She asked whose name had been on the account.
That was when my sister-in-law discovered that for three years, the person paying her son’s private-school tuition had never been her brother.
She was standing on my porch by seven that night.
“What did you do?”
“I canceled a payment.”
“You can’t just stop.”
“I can.”
“Buffford pays that.”
I looked at her.
She said it again, slower.
“Buffford pays that.”
I could see her hearing herself.
“Ask him.”
She stared at me.
Then I closed the door.
What I didn’t know was that Marcel’s tuition would only be the first payment that forced Buffford’s family to start asking questions they had avoided for years.
Part 2…..
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Rolene did not ask Buffford about the school right away.
Instead, she went to Willadine’s condo.
She was looking for a checkbook.
What she found was the mortgage statement.
Willadine kept her mail in a wire basket arranged by month.
Rolene noticed that the account number paying the condo did not match her brother’s.
She photographed it.
A few days later, Willadine called me.
“I think there’s been a bank mix-up.”
I was at the dock.
“What kind?”
“The mortgage. The account doesn’t seem to be Buffford’s.”
“You should ask Buffford.”
There was a pause.
“Everything all right between you two?”
“He asked me for a divorce at Rolene’s dinner.”
“Oh, honey.”