I pulled my mug closer and read the public filing recorded on November fourteenth.

Arthur Collins had taken out a second equity line of credit on the Portland house for forty-eight thousand dollars.

“He used the house as collateral,” Monica said, taking off her rimless glasses to polish them on the hem of her sweater.

“Chelsea couldn’t qualify for a sixty-thousand-dollar car loan on her own with three defaulted credit card accounts.”

“He told everyone at Christmas dinner that he bought the BMW with cash,” I said.

“He put down ten thousand dollars in cash,” Monica said, pointing her pen at the second transaction record.