“That sounds right,” I replied slowly.
Another pause. Then her voice changed slightly.
“Mrs. Carter, I need to clarify something.”
Something about her tone made my stomach tighten.
“Yes?”
“We have no outstanding loans or debts associated with Thomas Carter.”
For a moment, I thought I had misheard her.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“There are no loans tied to his accounts,” she repeated gently. “No credit balances, no unpaid obligations.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“That can’t be right.”
She hesitated.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I had been paying them for ten years.”
The words felt heavy in my throat.
“I… I’ve been making payments.”
She stopped typing.
“Payments?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Five hundred dollars every month.”
The woman sounded confused now.
“To the bank?”
My stomach twisted.
“No,” I said slowly.
“Then to whom?”
The answer arrived before I even finished the sentence.
“Diane Carter.”
Silence filled the line. Several seconds passed. Then Laura spoke again, very carefully.
“Mrs. Carter, I want to be very clear about this.”
“Yes.”
“Midwest Community Bank has never requested or received any payments related to Thomas Carter after his estate was settled.”
The kitchen suddenly felt smaller, quieter. I stared at Thomas’s photograph hanging above the dining table.
“But Diane told me—”
“I can only speak about the bank’s records,” Laura interrupted gently. “And according to everything we have here, your husband left no outstanding debt.”
The words echoed in my mind.
No debt.
No debt.
No debt.
I slowly lowered myself into a kitchen chair.
“That’s impossible,” I whispered.
“I understand this may be surprising,” she said. “But if someone has been collecting money under the claim that it was for a bank loan, you may want to look into it.”
My hands began to tremble. Ten years. Ten years of payments. Ten years of sacrifice, all for a debt that had never existed.
“Mrs. Carter?”
“Yes.”
“You may want to gather any records you have. Receipts, transfers, messages. And consider speaking with a legal professional.”
