Chapter 6 - What Malcolm Bought
Malcolm sat on the porch steps long after Loretta and Devon went inside.
Tasha stood near Kendra’s car.
He looked smaller than he had an hour earlier.
“I thought she was going to give me twenty percent.”
Tasha said nothing.
“I thought this was for us.”
“You keep saying us.”
“It was.”
“No.”
He looked up.
“You wanted it to be for us because that made what you did sound noble.”
His eyes reddened.
“That’s not fair.”
Tasha almost smiled.
“Fair?”
Malcolm looked away.
Kendra stayed by the car, giving them space without leaving.
Tasha stepped closer.
“You knew I would say no to the loan.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I would say no to draining savings.”
He hesitated.
“Yes.”
“You knew I would say no to missing rent.”
“Yes.”
“Then you didn’t make decisions for us.”
Her voice trembled.
“You made decisions against me.”
Malcolm covered his face.
“I got desperate.”
“That does not explain all of it.”
“What else do you want?”
“The storage unit.”
His hands dropped.
“It’s mostly paperwork.”
“Then show me.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“It’s late.”
“So was I when I came home carrying groceries.”
He flinched.
Thirty minutes later, they stood beneath fluorescent lights in a storage facility.
Unit 214.
Malcolm entered a code.
The metal door rattled upward.
Tasha expected property documents.
There were documents.
There were also eleven boxes of sneakers.
A gaming monitor.
A second console.
Two designer jackets.
A sealed television.
Kendra stared.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”
Malcolm raised both hands.
“I was reselling.”
Tasha walked to a shelf.
“Then where is the money?”
“Some things haven’t sold.”
“How much did you spend?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Try.”
“Maybe four thousand.”
Kendra laughed in disbelief.
“You borrowed three from me while sitting on four thousand dollars of shoes?”
“They were inventory.”
“No,” Tasha said.
She lifted a pair from a box.
“They were hope.”
Malcolm looked at her.
“You thought if one thing worked, you wouldn’t have to admit everything else wasn’t.”
He said nothing.
Tasha opened a plastic file box.
Inside were loan documents, tax bills, RPH bank statements, and printed emails.
She began photographing pages.
Malcolm watched.
“What are you doing?”
“Protecting myself.”
“You don’t have to treat me like an enemy.”
Tasha looked up.
“You used my Social Security number to borrow eighteen thousand dollars.”
He lowered his voice.
“I know.”
“You changed the apartment email so I wouldn’t see rent notices.”
His eyes dropped.
“I know.”
“You took money from our emergency fund.”
“Yes.”
“You lied about your family giving you equity.”
“I thought—”
“You told me it already existed.”
Malcolm went silent.
Tasha returned to the papers.
Then she found the email.
FROM: MALCOLM REED
TO: LENDING SPECIALIST
SUBJECT: INCOME VERIFICATION — TASHA REED
Attached: three pay stubs.
The message read:
My wife asked me to forward these because she is at work and cannot access her personal email. Please proceed with the application.
Tasha read it twice.
“Malcolm.”
He came closer.
She turned the page toward him.
His face drained.
“You pretended to be me.”
“I didn’t pretend to be you.”
“You spoke for me.”
“That’s different.”
“You told them I authorized this.”
He looked away.
“You sent my pay stubs.”
“I had copies.”
“Stop saying that like access equals permission!”
Her shout echoed through the storage corridor.
Another customer glanced down the hallway.
Tasha lowered her voice.
“You knew exactly what you were doing.”
Malcolm’s face hardened defensively.
“I was under pressure.”
“So was I.”
“I was trying to fix things before you found out.”
“That is the definition of hiding them.”
He kicked the bottom of a cardboard box.
Kendra stepped between them.
“Don’t.”
“I’m not going to touch her.”
“I know. I’m telling you not to start breaking things because you don’t like hearing yourself described accurately.”
Malcolm glared at her.
“You’ve wanted her to leave me for years.”
Kendra’s eyes sharpened.
“No. I wanted you to stop giving her reasons to.”
Tasha opened another folder.
A printed employment separation notice fell onto the floor.
She bent down.
Malcolm reached for it.
Tasha got there first.
The document was dated August 21.
Six weeks earlier.
She read the reason.
Termination following final written warning.
Her heartbeat slowed.
This was different from downsizing.
Different from what he had told her.
She read further.
Repeated attendance violations.
Failure to disclose outside business activity.
Unauthorized use of company resources.
She looked at Malcolm.
“You weren’t laid off.”
He said nothing.
Tasha held up the paper.
“You were fired.”
Malcolm leaned against the metal wall.
Kendra’s face softened for the first time.
Not because the lie was smaller.
Because the shame underneath it was finally visible.
Tasha read the termination date again.
“You told me three weeks ago.”
Malcolm looked at the floor.
“I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“You let me keep spending like we still had your paycheck for three weeks.”
“I thought I could replace the job before you noticed.”
“You thought you could replace reality before I noticed.”
He closed his eyes.
Tasha photographed the separation letter.
Then another page caught her attention.
Final paycheck.
Unused vacation payout.
Amount deposited: $8,742.16.
Tasha looked up.
“Where is this money?”
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Malcolm’s silence returned.
And now she knew there was still more.
