And then the audit began to show me where they had gone.

The first suspicious transaction was a twenty-five-thousand-dollar transfer to my younger brother, Ryan.

I called him at once.

“Did Mom give you money for the down payment on your condo, three years ago?” A silence.

“Yeah,” Ryan said.

“Why?” “Did you know that money came from what I was sending for Maya’s care?” “What?

No!” And his shock sounded genuine, sounded like my own.

“She told me it was from her personal savings.” And then more surfaced, item by item.