Chapter 12 - What Renee Knew
Katherine listened to the text and said four words. "Do not meet alone."
Then: "If Renee wants to talk, she does it with me in the room, or she does it through Grant's attorney. Those are the choices."
"She said there are things I don't know," I said.
"There may be," Katherine said. "Or she's trying to manage you. Either way, you hear it through the proper channel."
I called Renee back. She picked up on the second ring.
"Diane—"
"Katherine Boyd is present for any conversation," I said. "Or Grant's attorney. Those are the options."
A pause. "I'm not trying to make this into a legal thing. I just want to talk to you. Mother to mother."
"Renee. Those are the options."
Another pause, longer. "Fine," she said. "Katherine Boyd. Tomorrow if she can."
Katherine made room at two o'clock. Renee came alone.
She sat across from me at the conference table and, for the first time in all the years I'd known her, she looked unsure of herself. Not sorry. Unsure. Like someone who had practiced a speech and no longer trusted it to work.
Katherine sat at the end of the table. Cole sat next to me. Renee had nobody.
"You said there are things I don't know," I said. "So tell me."
She folded her hands on the table. "The lien was Grant's idea. Not mine. I need you to hear that."
"Were you in the room when he brought the documents to my house?"
A beat. "Yes."
"Did you know what they were?"
Another beat, longer. "I knew they had to do with the money."
"Did you know they were a promissory note?"
She looked at her hands. "I knew Grant wanted to formalize the arrangement."
"Formalize," I said.
"He told me — he believed — the money was always meant to be a loan. That you'd agreed to it, out loud, years ago. That he was just putting it down on paper."
"I never agreed to a loan," I said. "Not once. Not out loud, not any other way."
Renee looked up. And I saw something on her face I wasn't expecting. Not guilt, exactly. Something messier.
"I know," she said quietly. "I know that now."
The room was very still.
"What changed?" Katherine asked.
"He did it to my mother," Renee said. "Six months ago. Same approach. Papers, explanation, signature. She called me last month asking why there's a lien on her condo." She stopped. "That's when I finally understood what he'd actually done. To you. To her."
Cole made a sound in his throat.
"You're telling us Grant did the same thing to your own mother," Katherine said.
"Yes."
"And you're here because—"
"Because I have copies," Renee said. She reached into her bag and pulled out a folder. "The documents he drew up for Diane. The ones he showed her before she signed. And the one she actually signed. They're not the same document."
She slid the folder down the table to Katherine.
Katherine opened it. Looked at the first page. Then the second. Then she looked at me.
"Diane," she said carefully. "This is significant."
"How significant?" Cole asked.
"The document Grant explained to your mother is a gift acknowledgment. Standard language. No financial obligation. The document she signed is a promissory note for forty thousand dollars with this house as collateral." Katherine looked at Renee. "How did you get these?"
"He keeps files at home," Renee said. "I photographed them."
"Are you prepared to give a formal statement?"
Renee looked at her hands again. Then at me. "He's my husband," she said. "But he did it to my mother." A pause. "Yes. I'll give a statement."
I looked at this woman I had never once liked. Who had stood by my window in her coat and watched me sign a paper I didn't understand.
"Why didn't you stop him?" I asked. "That day. In my kitchen."
Renee was quiet a long moment. "Because I thought you'd agreed. He told me you'd agreed. I believed him." She looked up. "I shouldn't have. I should've asked you straight out. I know that."
It wasn't enough. It wasn't anywhere close to enough. But it was true, and by now I could tell the difference.
May you like
"Okay," I said.
Katherine closed the folder. "I'll be in touch with Detective Delgado this afternoon."
