I left my wife outside in the freezing cold because my sister yelled, “That woman is using you”; when I opened the balcony door I found a fingerprint, a cigarette butt and an unfinished letter, but what destroyed me the most was knowing who those $8,000 were really for.

PART 1

“If you want to hide money so badly, go out on the balcony and freeze thinking about the shame you bring to this house.”

That was the last thing Liam said to Nora before locking the glass door.

They lived in a small apartment in Grand Rapids, in a quiet neighborhood where neighbors greeted each other out of habit and also heard everything through their windows. That November night was strangely cold, the kind that seeps in through cracks and makes the furniture creak. It had all started during dinner.

Gwen, Liam’s older sister, had arrived from Petoskey with a bag of fresh trout, farm cheese, and that heavy authority of someone who believes that because they are family they can have an opinion on everything. Nora spent the afternoon cooking. She prepared trout with garlic, lemon, yellow pepper, and white rice. She set a beautiful table, brought out the nice glasses, and even bought sweet bread because she knew Gwen liked it.