
Robert studied her.
Then nodded.
“Fair enough.”
They went downstairs.
Marissa was gone.
The front door remained open.
Diane wasn't in the living room.
Aaron hurried toward the kitchen.
“Mom?”
No answer.
The door connecting the kitchen to the garage stood open.
Evan pointed.
“Back there.”
The garage held Elena's SUV.
She stopped.
“You brought it inside?”
Aaron looked confused.
“It was outside.”
Robert walked around the vehicle.
Its hood was still warm.
Diane had moved it.
Why?
Elena looked at the license plate.
Something seemed wrong.
Then she realized.
“That isn't my plate.”
Aaron stared.
“What?”
Elena moved closer.
“My plate ends in 61K.”
This one ended in 84M.
Aaron crouched.
“What the hell?”
Robert walked toward the windshield.
He checked the vehicle identification number.
“Is this your VIN?”
“I don't know it by memory.”
Elena opened the driver's door.
Her car seat base was inside.
The coffee stain near the cup holder.
Caleb's toy beneath the passenger seat.
Her vehicle.
Different plates.
Evan whispered, “Why would Aunt Diane change them?”
Robert looked toward Aaron.
“Where is the original registration?”
“Glove compartment.”
Aaron opened it.
Empty.
Elena stared.
“My insurance card was there too.”
Gone.
Robert straightened.
“This vehicle was inspected today?”
Aaron nodded.
“That's what Mom said.”
“By whom?”
“I don't know.”
Robert looked at the replacement plate again.
“Someone wanted this vehicle identified as something it isn't.”
Elena felt another piece of her reality shift.
She looked at Aaron.
“Was the SUV really collateral?”
“Yes.”
“You're sure?”
“I saw the documents.”
“Documents can lie.”
Aaron looked wounded.
Elena didn't care.
He had earned that sentence.
Evan walked toward the back wall.
“It's through here.”
Shelving covered most of the garage wall.
Paint cans.
Storage bins.
Gardening supplies.
Evan moved a tall metal rack aside.
Behind it was a narrow door.
Elena had lived in the house for six months.
She had never noticed it.
Aaron opened the door.
The room beyond was dark.
He flipped the switch.
Fluorescent lights blinked on.
Elena stopped.
This wasn't storage.
A desk ran along one wall.
Two computer monitors.
Printer.
Document scanner.
Locking filing cabinets.
Shelves filled with labeled boxes.
Robert entered slowly.
“Don't touch anything.”
Aaron looked at him.
“You think my mother committed a crime.”
Robert met his eyes.
“Your wife has found financial accounts she didn't open, a forged signature, copied identification, and a vehicle with changed plates.”
He paused.
“What would you call it?”
Aaron said nothing.
Evan pointed toward the desk.
“The computer was on earlier.”
Now it was off.
Robert touched nothing.
“Diane got here first.”
Elena scanned the room.
One filing cabinet drawer was open.
Empty folders lay on the floor.
A paper shredder sat beside the desk.
Its bin was filled with fresh strips.
“She shredded things,” Elena said.
Robert looked toward the shredder.
“Maybe.”
Aaron walked to the back of the room.
“There's another door.”
Elena hadn't noticed it.
A steel door.
Small.
No window.
“Where does that go?”
Aaron frowned.
“I don't know.”
“You lived here.”
“I moved out after college. This room wasn't here then.”
Evan stepped closer.
“I've never seen that open.”
Robert examined the lock.
Electronic keypad.
“Don't guess.”
Aaron stared at the keypad.
“My mom uses the same code for everything.”
He entered four digits.
Red light.
Denied.
Again.
Denied.
Elena looked around.
A framed photograph sat beside the monitor.
Diane and her late husband, Thomas.
Aaron's father had died four years earlier.
Elena had met him only twice.
Quiet man.
Kind eyes.
Always seemed tired.
She picked up the photograph before Robert could stop her.
Something was taped behind the frame.
A small card.
Four handwritten numbers.
Aaron stared.
“Dad's handwriting.”
Robert said, “Could be the code.”
Aaron entered the numbers.
Green light.
The lock clicked.
Nobody moved.
Then Aaron opened the steel door.
The room beyond was smaller.
No computer.
No furniture.
Just shelves.
And boxes.
Dozens of them.
Each labeled with a name.
Some Elena recognized.
Relatives.
Neighbors.
Former employees.
One label made Aaron stop.
MARCUS REED.
Aaron pulled the box down.
Robert said sharply, “Don't.”
But Aaron already had.
“Marcus was my boss.”
Elena stared at him.
“The company that fired you?”
“Yes.”
Aaron opened the lid.
Inside were bank statements.
Printed emails.
Employment records.
Photographs.
Aaron's face changed.
“What is this?”
Elena picked up one photograph.
It showed Marcus Reed entering a restaurant.
Another showed him leaving his office.
Another showed him meeting someone in a parking garage.
“This looks like surveillance,” Elena whispered.
Robert's eyes hardened.
Aaron grabbed a document.
His hands began shaking.
