Chapter 8: Gertrude
The patrol unit arrived in eight minutes.
Two officers.
They spoke to me briefly at the table, confirmed Brandon's vehicle, and watched it pull away before they left.
One of them gave me a direct number and told me to call if he came back.
Skylar had finished her pancakes by then.
She watched the officers leave with the focused calm of a child who has decided that adults are handling something and her job is to not make it harder.
"Are we going back to the hotel?" she asked.
"For now.
Yes."
"Can I watch something on your laptop?"
"Yes."
She didn't ask anything else.
Back at the hotel, while Skylar watched a nature documentary with the volume low, I called Grace again.
"I need to understand Gertrude's position," I said.
"Exactly."
"The LLC — Hartwell Property Solutions — was registered eight months ago.
Gertrude is the sole named officer.
The refinancing proceeds from your home, approximately sixty-two thousand dollars, were deposited into the LLC's account in two transfers.
The account also received fourteen smaller deposits over the past six months that match the unauthorized withdrawals from your joint account."
Sixty-two thousand dollars.
"She knew," I said.
"She didn't just know.
She received the money.
That makes her a participant, not a witness."
"Brandon's attorney is offering a deed reversal and repayment."
"Which would require Gertrude's LLC to return the funds.
I doubt she's agreed to that voluntarily.
My guess is Brandon's attorney made that offer without fully consulting her."
"What happens to her?"
"That depends on how cooperative she is with Reyes and how aggressively the DA wants to pursue it.
At minimum, the LLC will be dissolved and the funds recovered.
At maximum, she faces charges alongside Brandon and Caldwell."
That evening, Gertrude called me directly.
I almost didn't answer.
Then I thought about the LLC.
About sixty-two thousand dollars.
About Skylar sitting in a dark kitchen with a cup of instant soup.
I answered.
"Charlotte." Her voice was different from what I expected.
Not commanding.
Not cold.
Something smaller.
"Gertrude."
"I want you to know that I did not understand the full extent of what Brandon was doing.
He told me the LLC was a legitimate investment vehicle.
He told me you had agreed to it."
"He told you I had agreed to transfer sixty-two thousand dollars into an account in your name."
Silence.
"I should have asked more questions," she said.
"Yes.
You should have."
"I'm not a crjminal, Charlotte.
I'm an old woman who trusted her son."
"You're an old woman whose name is on the account that received the money.
That's not trust.
That's participation."
"I want to fix this."
"Then cooperate with Detective Reyes.
Fully.
Answer every question.
Return every dollar.
And the next time you sit my daughter in a dark kitchen with instant soup while you eat king crab at her mother's expense—" I stopped.
"There won't be a next time."
Another silence.
"Is Skylar all right?" Gertrude asked.
Her voice had gone very quiet.
"She's watching a documentary about sea turtles.
She's fine."
"I never meant for her to be—"
"I know what you meant and what you didn't mean, Gertrude.
What matters is what you did." I kept my voice level.
"Talk to Reyes.
That's the only conversation that helps you now."
I hung up.
Skylar looked over from the bed.
"Was that Grandma?"
"Yes."
"Is she in trouble?"
I looked at my daughter.
Eleven years old.
Sitting in a hotel room eating from a bag of pretzels, watching sea turtles, asking careful questions.
"Some people made some bad choices," I said.
"And now they have to deal with what comes from that."
She thought about it.
"Like when I broke your mug and tried to hide it and then it was worse?"
"Something like that.
Yes."
She nodded, satisfied with the logic, and turned back to the screen.
My phone buzzed.
Grace: *Gertrude's attorney just contacted Reyes's office.
She's agreeing to cooperate.
Full cooperation.
May you like
Brandon's attorney has gone quiet.
I think he just found out.*
