2. Matt
MATT
Matt folded his arms and studied Oscar as he asked, “How were you told?”
Oscar licked his lips. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he spoke.
“You see, I was caught hacking a while back, and now I’m on probation.
As part of my probation, I’m not allowed to use or possess any devices that connect to the internet.
I also have to do grunt work for a few organizations in Key West as part of it.
But, I didn’t mind because it enabled me to go to the library. ”
“I wouldn’t say any more,” Carrie warned him. “I’m Police Chief Carrie Ware, and that man who has you by the hoodie is Detective Hardy.”
“I know you are,” Oscar assured her, and then frowned. “I thought you were Captain Ware?”
Carrie sighed. “I was a police captain in Boston, and when I moved to Nantucket, I became Police Chief. My badge wasn’t ready, there was some mix-up when I got there, and I carried on wearing Captain Ware, so it stuck,” she explained. “But I’m actually chief, not captain.”
“That makes sense then." Oscar nodded.
“Now, back to you.” Carrie nodded at him. “I take it you are about to tell us that you are breaking your probation by using the library’s computers in Key West?”
“Yes.” Oscar held up his hand defensively. “But, I promise it’s only to watch YouTube and play this silly game. I haven’t even checked my emails.”
“Okay, go on,” Carrie told Oscar, and Matt got the sense she didn’t believe him.
“A few days ago, while I was sneaking into the library to use the computers, this encrypted chat popped up on the screen as I was logging in to my game.” Oscar’s brow furrowed.
“That’s not what shocked me. At first, I thought it was my mother who was on to me, and that I was busted.
I was about to shut the computer down and hit the road, but the person on the other end started telling me that they knew I was violating my probation and they knew a lot of other things about me too. ”
“What did this person want?” Carrie asked him, trying to cut his story down as she’d probably fathomed that Oscar liked to go into graphic detail about things.
“They said that until they said so, I had to do as they told me to.” Oscar drew in a breath. “They said a burner phone would be delivered, and I would get tasks. If I refused, they would expose my mother for covering for me.”
Carrie’s gaze sharpened. “Covering what, exactly?”
Oscar’s jaw clenched. “I stole money. A lot of money. I was just a kid messing around with some people online. I didn’t want or need the money; it was just to see if I could do it.
And my mother put it back. Every cent. She managed to pull some strings and got me out of juvie.
If that gets exposed now…” His voice cracked.
“She will be ruined, and I will go to juvie.”
“If you’re eighteen,” Andy told him, “it will be prison now,” eliciting a gasp from Oscar.
Matt studied Oscar, weighing the trembling sincerity in his words. “So you went out in this weather because someone told you to deliver those letters?” He pointed to where Carrie still gripped them in her hands.
Oscar nodded rapidly. “Yes. If it were your mother, and she had saved you… Would you risk her going to prison? I had no choice.”
Carrie’s eyes narrowed. “Do you tell everyone your entire life story this easily?”
Oscar shrugged. “I figure you probably knew her anyway and are going to tell her about this.”
“Who is your mother?” she pressed.
Before Oscar could answer, a ringing cut through the air. It was the landline. Carrie turned and snatched up the receiver.
“Hello?” Carrie called into the mouthpiece. “Trent? Trent, is that you?”
But there was static, then a click, and nothing. Carrie put the receiver down and turned to Matt, shaking her head. He saw her take a quick breath before turning back to Oscar.
“Why were you at my mailbox earlier today?” Carrie asked him, recognizing his trainers. “Why were you trying to break into it?”
Oscar pursed his lips. “The one organization I work for in Key West is the Monroe County Offices,” Oscar told them, and that icy feeling in Matt’s veins flooded through him.
“I was asked to deliver notices to the Parkers, Carltons, and Marshalls in Lost Love Cove. I did that, and I was riding my bicycle home when the burner phone, the anonymous person had given me, rang. He wanted me to collect all the notices I had just delivered and destroy them. I went back and collected them all, but then I remembered there were two for the Parker house. But I had put the second one in the wrong mailbox.”
“You put it in the Carlton box instead,” Carrie guessed.
“Yes, sorry,” Oscar said. “When I saw you and Spot here hurtling toward me, I panicked and took off.”
Matt’s heart was now pounding like he’d just run a marathon, and a roaring started in his ears. He nearly didn’t hear Carrie’s next question.
“What were the notices about?” Carrie asked him.
“I don’t know,” Oscar answered with a shrug and then turned from the waist to grab his backpack, and was again stopped by Andy. “Chill, dude,” he hissed. “I have the notices in my backpack. I haven’t got around to destroying them.”
“Let him get them,” Carrie told Andy, who nodded but didn’t take his eyes off Oscar.
Oscar pulled three notices from his backpack and handed them to Carrie. She unfolded the first one, and her eyes widened. Matt stepped closer and read over her shoulder:
Final Notice: Regarding parcel 10051, 2 Lost Love Lane. Due to unresolved probate linked to the Winters estate, and failure to respond to prior notices, the title may revert to probate administration. Immediate action is required.
