Chapter 3 - The Second Ledger
Underneath the heat-stamping press, tucked between two rolls of brown wax paper, Helen spotted a small black composition notebook.
She pulled it into the light, flipping open the stiff cardboard cover to reveal Robert’s familiar, cramped mechanic's handwriting.
Dates, names, phone numbers, and dollar amounts filled thirty-two dense pages.
Helen’s breath caught in her chest as her eyes scanned the familiar names written in black ink.
Marcy Lewis – $1,200 (Paid cash).
Dr. Evans’ wife – $2,400 (Paid wire).
Brenda from Church Choir – $850 (Paid cash).
Mayor’s secretary – $1,800 (Paid cash).
Beside each sale was a column marked Cost, followed by amounts that made Helen’s head spin: twelve dollars for hardware, eighteen dollars for vinyl backing, four dollars for labor.
Robert was manufacturing bags for thirty-four dollars and selling them to their lifelong neighbors for thousands.
The running total at the bottom of the final page sent a jolt of terror through her veins: Total Net: $318,400.
Helen flipped to the back of the book, where a folded bank receipt fell onto the concrete floor.
It was a deposit slip from an offshore credit union in the Bahamas, opened under an unlisted LLC called Carter Precision Parts.
The balance was sitting at over two hundred and eighty thousand dollars, completely untouched and completely hidden from their joint checking account.
Helen remembered crying at their kitchen table six months ago when the transmission on her ten-year-old sedan had failed.
Robert had rubbed her shoulders and sighed, telling her they would have to dip into their meager emergency grocery fund to buy used parts from the junkyard.
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"We have to tighten our belts, sweetheart," he had said with tears of sympathy in his eyes.
He had let her worry about paying the electric bill while sitting on three hundred thousand dollars of stolen, dirty cash.
