Chapter 8 - REBECCA DID LEAVE
Rebecca left permanently at twenty-three.
That part was true.
She had developed alcohol problems.
Also true.
She stole money from Harold’s office.
True.
But the amount?
$2,400.
Not the “tens of thousands” Diane later described.
Rebecca wrote she took it because Harold had withheld money Elaine kept secretly for leaving.
Could Claire prove that?
Not fully.
An old bank statement showed repeated cash withdrawals from Elaine’s account before Harold transferred most funds into a joint account.
No direct proof of motive.
Rebecca’s stolen-money story also changed under evidence.
Harold’s business ledger showed:
$2,400 cash shortage.
Police were never called.
Why?
Harold told relatives Rebecca stole much more.
If tens of thousands disappeared, why no police?
Diane said:
“Dad didn’t want scandal.”
Possible.
Then one of Rebecca’s letters said:
I took the envelope Mom told me about. I thought it was hers.
Was that true?
Elaine could not answer.
She had died fifteen years earlier.
No note confirmed it.
Claire resisted the urge to make the theft righteous.
She said:
“Rebecca may still have stolen money.”
Diane looked surprised.
“You believe that?”
“I believe evidence.”
That sentence changed their argument.
Claire was not trying to reverse the family mythology.
Not:
Rebecca good, Diane bad.
She wanted:
what happened, as close as anyone could now establish.
Rebecca moved to Vermont.
Worked at a ski resort.
Then a bookstore.
Then a hospital cafeteria.
Records showed instability.
Not total collapse.
She wrote Diane several times.
Most letters were returned unopened.
Why?
Diane said Harold intercepted them.
Some.
Not all.
After Harold died, Rebecca wrote again.
Diane still did not answer.
That part belonged to Diane.
Claire asked:
“Why?”
Diane looked ashamed.
“Because by then I had told everyone she was dangerous.”
“You could have changed the story.”
May you like
“I would have had to admit I helped build it.”
That was the second major admission.
