Chương 6
Tears simply spilled down her face while she stared at the carpet.
“There’s a guy.”
Mom’s shoulders dropped.
“What guy?”
“His name is Mason.”
The apartment complex.
I looked at her.
“The person you’ve been seeing?”
Ava nodded.
Mom sat again.
Grandpa remained standing.
“What does Mason have to do with the papers in the SUV?”
Ava wiped her cheek with the heel of her hand.
“He was helping me.”
“With the loan?”
“With everything.”
Grandpa’s eyes narrowed.
“How?”
“He knows finance.”
Mom gave a sharp laugh.
“Apparently not.”
Ava glared at her.
“He was trying to help me consolidate stuff.”
“What stuff?”
“My debt.”
“You said you had twenty thousand.”
“It’s more.”
The air seemed to leave the room again.
Grandpa’s face became unreadable.
“How much more?”
Ava stared at the floor.
“Thirty-two.”
Mom whispered, “Jesus.”
Ava spoke faster now, as though momentum might carry her through the confession.
“Some of it is business debt and some of it is personal, but it all kind of got mixed together, and Mason said there were ways to structure it so it wouldn’t destroy my credit.”
“What is your credit score?” Grandpa asked.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You applied for multiple loans and you don’t know your credit score?”
“It dropped.”
“How far?”
Ava said nothing.
Mom rubbed both hands over her face.
I sat very still.
A strange thought came to me.
For two weeks, I had been furious because my sister had taken my car.
Now the stolen SUV felt like the smallest visible edge of something much larger.
The car had not created the problem.
It had driven through it.
Grandpa picked up the key fob.
“We’re going outside.”
Ava immediately stood.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Please.”
“What is in the bag?”
“Loan paperwork.”
“What else?”
She looked toward the door.
Grandpa’s voice sharpened.
“Ava.”
“Copies of Mom’s documents.”
Mom looked at her.
“What documents?”
Ava began crying harder.
“Tax returns.”
“Originals?”
“Copies.”
“Driver’s license?”
Ava nodded.
Mom stood again.
“Why are copies of my driver’s license in Amelia’s SUV?”
“Mason needed them.”
“For what?”
“To look at options.”
“What options?”
Ava shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Grandpa turned toward Mom.
“Do not sign anything.”
“I haven’t.”
“Do not agree to anything.”
“I said I haven’t.”
He looked at me.
“Stay here.”
I stood.
“No.”
Grandpa frowned.
“This may be unpleasant.”
“It’s already unpleasant.”
He held my gaze for a second, then nodded.
We moved through the hallway toward the side door.
The house sounded painfully normal around us.
The refrigerator hummed.
A dishwasher cycled in the kitchen.
Somebody’s abandoned dinner plate still sat on the table with gravy cooling along the edge.
Ava trailed behind us.
Mom walked beside her but did not touch her.
Outside, the evening air had cooled.
The porch light illuminated the brick path.
The SUV sat beside Grandpa’s garage.
Its passenger door was open.
A man stood beside it holding a black document case.
He looked about thirty.
Tall.
Clean haircut.
Dark polo.
The sort of person who might have passed unnoticed in a bank lobby.
He looked up when we approached.
His eyes moved immediately to Ava.
“You said you were coming out.”
Grandpa stopped ten feet away.
“Who are you?”
The man’s expression shifted.
Not panic.
Calculation.
“Mason Reed.”
Ava whispered, “Mason, just leave.”
He ignored her.
Grandpa glanced at the open door.
“Why are you inside my granddaughter’s vehicle?”
Mason looked at Ava again.
“She told me to get something.”
Ava’s head snapped up.
“I did not.”
That was the first thing she had said all night with absolute certainty.
Mason’s jaw tightened.
“You texted me.”
“No, I didn’t.”
He reached into his pocket.
Grandpa raised one hand.
“Slowly.”
Mason paused.
Then he removed his phone.
He tapped the screen and held it toward Ava.
She stared at it.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Mom stepped closer.
“What is it?”
Ava took the phone.
“There’s a message from me.”
Grandpa said nothing.
Ava scrolled.
“I didn’t send this.”
Mason reached for the phone.
She pulled it back.
“It says I told you Grandpa found out and you should get the folder before he saw it.”
“That’s what you sent me.”
“I didn’t.”
I looked at Ava’s purse.
“Where’s your phone?”
She pulled it out.
The screen lit immediately.
She tapped through her messages.
Her breathing quickened.
“There’s nothing here.”
Mason gave a short, irritated laugh.
“You can delete sent messages.”
“I did not send it.”
Grandpa’s voice cut between them.
“What folder?”
Mason looked at him.
“Business documents.”
“What business?”
“Ava’s.”
“What exactly were you doing for her?”
“Consulting.”
“Are you a financial adviser?”
Mason’s expression tightened.
“No.”
“Accountant?”
“No.”
“Attorney?”
“No.”
“Loan officer?”
Mason looked at Ava.
“No.”
Grandpa stepped closer.
“Then what qualifies you to advise my granddaughter about debt consolidation using someone else’s identity?”
Mason’s face changed.
“I didn’t know anything was in someone else’s identity.”
Ava made a broken sound.
“You filled out the application.”
“No, I helped you fill it out.”
“You told me which numbers to use.”
“I told you where the fields were.”
“You said Mom’s income would help.”
Mason glanced toward Mom.
“I never said that.”
Ava stepped toward him.
“Yes, you did.”
He lowered his voice.
“Ava, be careful.”
Something in the way he said it chilled me.
Not loud.
Not threatening enough to quote later.
Just controlled.
A warning disguised as concern.
Grandpa heard it too.
“Do not tell her to be careful.”
Mason looked at him.
“I’m trying to keep this from becoming a bigger misunderstanding.”
“It stopped being a misunderstanding several felonies ago.”
Mom inhaled sharply.
Grandpa glanced at her.
“I said possible crimes, not convictions.”
Mason moved toward the SUV.
“I’m leaving.”
Grandpa pointed at the black case.
“Without that.”
Mason stopped.
“It’s mine.”
Ava stared at him.
“No, it isn’t.”
He looked at her.
“You gave it to me.”
“The case maybe.”
She stepped closer.
“Not what’s inside.”
May you like
Mason tightened his grip.
Grandpa held out his hand.
