He stopped. That was what he had always done when she said my name with that tone. Even now, after all these years, he let the conversation end where she wanted it to.
I pressed my thumbnail into the seam of my pocket. I had been hoping for more than an explanation, and I hated myself for it.
The office door opened. Nina stepped out with the clipboard, but she didn’t speak until she had locked the door behind her.
“I found a second count sheet,” she said.
My mother took one step toward her. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m checking the figures before I make a report.” Nina looked at the clipboard. “The second count shows a smaller shortage than the first.”
My mother’s face tightened. “So now the numbers change?”
“They don’t change. The second count records a different amount.”
“That sounds like protecting him.”
Nina’s voice stayed level. “I haven’t decided what happened. I’m checking the records.”
My mother looked from Nina to Eli. “He had the bag. He had the chance.”
Eli’s shoulders rose toward his ears. “I didn’t take anything.”
“Then you shouldn’t mind answering questions,” she said.
He stared at the bottle in his hands. I wanted to tell him he didn’t have to answer her in a hallway. I also knew that if I spoke for him again, she would use it as proof that I was pulling him into something.
Nina looked at me. “I need to finish checking this with the people who handled the count. Could you come back with Rosa and Eli?”
“Of course,” I said.
My mother gave a short laugh. “You make it sound like we’re in trouble.”
Nina didn’t answer that. She checked the clipboard once more, then went back into the office.
My mother stayed in the hallway. “You’ve turned a missing envelope into a whole production.”
The old wordless urge came over me: to defend myself until she had to hear me. At seventeen, I had tried. I had said I didn’t take it, then said it again, louder. My voice had not changed the decision.
I looked at my father. He stared at the office door.
“I’m going home,” my mother said.
“You can,” I told her. “Nina asked you to come back.”
She gave me a hard look, but she didn’t move. Eli stayed beside me.
A few minutes later, Nina opened the office door again, ready to speak. “I’m ready.”
We went in together. There was barely room for all of us between the desk and the metal filing cabinet. Nina laid two count sheets side by side. The first had my mother’s signature near the bottom. The second had a different total written in blue ink.
My mother leaned over the desk. “You said you were counting.”
“I was still counting when you signed the first sheet,” Nina said. “You signed before I finished checking the cash.”
My mother pulled back. “I was trying to help.”
“You were in a hurry,” Nina said. “That’s why I didn’t submit the first count as final.”
“You’re making me sound careless.”
“I’m explaining why I have two sheets.”
My mother’s cheeks flushed. She turned to me, as if I had brought Nina here to shame her. “You’re all taking his side.”
Nina put her hand flat beside the papers. “I’m asking everyone to wait while I compare the count with the safe log.”
There was a blue tab on the clipboard. I noticed it because the edge had been bent over twice, like someone had worried it between their fingers.
I looked at the two sheets. “Can you compare them now?”
Nina nodded. She took a thin bound book from the cabinet and set it beside the count sheets. “This is the safe log. I’ll read the entries and match the times.”
