“Move them?” I repeated, playing dumb. “What do you mean?”
“Well, we tried to pull the first 50 from the estate account for the debt consolidation thing. You know, the whole plan we talked about, and the funds bounced. The bank says the account was liquidated 2 weeks ago, completely empty.”
I made a sympathetic noise.
“Weird.”
There was a pause.
I could hear the muffled sound of papers rustling. Someone whispering near him. Probably Hannah or Dad.
“Yeah, the accountant’s looking into it. But the thing is,” he continued, voice tightening, “Grandpa’s lawyer said something about a separate trust, something he never had access to.”
“Huh,” I said. “Sounds complicated.”
Silence.
He was trying to read me, trying to figure out if I was playing dumb or if I was really that out of the loop.
Finally, he sighed.
“Look, man, we just want to know what’s going on. We’re not accusing anyone. Just if you know something, say it.”
I thought about it.
About the way he laughed at brunch when they announced they’d wiped away his six-f figureure mess.
About the smug glint in Aunt Lauren’s eyes when she said, “I didn’t need my share.”
About the times they’d treated Grandpa like an inconvenience toward the end, avoiding hospital visits, missing phone calls, whispering about how long he could realistically hold on.
So, I smiled and said, “Let me know what the accountant finds.”
Then I hung up.
2 hours later, my parents called together.
That never happened.
My mother spoke first, using her overly sweet voice, the one she reserved for her co-workers and fake apologies.
“Hi, honey. Listen, we’re all a little confused here. There seems to be some kind of mixup with the estate. Nolan’s debt payment is time-sensitive, and we were just wondering if you had any idea why Grandpa’s funds were inaccessible.”
I could hear my father breathing heavily in the background.
He wasn’t the patient type. He probably wanted to rip the phone from her hand and demand answers.
I kept my tone light.
“Well, I’m not sure what you mean by mixup. Grandpa had plenty of time to sort out his affairs. You said at brunch that the family decided how to divide things, right?”
“Yes,” she said carefully. “But it appears Grandpa had a, well, a separate trust, and we were informed this morning that you were listed as the sole beneficiary of it.”