Uncle Paul stopped returning calls. A cousin who had texted every week since the funeral went quiet. Sarah told herself people were busy, that grief scattered families, that it wasn’t personal. She was building explanations because the alternative—that Diane was methodically turning the family against her—felt too large and too terrible to hold.
Her husband, Tom, noticed before Sarah admitted it to herself. He watched her check her phone and set it down with a particular stillness and finally asked what was happening. She told him—the spreadsheet, the cash accusation, the people going quiet. He listened without interrupting. He said, “You need someone outside this family to look at it.”