It doesn’t change owners.”

Twenty minutes later, I heard the heavy front door click shut as they all left.

I slipped out through the garden gate and walked over to Evelyn’s house.

She was waiting in her kitchen with a pot of black coffee and her laptop open on the counter.

For two relentless hours, I pulled up bank statements, property tax ledgers, and credit reports I had foolishly left unmonitored out of spousal trust.

The evidence was damning: incremental cash withdrawals, wire transfers to Sarah, and direct payments to Richard’s business entities.