Chapter 3 - THE THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS
The next morning, Detective Erin Wallace called.
The incident at the house had created several separate questions.
Teresa shoving an officer.
The documents Mason carried.
Possible financial fraud.
Possible coercive treatment of Amy.
Different issues.
Different evidence.
I appreciated that.
Real investigations do not become one giant charge because everything feels connected emotionally.
But the money was easy to begin tracing.
Every month, I transferred $3,000 to Teresa.
Thirty-six thousand dollars a year.
For fourteen months.
$42,000.
I thought it paid groceries, utilities, baby supplies, and household costs.
It didn’t.
Our utilities were still being paid from my joint account with Amy.
Groceries largely came from Amy’s debit card.
Frederick’s diapers and formula were charged to our credit card.
So where did Teresa’s $3,000 go?
Bank records eventually answered.
Family dinners.
Clothing.
Jewelry.
Transfers to Betsy.
Cash withdrawals.
And repeated payments to Mason.
One month, Teresa spent $2,600 on catering.
That was the same month she told me Amy had “overspent” on baby supplies and needed to learn discipline.
I stared at the statements.
“I gave her forty-two thousand dollars.”
Our attorney, Rachel Sloan, corrected gently:
“You gave her money for a stated purpose. What happened next is what we’re documenting.”
That distinction mattered.
Then Rachel showed me one transaction.
$7,500 to a company called:
Mason Bradley Property Services.
“What is that?”
Rachel looked at me.
“Your cousin’s LLC.”
“For what?”
She turned the page.
Invoice description:
Estate restructuring consultation.
Our house.
May you like
They had used my money to pay Mason to help them plan what to do with my property.
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