Barbara Tart's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The phone rang before Barbara finished her morning tea. She set the cup down in her old kitchen and answered in her sweet grandmother voice. The bank clerk was not sweet back. The line against the estate was not final, the clerk said. Before releasing the full amount, the issuer needed to confirm the cardholder in person. They wanted Aj Blackbird to verify her own identity. Barbara's fingers tightened on the phone. She had signed the papers herself, in Aj's name. If the bank spoke to the real Aj, the whole plan would crack open. The clerk asked to schedule a call with the account holder that afternoon. Barbara said her daughter was shy and unwell, but the clerk would not bend. Rules were rules. She hung up and stood very still. Her body hummed, the way it always did. So she would give them a cardholder. She dialed her daughter. Aj answered flat and careful. She had learned to guard her voice around her mother. "What do you want?" "Just to hear you," Barbara said. "A bank may call you today. They mixed up an old account of mine with your name. Silly clerks. Tell them yes, you are Aj Blackbird, and they'll fix it. Then it's done, and I'll never trouble you again." There was a long pause. Barbara heard a man's low voice near Aj. Will Ray, no doubt, always at her shoulder now. "Why is my name on your account?" Aj asked. "A clerical thing, sweetheart. Old paperwork. You know how the family estate tangles up." "We don't have an estate," Aj said. "You always said we had nothing but strings." Barbara forced a laugh. "Just answer their questions. That's all I ask." The line went quiet again. Then Aj spoke, slow and sure. "No. I'm not confirming anything for you. If the bank calls, I'll tell them the truth. I didn't open any account." Barbara's smile fell away. "You'll regret being difficult." "I already regret trusting you once," Aj said, and the call ended. Barbara set the phone down. Her plan had a hole in it now. The bank wanted the real Aj, and the real Aj would deny everything. If Aj told the truth, the forged line could collapse, and the questions would point back to Barbara. But the credit was already open. Money had already moved. The card sat in her purse, worn and quiet. Barbara opened the purse and looked at it. The full line was frozen behind one confirmation call. Yet the debt in Aj's name was real and growing. She would beat the bank to it. Before their clerk reached her daughter, Barbara would confirm the identity herself. She still had Aj's papers, Aj's numbers, Aj's whole past in a folder upstairs. She climbed the stairs of the old house to fetch them. If the bank wanted Aj Blackbird on the line, Barbara would simply become her.