Chương 8
“Read it to me.”
“I don’t have the paperwork.”
“Of course you don’t.”
“He took it.”
“Vanessa.”
“I remember the street.”
I waited.
“Dawson Road.”
Dana’s face changed.
She opened her laptop immediately.
“What number?”
“I don’t know.”
I closed my eyes.
“You signed paperwork for a property and don’t know the address.”
“I was sick.”
“You were pregnant, not unconscious.”
“That’s cruel.”
“Good.”
The word came too quickly.
For one second I hated myself for it.
Then Holly’s monitor alarmed inside the room.
Every thought vanished.
I dropped the phone against my chest and ran.
The respiratory therapist was already adjusting a line.
Dr. Patel stood at Holly’s shoulder.
“What happened?”
“Her oxygen saturation dipped.”
The therapist looked at the monitor.
“It’s coming back.”
I grabbed Holly’s hand.
Her eyes were closed.
“Is she okay?”
Dr. Patel did not answer immediately.
The number on the screen climbed one point.
Then another.
“It may have been positional.”
“May have been?”
“We’re watching.”
The therapist raised the bed slightly.
Holly coughed around the tube, a horrible trapped sound.
I bent close to her.
“I’m here.”
Her eyelids fluttered.
“I’m right here.”
She squeezed my fingers once.
The phone was still against my chest.
Vanessa’s voice came faintly from the speaker.
“Marissa?”
I wanted to throw it across the room.
Instead I ended the call.
For five minutes, there was nothing except Holly.
Nothing else mattered.
Not Derek.
Not Vanessa.
Not forged letters or mortgage applications or houses that apparently existed in different places depending on who was telling the story.
The number on the monitor stabilized.
The respiratory therapist adjusted the tubing once more and stepped back.
Dr. Patel looked at me.
“She’s okay for now.”
“For now.”
“I know.”
He glanced at my phone.
“You’re dealing with something.”
“Bad timing.”
“There is no good timing here.”
That was almost a joke.
I appreciated him for not smiling when he said it.
He checked Holly’s chart again.
“We’re still moving forward with the Boston evaluation.”
“Even after that?”
“Yes.”
“If she dips again?”
“We reassess.”
I nodded.
He lowered his voice.
“You should eat.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
“I don’t have time.”
“You have four minutes for a granola bar.”
“I hate granola bars.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Then he left.
I almost smiled.
Calvin waited outside until I waved him in.
Dana remained in the alcove, typing.
I looked at Calvin.
“She said Dawson Road.”
His expression tightened.
“Did she give a number?”
“No.”
He glanced toward Dana.
“Find every recent residential sale or pending transfer on Dawson Road connected to Derek, Vanessa, Evan, or any entity tied to them.”
Dana nodded.
“That could take a little while.”
Calvin looked at me.
“Call Vanessa back.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Neither do I.”
“That’s comforting.”
“Marissa.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“She lied to me for months.”
“Yes.”
“She sat at my kitchen table while my husband texted her from the bathroom.”
“Probably.”
“I told her I thought he was depressed.”
Calvin’s face softened.
I hated that too.
“She told me to be patient with him.”
He did not answer.
I looked down at Holly.
Her breathing machine made a soft mechanical sigh.
“She let me apologize to him.”
“For what?”
“For not being enough fun anymore.”
The words tasted disgusting.
Calvin sat in the chair Derek had abandoned.
“Your mother once apologized to a contractor for accusing him of stealing copper pipe.”
I looked at him.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“He had stolen the copper pipe.”
I stared.
“She apologized before she knew?”
“She apologized while the police were carrying the pipe out of his truck.”
Despite everything, a laugh escaped me.
It was ugly and short, but it was a laugh.
Calvin shrugged.
“She hated scenes.”
“So do I.”
“No, you hate being embarrassed.”
“That’s different?”
“Very.”
I looked at him.
“You’re annoying.”
“I have been told.”
Holly’s eyes opened at the sound of my voice.
I leaned toward her.
“Sorry.”
She blinked slowly.
Calvin lifted Captain Bun and made the rabbit nod.
“Your mother is being rude to an elderly man.”
Holly squeezed my fingers twice.
“No?”
Calvin looked offended.
“I see where the loyalty lies.”
Her eyes closed again.
The moment lasted maybe ten seconds.
It felt like a room I wanted to live inside.
Then Dana came through the doorway carrying the laptop.
“I found something.”
Calvin stood.
“What?”
“There are six properties on Dawson Road currently under contract or transferred in the last sixty days.”
“Any matches?”
“Not directly.”
My stomach sank.
She turned the screen toward us.
“One is being purchased by an LLC registered three weeks ago.”
“What LLC?”
“Briar Gate Holdings.”
I stared at the name.
It meant nothing.
Dana continued.
“The registered agent is a commercial service.”
“That sounds deliberate,” I said.
“It’s common.”
“Of course it is.”
“But the mailing address for notices is interesting.”
She pointed.
It was a post office box in our town.
Calvin leaned closer.
“Can you connect it?”
“I already did.”
Dana opened another record.
“The box was rented using identification belonging to Evan Langford.”
My skin prickled.
“So Evan owns the house?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Then what does it mean?”
“It means he created or helped create the entity.”
Calvin asked, “Purchase price?”
“Six hundred and eighty thousand.”
I stared at her.
“That’s not possible.”
“Why?”
“Derek doesn’t have that kind of money.”
Dana nodded.
“Which is why I checked the financing.”
She opened a preliminary title report.
“There is no conventional mortgage listed in the file we obtained.”
“Then how are they buying it?”
“Seller financing, according to the closing memo.”
Calvin’s eyes narrowed.
“That makes less sense.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because a seller agreeing to carry that much debt usually wants significant security.”
Dana scrolled.
“There is security.”
She stopped.
A collateral schedule appeared.
I recognized one name immediately.
Cole Family Trust.
My pulse hammered.
“He pledged the trust?”
Calvin shook his head.
“He cannot.”
May you like
“Then why is it there?”
Dana pointed to another line.
