Chapter 4 - THE SECOND THING THEY STOLE
Mara had more.
Claire’s Social Security number had been used three years after the abandonment.
Then again.
Then again.
Credit cards.
A utility account.
A car lease application.
A tax refund routed through an Arizona address.
Claire’s face went numb.
“They used my identity.”
“It appears so.”
“How much?”
“Roughly forty-eight thousand dollars in attempted or successful credit activity over six years.”
Claire stood.
Walked to the fireplace.
Stared at nothing.
At nineteen, she had been denied her first apartment because of bad credit she did not understand.
At twenty, a bank rejected her car loan.
At twenty-one, she spent six months disputing accounts she assumed were clerical mistakes.
She never connected them to her parents.
Mara said quietly:
“Some of the accounts trace to addresses associated with your mother.”
Claire turned.
“My mother too?”
“Likely.”
That hurt differently.
Richard had always been the frightening one.
Linda had been the soft parent.
The one who tucked Claire into bed.
The one who cried at the station.
The one Claire had defended in her own mind.
Maybe Mom had no choice.
Maybe Dad forced her.
Maybe she tried to find me.
The credit applications suggested something uglier.
Linda knew where Claire was.
At least enough to have her date of birth, Social Security information, and old records.
May you like
She did not contact her daughter.
She used her.
