The ledger showed where the money had gone once it landed in her account.

On January twenty-seventh, three hundred forty dollars went to an online catalog selling women’s clothing.

On January twenty-eighth, two hundred fifteen dollars went to an upscale department store on Elm Street.

On February second, another hundred and fifty dollars went to a local garden center.

Not one dollar of it had gone toward her mortgage or her city electric bill.

Margaret had been taking my monthly transfers on the pretext of keeping her house out of foreclosure, and then spending the cash in stores.