Chương 3
Scott’s messages sat on the screen like a door I did not want to open.
I pressed call.
He answered before the second ring.
“Amber?”
His voice was low and fast.
“Where are you?”
“In a car.”
“With someone you trust?”
I looked at Riley.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“What is going on?”
A pause stretched long enough for me to hear another voice somewhere near him.
Then a door shut.
“Your father is in trouble.”
The sentence irritated me before it frightened me.
“My father is always in trouble when someone disagrees with him.”
“This isn’t that.”
“What is it?”
Scott exhaled slowly.
“His company is under review by one of the lenders.”
“For what?”
“Numbers that don’t match.”
I waited.
“Which numbers?”
“Debt.”
Another pause.
“Cash.”
“That sounds vague.”
“It is vague because I don’t know how much you know.”
“I know I got abandoned with a twelve-thousand-dollar restaurant bill.”
“I know.”
“You left too.”
“I did.”
His voice thinned.
“I’m not proud of that.”
Riley held out her hand for the phone.
I shook my head.
“Why did you leave?”
“Jason told me he’d already arranged payment.”
“He lied.”
“Yes.”
“You believed him?”
“Not entirely.”
That answer landed differently.
“Then why did you go?”
Scott did not respond.
A bus rolled past the Honda and filled the windshield with blue advertising for a bank.
Riley turned down the heater.
“Scott.”
“I had been drinking.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
His voice changed.
Less defensive.
More tired.
“I went because your father had spent two hours telling me that if I embarrassed him in front of Lauren, he’d make sure I regretted it professionally.”
I frowned.
“What does my mother have to do with that?”
“More than you think.”
“Stop saying things like that.”
“All right.”
He cleared his throat.
“Your parents are trying to cover a cash problem.”
The words seemed ordinary enough.
My pulse still quickened.
“How?”
“I don’t know all of it yet.”
“Do they owe money?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“I can’t verify the full amount.”
“More than twelve thousand?”
Scott gave a humorless breath.
“Much more.”
Riley mouthed, Ask about you.
I ignored her.
“What does this have to do with me?”
There was a silence.
Not hesitation.
Calculation.
When Scott finally spoke, his voice was careful.
“Do you have any accounts your father manages?”
A cold sensation moved through my chest.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“He opened things when I was younger.”
“What things?”
“A credit card.”
“Anything else?”
“I don’t know.”
Riley stared at me.
I turned toward the passenger window.
The restaurant entrance reflected behind us in the glass of a neighboring building.
“Amber, listen to me.”
Scott sounded closer now.
“Do not go back to that house tonight.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Why?”
“Because Jason thinks you are still financially connected to him in ways you may not understand.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m trying to find out.”
“No.”
Anger pushed through the fear.
“You don’t get to send me cryptic messages after leaving me at a table and then tell me you’re trying to help.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me what you actually know.”
Scott inhaled.
“Your father asked me yesterday whether an adult child could dispute a business guarantee if the signature was electronic.”
The car seemed to become smaller.
Riley’s expression changed.
“What guarantee?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You were his business partner.”
“Associate.”
“You sat at dinner celebrating a deal.”
“A deal that may not close now.”
“Why?”
“Because the lender started asking questions.”
I pressed my palm against my forehead.
“Did he use my name?”
“Not in front of me.”
“Did you see my name on anything?”
“No.”
“Then why are you calling me?”
“Because tonight he kept making comments about you needing to become responsible for your own life.”
“That is not new.”
“I know.”
Scott hesitated.
“Then he asked Lauren if she’d brought the blue folder.”
My stomach tightened.
My mother kept household documents in color-coded folders inside the office downstairs.
Red for taxes.
Green for insurance.
White for medical records.
Blue for me.
When I was seventeen, I found report cards, passport copies, scholarship letters, and old disciplinary notes inside it.
Dad had laughed when I complained.
“Every company keeps files,” he said.
I had never asked why a family needed one.
“What was in it?”
“I didn’t see.”
“Where is it now?”
“I think Lauren had it in her bag.”
Riley leaned closer.
“Ask if your mother knows.”
“Does Mom know what Dad is doing?”
Scott gave the first answer that sounded certain.
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
That hurt more than it should have.
Of course she knew.
My mother rarely started the punishment.
She just made sure the table was set for it.
“How much does she know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where are they?”
“At home, I think.”
“You think?”
“I left them about an hour ago.”
“Where?”
“A parking garage near Randolph.”
“Why?”
“Jason realized the restaurant had tried the card.”
I sat up.
“What happened?”
“He blamed the bank.”
“Did the bank freeze it?”
“I don’t know.”
“He has more than one card.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would one declined card matter?”
Scott went quiet again.
This time Riley whispered, “Because it wasn’t supposed to decline.”
I looked at her.
She lifted one shoulder.
Scott finally said, “Your father has been moving money between accounts.”
“Whose accounts?”
“I don’t know.”
“You say that a lot.”
“I’m trying not to invent answers.”
That was annoyingly reasonable.
I hated him slightly less for it.
“Did you call the lender?”
“No.”
“Police?”
“No.”
“Lawyer?”
“I called my lawyer this afternoon.”
“Before dinner?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you come?”
He laughed once, without humor.
“Because people are cowards in very boring ways.”
I looked toward Riley.
She raised her eyebrows.
At least he knew.
“My lawyer told me not to confront Jason until I had copies of certain records.”
“Do you have them?”
May you like
“Some.”
“Do any mention me?”
