Chapter 20
Jaxon woke the next morning, with a sense of disappointment and yet also with a sense of relief because he was under Keisha’s roof, if not in her bed.
If he were honest, it was his bed, but he wouldn’t go that far.
He’d made progress, and he would maintain that sense of joy and confidence that they had gotten this far.
He just needed to help her sort out where she wanted to go, and he hoped she ultimately made a decision that would include him.
He could see that they were getting closer, and she was open to the concept, but Kelly was still in the middle of it all.
He got up and went downstairs, made coffee, and, by the time it was dripping, he heard her rummaging around in her bedroom upstairs.
When she came downstairs, she yawned and muttered, “I have to go to work today.”
He nodded and smiled at her. “That may be a good thing because at least you’ll get a chance to think about something else.”
“And yet I feel as if I should go to the hospital.”
“If she’s awake, absolutely,” he agreed, “but you don’t have to rush there first thing this morning.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve already called,” he shared. “She’s sleeping peacefully at the moment.”
She winced at that. “I guess I can’t be upset about that.”
“No, you sure can’t,” he said, with a smile, “and I get that you definitely have some talking to do with her, but maybe you could do it a little later. What does your lunch hour look like?”
She sighed. “Well, … I might be able to shift some things around for that, and I don’t really know how busy the afternoon is, but I’ll do what I can to get to the hospital.” As she walked to the front door, she announced, “I still feel guilty.”
“Don’t,” he replied immediately. “I can go to the hospital, if you want. Obviously we need to take care of the dogs before I go, they have to be upset over the recent changes not to mention the tension between the two of you. Something to consider going forward.”
She winced, opening her arms to cuddle Harley who then turned around and sat on her feet.
They were quickly joined by Homer. She should just take them to work.
Both of them had the personality to deal with people coming and going and honestly their presence might calm the other canine patients coming in.
But dealing with her sister was first. She looked up at Jaxon.
“That will likely set her off, and that’s not what we need right now.”
“No, it isn’t, but you could also swing by the hospital on your way to the clinic.”
“I was thinking about that,” she admitted, “but I’m out of time.
” She winced as she looked at her watch.
“And I know that nobody would object because it’s my sister, of course, but I also have appointments to keep and animals that need help too.
So let me go to work while she’s sleeping.
Then I’ll see what I can do about my schedule and go from there.
” She returned to him, kissed him on the cheek, and asked, “What about you?”
“I’m heading back to Timber’s. I’ll check in and see what the guys are working on. Hopefully I can help some with the animals out there too.”
She nodded. “Tell him I’ll come out this weekend sometime.”
“Nope. I’m not telling him that,” he declared, with a raised eyebrow. “He knows perfectly well what’s going on and that you’ll get there when you can get there. I’m sure Tiffany can cover anything urgent.”
“Now, if all my patients were so easily directed,” she quipped, “I wouldn’t have any problems.”
“So, let’s hope you have a good day.”
As soon as he watched her walk out, both dogs with her for their first day at the office trial, he went back to Kelly’s room and took another look around.
He wasn’t sure exactly what was in the back of his mind, but he definitely had that feeling that, if she had been hiding as much as they’d discovered so far, what else could she have been hiding?
When he found copies of credit card receipts, they weren’t Kelly’s at all. The cards were in Keisha’s name, and he realized that Kelly had been using Keisha’s money and not her own for all these take-out meals.
He frowned and shook his head, knowing Keisha would need to take a look at her accounts and assess the damage. Hopefully it was only the takeout, but he wouldn’t put anything past Kelly at this point.
Kelly had her own money apparently. Keisha had indicated she was getting some money, but he didn’t know if it was an insurance settlement or some disability payments, but he didn’t know just how far that would go when it came down to a new life and future job training for Kelly.
Taking photocopies of some of the credit card receipts, he headed down to the animal clinic.
When he walked in, the dogs greeted him like they hadn’t seen him in days.
Keisha walked out of her office and toward the reception, saw him and frowned.
“She’s fine,” he said. “I just needed to talk to you for a moment.”
She led the way to her office but said, “Sorry, but I’m really busy, so I don’t have long.”
“That’s fine, but take a seat. You need to look at these.” He held out the statements. “You’ll need to check your accounts because it looks as if Kelly’s been using your credit cards.”
“What?” She stared at him in shock, snatched the copies from his hands, and then sagged down into her chair. “Good God. Why would she do this? She has her own money.”
“I’m not sure, but I suspect that the same people she’s been online with have probably encouraged it, you know, so they can help her stick it to you because you’re the one who’s alive and healthy. My real concern is that she might have been paying somebody or giving away money to people like this.”
She stared at the statements. “Jaxon, I don’t recognize this. It’s not my credit card.”
“But your name is on it.”
She let out her breath with a hard sigh. “I don’t even know what to do with this.”
“You need to contact Richard.”
She handed them back to him. “Would you take those to him, please? I can’t have this happening. My whole clinic could be affected by this.”
“I know, which is why I’m here.”
“Please, just …” She rubbed at her face, clearly overwhelmed.
He nodded. “I’ll go talk to the detective and take these to him. You work on your day and get these animals taken care of.”
She closed her eyes for a brief moment, then slowly opened them. “The animals have always been my salvation,” she noted, “and today won’t be any different.” And, with that said, she stood up, squared her shoulders, then walked out and headed to see the next patient.
As he walked past the front counter, the receptionist asked him, “Is she all right?”
He shook his head. “Not really. It’ll be a rough couple days.”
Tania winced. “She needs a break. It’s been a rough couple days for a very long time now.”
“I don’t know if you know what happened with her sister yesterday—”
“I heard.”
“I guess everyone heard, but now there’s a little more to it, which I’m not free to share with you,” he admitted, “but it’ll just add to Keisha’s and Kelly’s problems.”
She winced, then nodded. “That’s the last thing Keisha needs.”
“Keep an eye on her.”
With that, he headed out, went straight to the police station, and, as soon as he had a chance to talk to Richard, he handed over both the original receipts and the copies of the credit card receipts.
“I went back to the sister’s bedroom this morning and took another look.
These credit card receipts are in Keisha’s name, but these aren’t credit cards that she knows about. ”
Richard stared at them and shook his head. “That’s a whole different story.”
“I know, but what I don’t know is whether any of these online friends of hers are getting her to do this or if there are other charges we don’t yet know about. Depending on how extensive this credit card theft is, this could really hurt Keisha, even her clinic.”
“Does Keisha know?”
“Yeah, I showed these to her at her clinic before coming here. She’s the one who asked me to bring you these documents.”
Richard flipped through the originals, matching them to the copies. “Somebody needs to call the credit card companies and shut these down.”
“And I can’t do that because, of course, they’re not in my name,” Jaxon replied.
Richard nodded. “I can do it because they’re part of a fraud investigation. At least they are now,” he declared, his tone turning serious. “Jesus, does Kelly not understand how this could impact Keisha’s future?”
“I don’t think she’s given any thought to anyone but herself.”
“I agree with that,” he stated, “but it’s always hard on the family when they find out just how far down the situation has gone.”
“And who knows? That could be why she did what she did last night.”
“Yeah.” Richard scratched his chin. “Okay, leave it with me, and I’ll touch base with her this afternoon.”
“Good enough,” Jaxon replied. “Is there some way for you to access Keisha’s financial records, to see if other debt is being run up in Keisha’s name?”
“Maybe, I’ll find out.”
And, with that, Jaxon had to be satisfied. He turned and walked out, knowing that, for Keisha, it was a whole new day, and none of it would be good.