“Did you know about the Maple Drive property, Ava?” I asked.

Ava looked down at her white sneakers, her toes turning inward against the floorboards.

“Mom showed me the real estate listing photos on her phone six weeks ago.

She showed me the upstairs corner bedroom that was going to be mine.”

“Your father didn’t have thirty-eight thousand dollars of his own for that escrow deposit,” I said.

“He was taking it straight out of the equity line attached to Eleanor’s home while I worked weekend overtime shifts at my office.”

“He told Mom you agreed to the transfers,” Ava said, her lower lip trembling.