Chapter 6 - THE GHOSTS IN THE WALLS
A week had passed since Daniel was led away in handcuffs.
The house was quiet,
a hollow shell of its former self,
yet it felt fuller than it ever had when he lived here.
I spent my days going through the remaining files,
helping the DA map out the extent of the embezzlement.
Every time I found a new fraudulent transfer,
I felt a sense of professional pride.
The forensic accountant wasn't just back;
she was the star witness.
But the nights were still hard.
Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night,
convinced I heard his key in the lock.
I would sit up in bed,
my heart hammering against my ribs,
waiting for the sound of his voice.
Then I would remember that the locks had been changed.
I would remember that he was in a cell,
waiting for a trial that would put him away for a long time.
One evening,
there was a knock on the door.
I checked the security camera—the one I had installed to replace the one Daniel used to watch me.
It was Gloria.
She looked terrible,
her expensive clothes wrinkled and her hair a mess.
She didn't have a car;
she must have taken a bus or a taxi.
I debated not opening the door,
but I wanted her to see me one last time.
I opened it,
keeping the security chain on.
"What do you want,
Gloria?"
I asked,
my voice devoid of emotion.
"Emma,
please,"
she whimpered,
reaching through the crack.
"I have nowhere to go."
"The hotel kicked me out because my cards were declined."
"I don't have any money."
I looked at the woman who had watched me bleed and laughed.
"Where are your friends,
Gloria?"
I asked.
"The ones who used to sip wine while Daniel hit me?"
"They're not answering my calls,"
she sobbed.
"They're all afraid of being associated with the scandal."
"Imagine that,"
I said.
"People only care about you when you have something to give them."
"Isn't that what you told me?"
"Emma,
I'm an old woman,"
she pleaded.
"You can't leave me on the street."
"I can,"
I said,
"and I am."
"You watched your son abuse me for six years."
"You helped him steal from people who worked their whole lives for that money."
"You didn't lift a finger when I was begging for help."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill.
I pushed it through the crack in the door.
"Take this,"
I said.
"It's more than you ever gave me."
"Don't come back here again,
Gloria."
"The next time you knock,
I'm calling the police for trespassing."
I shut the door and locked it,
ignoring her screams as she pounded on the wood.
I walked back to the kitchen and sat down.
I felt a brief pang of guilt,
but it was quickly replaced by a sense of justice.
Gloria wasn't a victim of her son;
she was his creator.
She had raised a monster and then feasted on the spoils of his crimes.
I realized then that the only way to truly move forward was to cut off the past completely.
The next morning,
I hired a contractor to start remodeling the house.
I wanted the walls repainted,
the floors refinished,
and the kitchen completely gutted.
I wanted every surface that had seen my pain to be made new.
As the workers began to tear down the cabinets,
one of them called me over.
"Ma'am,
you might want to see this."
Behind the back panel of the pantry was a small wall safe.
It wasn't in any of the blueprints.
I called the detective and the DA’s team.
When they opened it,
they found something that even I hadn't expected.
It was a collection of journals,
written in Daniel's handwriting.
They weren't just about the money.
They were a detailed account of every person he had bribed,
every official he had paid off,
and every act of violence he had committed.
He had kept a diary of his own depravity.
It was the final nail in his coffin.
The DA told me that with these journals,
Daniel wouldn't just be going to prison for fraud and assault.
He would be going away for life.
I sat on the porch and watched the workers haul away the old cabinets.
I felt a strange sense of peace.
The secrets were all out now.
The ghosts were being exorcised from the walls.
I looked at my hands and noticed that I wasn't clenching them anymore.
The tension that had been part of my body for six years was finally dissolving.
I was no longer waiting for the next blow.
May you like
I was just living.
And that was the greatest gift of all.
