Part 3:

A thick bundle of letters lay beneath the papers, tied carefully with a piece of twine.

There were fifty-five letters.

One for almost every year Thomas and I had been apart.

A handwritten note rested on top.

I pressed a hand to my mouth as tears ran down my face.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered.

“Read the note,” Walter said. “Thomas wanted you to learn the truth in his own words.”

Thomas explained that my Aunt Margaret had been a customer at his family’s hardware store for forty years.

Over time, she had also become his friend.

Years earlier, Thomas had accidentally discovered that Raymond was quietly taking money from Margaret’s accounts.

He had tried to warn her.

But Margaret trusted her nephew and refused to believe the accusation.

When she eventually died with almost nothing, Raymond had walked away with far more money than anyone expected.

Thomas never forgot what had happened.

Years later, he learned that I had returned to town.

He also discovered that Raymond had started calling me regularly and asking questions about my finances.