The weight of the ledger felt like a lead brick in my lap. Lucas had emptied my accounts, crafted a public narrative of my disgrace, and now, I held the concrete evidence of his $65,000 fraud, all while Lily slept peacefully on my chest. I felt a surge of cold fury.
“We have to call the police,” I stated, my voice firm despite the tremor in my hands. “This is a crime, Elias. Forgery, embezzlement, theft.”
Elias hesitated, shifting his weight. He looked at the ledger, then back at me, a worried frown on his face. “Clara, I… I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Not in Oakhaven.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, my brow furrowing. “The police have to investigate this. This is clear evidence.”
He sighed, running a hand through his already messy hair. “Chief Miller. He’s Lucas’s poker buddy. Every Wednesday night, for years. They’re thick as thieves, excuse the pun.”
My blood ran cold. Officer Miller. I had seen them often enough, laughing together at the local diner, or joking about their card games. I had always dismissed it as harmless small-town camaraderie.
I pulled out my phone anyway, my fingers flying as I dialed the Oakhaven Police Station’s non-emergency line. The local number was ingrained in my memory.
“Oakhaven Police, Officer Miller speaking,” a familiar, gruff voice answered.
“Officer Miller, this is Clara Higgins,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “I need to report a serious financial crime. My son, Lucas, has forged documents, emptied my bank accounts, and embezzled funds from the Oakhaven Community Trust.”
There was a beat of silence on the line. Then, Officer Miller chuckled, a low, dismissive sound that sent a chill down my spine. “Clara, are you still on about this? Heard you ran off to Chicago with some general. Look, I just spoke to Lucas. He told me you’ve been a little… unstable lately.”
“Unstable?” I repeated, my grip tightening on the phone. “I have proof! Physical ledgers, bank statements showing forged power-of-attorney documents!”
“Now, Clara,” Miller said, his tone turning patronizing. “Let’s be reasonable. This sounds like a domestic dispute. A loving son trying to manage his mother’s affairs, and she’s gone a bit… off the rails. Happens all the time.”
He paused, then added, “Lucas says you’ve been spending excessively, maybe a little confused. He’s worried about you. Trying to clean up a mess you made with the choir fund.”
My jaw dropped. Lucas had preempted this. He had spun a story to Officer Miller, painting me as the villain, the unstable mother.
“He’s lying!” I cried, my voice rising. “He’s the one with the gambling debt to Arthur Knox! I have the ledger right here!”
Another dismissive chuckle. “Arthur Knox? Clara, I think you’re getting a little carried away. Now, if you want to file a *real* report, when you’re back in Oakhaven, perhaps we can talk. But right now, this sounds like a private family matter.”
He didn’t even ask for details. Didn’t ask me to send him the evidence. He just shut me down.
The call ended with a click. I slowly lowered the phone, my hand numb. Elias was right. The system was broken. Lucas had poisoned the well, making sure that any official complaint from me would be dismissed as the ravings of an “unstable mother” who had “abandoned her duties.”
My hope of a simple, legal resolution evaporated like smoke. Lucas had orchestrated this perfectly. My options were dwindling, but the ledger in my hand was still heavy, still solid. And Arthur Knox’s name, that dark, powerful name, now pulsed with a new, terrifying significance.
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