Chapter 5 - CARLA’S FIRST CHARGE
The first transaction linked directly to Carla was small.
Two hundred eighty-seven dollars at a luxury cosmetics store.
Ernest assumed it was a mistake.
Then came a twelve-hundred-dollar furniture purchase.
A five-thousand-dollar deposit to a private event company.
A transfer labeled home repair.
No repair took place.
When Ernest asked, Carla smiled.
“You forget things sometimes.”
The sentence bothered him more than the money.
Margaret had never spoken to him that way.
Louis began repeating it.
“Dad, we talked about this.”
They had not.
“Dad, you approved it.”
He had not.
“Dad, you’re getting confused.”
He was not.
Ernest began documenting every conversation.
Date.
Time.
Location.
Exact words.
He kept a small notebook inside his coffee cabinet.
Carla found it once.
“What’s this?”
“Shopping list.”
May you like
She handed it back.
She did not know the last page contained the account numbers of every card she had used.
