Chapter 10 - Why Theresa Protected Stephen
“Did Stephen kill Dad?”
Brianna asked what all of us were thinking.
My lawyer answered before fear became certainty.
“We have no evidence of that.”
Good.
Truth first.
We did have evidence of fraud.
Embezzlement.
Forgery.
Concealment.
Financial abuse.
Possible insurance misconduct.
Potential medical endangerment concerning Lucy.
Enough.
Theresa finally agreed to speak without Stephen.
Not because conscience won.
Because she realized he had positioned her to take the blame.
She confessed the beginning.
Dad discovered Stephen stealing.
Theresa knew.
Stephen told her Joseph planned to leave her almost nothing.
That was a lie.
But Theresa believed it.
Stephen convinced her to hide Box 417 after Dad died until “the estate confusion settled.”
Then he showed her an altered will.
In that fake version, I received nearly everything.
Brianna and Theresa got almost nothing.
My mother’s resentment grew.
So when I announced I was leaving for Canada to earn money, Theresa thought I was already hiding wealth from her.
Stephen suggested I send wages through her account “for efficiency.”
Then the theft expanded.
“At what point did you know the will was fake?” I asked.
Theresa stared at the floor.
“Two years ago.”
My heart sank.
“And you continued.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“By then we had spent too much.”
There it was.
Not fear.
Not confusion.
Choice.
“What about Lucy?”
Theresa began crying.
“She found the North Ridge paperwork.”
“And you starved her.”
“I didn’t starve her.”
“She was eating food off the ground.”
“She became difficult!”
Lucy sat beside me in a wheelchair.
Her voice was weak but steady.
“You locked the pantry.”
Theresa flinched.
“You said I was wasting groceries.”
Silence.
“You took my treatment money.”
No answer.
“You told Nathan I was fine.”
Theresa cried harder.
Lucy asked the question that mattered most.
“Why did you hate me more after I got sick?”
Theresa looked at her.
“Because Joseph trusted you.”
Not cancer.
Not money alone.
Jealousy.
Dad had written to Lucy.
Named her co-beneficiary.
Trusted her judgment.
Theresa interpreted every act of trust toward another woman as theft from her.
Then I asked:
“The medicine Stephen gave you. Why did you give it to Lucy?”
Theresa shook her head violently.
“He said it would help her sleep.”
“Did you know it wasn’t prescribed?”
“Later.”
“And you kept giving it?”
Silence.
Lucy began crying.
I didn’t yell.
That surprised Theresa more than anger would have.
“You’ll answer for what you chose.”
Then my mother whispered:
“You think Stephen only used me?”
I looked at her.
“He used Lucy too.”
Lucy froze.
“What?”
Theresa stared directly at my wife.
“Ask her who helped her hide money from you before she got sick.”
I turned toward Lucy.
May you like
Her face changed.
And for the first time since I returned, my wife looked guilty.
