Detective Ramirez leaned forward.
“Mrs. Cole, you understand what you’re admitting?”
“Yes.”
I could barely breathe.
“You framed Vanessa?”
“No,” Mom said quickly. “Not for the money.”
“What does that even mean?”
“The money was real. She did take it.”
Vanessa’s theft.
Mom’s forged amendment.
Two crimes.
Two betrayals.
Suddenly I no longer knew who anyone was.
“Why would you fake the amendment?”
Mom looked at me.
“Because I needed you to find out what she was doing.”
“You could have told me!”
“You wouldn’t have believed me!”
Her voice cracked.
And the terrible part was…
she might have been right.
For years I had defended Vanessa.
Every insult.
Every selfish choice.
Every cruel little remark.
Mom watched me explain all of it away.
But this?
This was insane.
“So you forged a document to make me leave my wife?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Mom looked at Harold.
He nodded once.