“No.”
“What?”
Aaron handed it to Elena.
It was an email.
From Marcus.
To someone named Thomas Brooks.
Dated five years earlier.
Before Thomas died.
Elena read the first lines.
Thomas,
I won't participate anymore. What Diane is doing isn't debt management. She's using other people's identities to move money between accounts. If she discovers I've contacted the bank, I don't know what she'll do.
Elena stopped.
Aaron looked devastated.
“My dad knew.”
Robert took the page.
“So did Marcus.”
Aaron grabbed another document.
A termination letter.
His termination letter.
But the date was wrong.
It had been prepared three weeks before Aaron claimed he was fired.
Elena looked at him.
“You knew you were losing your job?”
Aaron stared at the paper.
“No.”
“What do you mean?”
“This isn't the letter I received.”
He dug deeper.
Another envelope.
Aaron opened it.
Inside was a copy of a complaint submitted to his employer.
The complaint accused Aaron of stealing confidential client information.
It was signed anonymously.
Aaron's face went blank.
“This is why they fired me.”
Elena understood slowly.
“You said downsizing.”
“I was ashamed.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“But somebody set you up.”
Aaron looked toward the boxes.
“My mother had this.”
Robert continued scanning the shelves.
“Maybe she created it.”
Aaron sat heavily on the floor.
For the first time that evening, Elena saw something other than guilt in him.
Fear.
Not fear of consequences.
Fear of his mother.
“She ruined my career,” he whispered.
Elena wanted to comfort him.
Then she remembered her signature.
Her debt.
Her passwords.
The car.
Love did not erase what Aaron had done.
But his betrayal and Diane's betrayal were beginning to look like different pieces of the same machine.
Evan suddenly said, “There's a box for Elena.”
Everyone turned.
Top shelf.
ELENA HAYES BROOKS.
Robert's face changed.
Evan reached up.
Robert stopped him.
“I'll take it.”
He lifted the box down and placed it carefully on the floor.
Elena knelt despite the pain in her ankle.
Inside were files arranged by year.
Before marriage.
Before Aaron.
Before Elena had ever met Diane.
Her college transcript.
An old apartment application.
Employment history.
A photograph of Elena leaving her first job.
Her skin went cold.
“This is from seven years ago.”
Aaron stared.
“We met five years ago.”
Elena looked at him.
“Your mother had information about me before we met.”
“No.”
“It's right here.”
“I didn't know.”
Robert picked up the photograph.
His face became unreadable.
“Who took this?”
Nobody answered.
Elena opened another folder.
BACKGROUND.
Inside were pages about Robert.
His military career.
Public assignments.
News clippings.
Professional biography.
A photograph of Elena standing beside him at a ceremony.
Diane had known exactly who he was.
Elena stared at the papers.
“She knew.”
Aaron looked confused.
“Knew what?”
“Dad's rank.”
Robert turned toward him.
“Your mother didn't discover who I was tonight.”
Diane had pretended not to recognize his military status.
Why?
Elena's thoughts raced.
This had never been about an overbearing mother-in-law discovering her daughter-in-law came from an influential family.
Diane had known.
Maybe from the beginning.
A sound came from the garage.
Everyone froze.
The main garage door began rising.
Robert stood.
Aaron moved toward the hidden room entrance.
“Mom?”
No response.
The door continued upward.
A pair of headlights shone beneath it.
A sedan rolled into the driveway and stopped.
Someone stepped out.
A man.
Tall.
Gray coat.
He carried a leather briefcase.
Aaron looked through the opening.
His face changed instantly.
“That's impossible.”
Elena grabbed his arm.
“Who is he?”
Aaron didn't answer.
The man walked toward the garage.
Robert positioned himself between Elena and the entrance.
The stranger stopped beneath the garage light.
He looked directly at Aaron.
Then at Elena.
Finally at Robert.
He slowly set the briefcase on the concrete.
Aaron whispered, “Marcus Reed.”
Elena's heart pounded.
The man who supposedly knew about Diane's financial scheme had just appeared at the house.
Marcus reached into his coat.
He removed a sealed envelope.
“Elena Brooks?”
Elena stepped forward.
“Yes.”
Marcus held out the envelope.
“Your father-in-law gave me this before he died.”
Aaron stopped breathing.
Marcus looked toward the hidden room.
“He told me to deliver it only if Diane ever started using your name.”
Elena stared at him.
“My name? Thomas died before I married Aaron.”
Marcus nodded.
“I know.”
Aaron whispered, “How could my father know?”
Marcus opened his briefcase.
Inside was a thick file.
Across the front was Elena's maiden name.
ELENA HAYES.
A date was written beneath it.
Seven years earlier.
Marcus looked at Robert.
Then he said the words that made even the general go still.
“Thomas wasn't investigating Elena.”
He turned the file over.
A second name was written on the back.
“General, he was investigating you.”
Behind them, something slammed inside the house.
Then Diane screamed one word.
“RUN!”
May you like
The lights went out.
And in the darkness, the steel door behind Elena began to close.
