Forty years of life had ended in betrayal, the officer said, his tone flat. There wont be any provisional sentence, he added, disappointment clear.
Alright, I nodded, giving a faint smile. I get it.
He lowered his eyes. Even your cooperation wont count for anything. I cant do anything besides a real term. And given the sums involved, its a hefty amount
Fine, fine, I repeated, calm. I understand.
MsMollie?
Just Mollie, please, I snapped. I dont need the formality. Its not about age or respect. I want nothing to do with that man!
Its procedure, sorry, he shrugged.
Your procedure should at least let you change your details once youre behind bars! I let a note of irritation slip through. I dont know how long Ill be in here, but the moment Im out Im changing everything.
So you came to help the investigation not because youre a lawabiding citizen, but for personal reasons? You hold a grudge against the suspects?
A grownup detective asking such naïve questions, I chuckled. In your moral framework no one would sit a few years just to punish someone else. Its nonsense.
Best case, wed have sent an anonymous tip. I turned up myself to make sure they cant dodge justice. If you like, call it revenge.
But as I said, even for being an accomplice youll get a real term, the officer reminded me.
Thats fine with me, I said, a restrained smile playing on my lips.
An awkward pause stretched. He could have sent me straight to a cell and gone off to file paperwork, but he lingered. There was something about this woman not the usual maletofemale attraction, but a genuine human pull.
When Detective Graham looked at me, a flicker of pity crossed his face. It was like seeing a stray kitten on the pavement you just want to feed it, warm it, protect it. Graham never fussed over people, only over the case, which made him a solid investigator all business, no sentiment.
Now the whole system was cracking. A citizen reported a crime, confessed to being involved, the prosecutor said there were no indulgences, and the paperwork went straight to court. Yet here I was, a stern, composed woman, and he felt oddly sorry for me, like for that kitten.
Could you open the window? I asked suddenly. Theres no fresh air in here, you know.
There are bars, he replied.
You think Im planning an escape? I laughed. Please, go ahead.
Graham lifted the tiny barred window, and a cold November gust slapped my face.
Fantastic! I breathed out, shaking off the chill.
Cold, he said.
May I come closer? I gestured to the opening.
He stepped aside, giving me room.
Dont you want to tell me how you ended up like this? I teased, not for the record. Just because.
You need to? I asked.
Maybe I do, Graham shrugged. Just to get something off my chest.
My earliest memories are of waiting for my parents. The places kept changing a nursery, Grandmas flat, a neighbours apartment, the playground, even the walls of my own bedroom.
Dad ran a family business; back then it was called a cooperative, but the name didnt matter. I remember him saying, Parents have to work hard so the family never wants for anything.
When I finally started school, I could spend a bit of time with Mum. Shed had two boys the first one, then three years later another. I wanted more attention, but even as a child I knew the little brothers needed Mums focus.
When the younger lad went to nursery, the responsibility of looking after them fell on me. With Mum away, I did my best to fill the gap.
Money was never a problem; I was taught early how to manage it. I still wonder why they never hired a housekeeper when they could afford it. So I learned that too.
Dad steered me toward accounting. We need a good accountant for the firm, he said. Having one in the family is half the battle won.
I did my first year calmly, then he placed me in the family office, gave me the basics, and told me, Learn on the job. Youll be the one to run things later.
That made sense. My brothers werent old enough for serious duties yet.
When I qualified, Dad started talking about marriage. He introduced me to a few young men, all sons of his business partners, and said I could choose. I never imagined this was the norm, but I liked Edward. He was a few years older, handsome, tall, and surprisingly modest among the suitors.
Parents approved, and before the wedding I moved in with him. Our families quickly drew up big contracts and joint projects. A marriage was seen as a seal of honest intent.
Edward suggested a merger of our families firms. Our parents businesses are tangled now, he said. My older brother will run my dads chair, but I want to start something of my own. I need a trustworthy accountant who else but my beloved wife?
Naturally I agreed. I couldnt turn Edward down, and I couldnt betray Dad. So I juggled both. Family is family, after all.
When I got pregnant, it turned out the accounting work could be done remotely, with couriers handling the paperwork. That meant I didnt have to wait for a single firms documents to arrive before moving on to the next. I had enough time for the kids, and soon I gave birth to a son and a daughter.
When maternity leave ended, I didnt bother returning to a physical office. I kept the books from home. My dads directors chair was no longer mine; his brothers were eyeing it, and Mum and Dad were keen to make them the bosses.
Then tragedy struck. Mum died suddenly of an aneurysm, and Dad suffered a stroke under the stress. The brothers swung by, pleading, We cant even place him in a toptier care home, let alone hire enough nurses. You run the accounts, you know what a slip of the tongue could cost us!
I had to agree to move Dad into the house Edward and I shared. Our kids were already studying abroad. The move was massive because the servers and ledgers for both firms were set up in that house.
Looking back, I was groomed to be the accountant who could hide any shenanigans. Without a little fraud, business doesnt thrive. So I became the one with a vested interest: a third of the firms assets legitimately belonged to me through family ties.
Edward worked just as hard, and together we kept the enterprises afloat. Five years passed, and I cared for Dad throughout. I even picked up nurse and rehab skills, though age and his condition took their toll.
Then the nightmare began.
When Dads will was read, it turned out I was an adopted child from a care home. Legally, that meant I wasnt entitled to any inheritance not because of the law, but because Dads last wishes said so.
My brothers, greedy as ever, vanished with what they could. Edward, upon learning Id get nothing, filed for divorce immediately.
I demanded a fair split, but Edward produced a prenup Id signed without reading. It stripped me of any claim I was essentially forced out.
Our kids, hearing that Mum and Dad were splitting and Id be left penniless, chose to forget me. All they wanted was their dad; Mom seemed like she never existed.
Both firms let me go in one fell swoop. I was left with nothing but a ladys handbag full of documents, the clothes on my back, and £5,000 in spare change. That was it. Free, in the literal sense.
But I still had the password to the cloud storage where Id uploaded, monthly, encrypted backups of both firms accounts. Without those two keys, no one could access the data. It could fetch a fortune from my brothers or my ex, but revenge was my driver.
I walked into the police station and confessed to being an accomplice in years of fraud, ready to hand over everything and name all the culprits. I asked for no leniency.
The detective suggested we file a protocol, or I could tell everything at trial. Theyre people too, he said, maybe theyll show some mercy.
I stared at his sympathetic eyes, then said, I was seven when a brother was born, and ever since Ive been like a hamster on a wheel. School, looking after the kids, getting a degree, juggling two jobs, then a third after marriage, and still another when the kids went abroad and I cared for a paralysed father. Two jobs, three jobs I just want a break. Give me what Im owed and Ill serve my time gladly.
Eight years later, I walked out of the register office as Veronica Hart, a name Id never owned before. A whole new world lay ahead, one Id have to learn from scratch.
Hello, Im Ver Veronica! Nice to meet you! I said, trying to smile.
Thered be about five more years of unpleasantness, but Veronica knew nothing of those people just strangers in a story she hadnt written.
