Page 178 of Ice Princess


Font Size:

“Dan.” Mom squeezes his hand, her eyes pulled shut with lines of distress running across her forehead. “This can’t be right. He must be mistaken. Tell me he’s mistaken.”

“I’ll look into it. Let me help you to bed first.”

“Take me to the sofa instead. I want to see this so called ‘evidence’ too.”

Once mom is settled, dad grabs the laptop he uses for work and accepts all the documents I’d gathered, including the voice recording of Uncle Clancy.

After checking through them, he hands them to mom who looks it over as well. The rustle of documents and the clack of fingers over the laptop keyboard resounds for a long time.

Both my parents get very sullen when they hear Uncle Clancy recording.

Mom groans and buries her face in the couch.

Dad just blinks rapidly.

As my parents visibly lose their minds, I feel strangely relieved. The matter is far from resolved, but at least the most important people in my life know the truth.

Mom grabs my phone again and swipes through all the photos. Then she sets the phone down as a numb expression crosses her face.

Dad’s hands shake slightly, but he sounds more put together when he says, “This needs to be properly investigated but, from what I can see… you’re right, son. The willwastampered with. Your uncle confessed as much. But whether the will ever involved the Harts, there isn’t evidence here to say.”

My eyebrows draw close together. “But you heard what Uncle Clancy said.”

“Recordings that the other party aren’t aware of can’t be used in court and Clarence might argue that he never said these words or that he was misunderstood.”

I frown.

Dad gathers all the maps together neatly. “You’ll need the torn half of the original will or some other key evidence before you have a case.”

“And if he finds that evidence?” Mom trembles. “Then what?”

Dad sets his glasses down and rubs at the little imprints they left in his nose. “Then that would mean the Kinseys, every one of us, would become penniless in an instant.”

“P-penniless?”

“This isn’t a small sum, Carol. Everything we have would need to be transferred to Rebel and her mother. At best, we can hire a lawyer and work out a settlement out of court. At worst…” Dad blanches. “We can only pray Rebel and her mother don’tpress charges because if they do, plausible deniability or not, it’s not going to end well. For any of us.”

Mom’s eyes dart back and forth. “If it’s that bad then… what if we never find the evidence?”

“Carol.”

“Don’t look at me like that, Dan. Our entire world is going to crash around us if we lose this house. And the farm! Do we give up the farm?”

“Are you suggesting we ignore this, Carol?”

“Yes!We’renot the ones who lied and stole. We didn’t deceive anyone. This isn’t our fault! Why do we have to suffer for something we had no part of?”

“Can you live with yourself if you did nothing?” Dad challenges.

“Can you live with yourself if we lose everything!” Mom shrieks.

“I can’t believe you’re saying this.” Dad’s voice is hard as granite and he draws away from mom.

Tears cropping in her eyes, mom sobs. “I amnotthe bad guy here, Dan. I’m thinking about my family. Is it wrong for me to want to protect them?”

Dad looks away.

Mom runs, crying to her room. The door slams shut a moment later.