He looked at me with irritation in his gaze. "My mom said the first letter she received wasn't signed. Nor was there a return address. It just said the group had heard she was struggling. Their nonprofit was made up of single moms who knew what it meant to be alone, trying to support a child. They would help by sending cash that wouldn't be taxed. They wanted her to think of it as a gift in her time of need but not to tell anyone about it, as they couldn't support everyone as much as they wished they could."

"That sounds too good to be true. She didn't question how they heard about her?"

"She'd been applying to loans and grants for months. She assumed that's where they got her name. The money came once a quarter, and it was always five one-hundred-dollar bills."

"That's two thousand dollars a year," I murmured. "How long has it been coming?"

"She said it started when I was about eleven, and it didn't end until three years ago when she found the will to send the money back with a note expressing gratitude but letting them know that her child was grown, and she didn't need it anymore."

"The money started going to your mom twenty years ago. That's right around the time my mom disappeared. That can't be a coincidence."

"It seems unlikely," he admitted, a scowl on his face.

"And if they stopped sending your mother money three years ago, why is this envelope filled with cash still here?"

"I don't know."

"You said there was no return address on the envelope, but there is a tag on the envelopes upstairs."

"My mom said she didn't start seeing a return address until the last few years before she asked them to stop."

"How did she do that exactly?"

"She sent the money back with a note—to this address, I presume."

I thought about that. "We need to find out more about this group, but that might not be easy. It doesn't sound like they operate publicly."

"No, but the money has to come from somewhere," Kade said. "Your mother is a teacher. I don't think she's rich enough to be sending cash to people all over the country."

"And why would she be so committed to helping out single moms? She wasn't a single mom. She had a husband and kids she left behind. If anything, she should have been sending my father money."

"Maybe she did."

I frowned at that suggestion. "I don't think so. I never saw any of these envelopes before. And they were only addressed to your mom. Where were the other recipients?"

"I don't know."