“This is Lori’s property,” Carrie’s head shot towards Matt, and he felt his breath catch as she unfolded the next one:
Final Notice: Regarding parcel 10051, 1 Lost Love Lane. Due to unresolved probate linked to the Winters estate, and failure to respond to prior notices, the title may revert to probate administration. Immediate action is required.
“My property,” Matt mumbled, his brain spinning as the implications hit him.
Carrie opened the final notice, and it was the same, but for the Marshalls’ house—all the properties in Lost Love Cove.
Matt sucked in a breath as his eyes met Carrie's, and he could see she was coming to the same realization—Matt’s problems with his property were a lot more than a mere error or mix-up of paperwork!
The sale had been fraudulent, and that cut a lot deeper for Carrie as it implicated her best friend and her best friend’s late husband.
“Can I use the bathroom?” Oscar asked.
“Hey!” Andy warned. “This is not a hotel.”
“It’s okay,” Carrie told Andy and then looked at Oscar. “Yes. Of course.” She turned to Andy, putting the notices and letters down on Trevor’s desk. “I’ll get you both a change of clothes and put yours in the dryer.” She stopped as the lights flickered. “Or at least until the power runs out.”
“I’ll start a fire in the fireplace in the living room,” Matt offered, needing to do something to keep his hands busy while he tried to make sense of what was going on. “That way, if the power does go out and their clothes aren’t dry, we can leave them in the living room.”
Carrie led Andy and Oscar out of the study, and Matt followed them.
He parted ways in the hall and took off to the living room, stopping as Carrie asked, “Matt, would you mind getting some linen from the closet in the laundry room and putting it in the living room?” She looked at Andy and Oscar.
“You can each have a sofa to sleep on tonight.”
“Thanks,” Andy and Oscar said.
They left, and Matt went to do what Carrie asked.
Once he’d put the linen out, Matt made a fire in the fireplace that was a lot like the one in his house, only this one was a lot newer.
By the time Carrie came back downstairs and joined him, he was sitting on the floor just staring into the flames, his mind reeling.
“Matt,” Carrie’s soft voice made him turn toward her. “That fire looks amazing.”
“Yeah, I like to keep my hands busy when my mind is full,” Matt told her, springing to his feet.
“You can stay in the room Maggie…” As Carrie said, her granddaughter's name, her voice caught. She cleared her throat. “In Maggie’s room tonight. I’ve put clean linen on the bed.”
“Thank you,” Matt said.
“I don’t know how well they will fit as you’re a lot taller and broader in the chest than Trevor was,” Carrie said. “But I put some dry clothes on the bed for you.”
“Thank you,” Matt said, and they stood, staring at each other in silence for a few moments.
“Uh…” Carrie took a step back and pointed toward the study. “Do you think we should open those letters?”
Matt had to quell the urge to yell NO and then run into the study to grab those letters and throw them in the fire. He knew there was nothing good in them, and Matt didn’t know how much more bad news he could take today. But instead, he nodded. “Yeah.”
She turned, and he followed her back into the study, where Carrie handed Matt the envelope meant for him.
He took it, his heart thudding and breath hitching slightly as their fingers brushed.
Matt ignored it, trying not to let his mind wander to where they nearly kissed earlier, and forced himself to concentrate on the envelope.
“I don’t know about you, but this feels rather ominous to me,” Carrie said quietly.
Matt examined the envelope. “I agree.”
“Let’s open them one by one,” Carrie suggested and picked up the gold letter opener on Trevor’s desk.
Matt forced a smile, trying to chase away the tension. “Isn’t it a crime to open someone else’s mail?”
“Not during an investigation,” Carrie replied flatly. Her eyes never left the paper as she ripped through the top of the envelope.
So much for trying to work away some tension. Matt thought, his stomach knotting as he stepped closer, as Carrie unfolded the letter, and together they read: You have 24 hours to find the files Trevor stole. If you fail, you will never see your granddaughter again.
Carrie gasped softly, her hands trembling. She looked at Matt. “The kids being taken are all tied into these property scandals.”
Matt stepped closer, heart hammering, and he nodded, dreading opening the envelope in his hands. “I’m sorry, Carrie. This is all my fault. I should never have dragged you into this.” He ran a hand through his hair, guilt and fear tearing through him.
“No!” Carrie shook her head. “Don’t do that.
This isn’t your fault, Matt.” She looked at him, and he could see she was being sincere.
“The moment I arrived here for the summer I was pulled into whatever this is.” She glanced at the letter in his hands.
“What does yours say?” She handed him the letter opener.
Matt hesitated for a split second before taking it and ripping the top of the envelope. Taking a breath and bracing himself, he unfolded the letter with stiff fingers. Together they read it:
Stay out of the county offices. Do not report the deed or what you know about Ms. Marshall helping you within the next 48 hours. If you do, you will never see your grandson again.
The storm outside howled, rattling the windows like fists against glass.
Matt’s pulse thundered in his ears. He felt like the world had started to throb around him as thoughts tumbled through his brain, jolting his heart, and igniting fear in his gut.
As he stood there staring at the paper in his hand, one thing was now glaringly clear. Where his property was concerned, fraud was no longer a suspicion. It was a fact. And now it had wrapped its claws around the people he loved.