Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
I t took longer than Holt wanted to get his sister on her way. In all the chaos, he’d entirely forgotten she was stopping by. By the time he’d answered her myriad questions—mostly with a lot of “We don’t know”—Mia had finished repairs on the floor.
“Seriously, Had, I’ve got to deal with this.”
“Fine. I’ll get out of your hair, if only because I need to get back to Knoxville to catch my flight.”
He walked her out to her rental car, wishing things weren’t such a mess and that he had more time to spend with her. “Text me when you get home, okay?”
“Yes, Dad.” Hadley rolled her eyes but grabbed him in a hug. “And hey, I really hope I didn’t accidentally muck things up for you with Cayla yesterday. I think she’s perfect for you.”
It meant something to have his sister’s approval, even if he hadn’t asked for it. Maybe, on some level, that had also been part of why he hadn’t told Hadley about his precipitous marriage. Because he knew she needed it, he found the ghost of a smile. “I think we’re sorted. Thanks.”
She slid into the driver’s seat. “Love you, Jerkface.”
“Love you back, Squirt.”
He stood for a moment, watching her drive away. His gaze automatically shifted across the street. Mia’s truck was parked beside Cayla’s car. Good. Hopefully, they’d both stay occupied enough finishing up her office and not worry about the situation over here.
Jonah stood over Brax’s shoulder in the tiny office off the kitchen, as they both looked at the computer.
Holt leaned in the doorway. “Well?”
“I have scoured the internet, including that used restaurant supply site where we found that awesome deal on the original cases, but there ain’t jack to be had right now. Replacements are going to run in the several thousand dollar range.”
“Not good.” Shifting on his feet, Holt rubbed at his bad knee. “I mean, we can make a claim on our insurance, but how’s it going to look to be doing that straight out of the gate? What kind of rate increase might we expect over the long-term if we do that?”
Jonah straightened, folding his arms. “I mean, technically, if we all pool our funds, we can pull off buying new ones outright.”
Brax twisted around to look at them both. “True, but I’ve got some financial responsibilities I didn’t have when I signed on for this. It’s only right that I contribute to the cost of the home renovations with Mia. I already put as much as I was comfortable putting in on the front end so we wouldn’t have to take out lines of credit to pay for construction and startup.”
“And I’ve got a responsibility to keep a cushion in savings for my family.” The words slipped out before Holt could think better of them. When the hell had he started thinking in those terms?
His friends both went brows up.
“So, it’s getting serious.” Jonah didn’t phrase it as a question.
What was the point of pussyfooting around it? “Yeah. Yeah, I think it is.”
“Good for you, brother,” Brax declared.
Holt moved aside so they could come out of the office.
Jonah clapped him on the shoulder as he passed. “Yeah. We’re happy for you, man. And it’s totally fine. We went through this whole process without taking out any business loans. This would be a small one, in the grand scheme of things. We’ll go on down to the bank. It shouldn’t be that big a deal.”
As there was no time like the present, they loaded up in Jonah’s truck and headed downtown. They strode in as a unit. Naturally, Jonah knew half the people there. Holt stood back while he did the glad-handing that seemed to go along with small-town life. A few minutes later, a customer service rep led them back to an office. Because his knee was aching, he took one of the two chairs available. Jonah took the other, and Brax stood sentry behind them.
The CSR folded her hands and offered a smile. “Now, what can I do for you, gentlemen?”
As the resident hometown boy, Jonah took point. “We’re looking at a small business loan. We had some vandalism up at our place last night and need to replace some equipment.” He told her the amount they were looking for.
“All right. I’ll just need to get some information from the three of you.” One by one, they provided the details requested. The woman’s fingers flew over the keyboard, filling out the requisite paperwork. She finished with an enthusiastic keystroke. “There now. Let’s see what kind of rates the system spits back out.”
The desktop computer made a humming noise.
“This old thing’s a little slow.” She flashed another smile and turned back to the screen.
Holt knew something was wrong immediately. Her lips pressed together, and her brows pulled down. A few more clicks to confirm whatever she’d found, and she turned back to them, folding her hands with the finality of shutting a door.
“I’m afraid the bank won’t be able to extend you that line of credit.” The tone and expression were apologetic.
Jonah, ever affable, just arched a brow. “What’s the problem?”
She hesitated. “Well, your credit scores aren’t high enough, and there are some concerning patterns in your credit reports.”
Holt’s gut twisted.
“Concerning patterns?” Brax asked. “We haven’t been using credit at all for this business, and for the most part, we were all out of the country deployed for years before that.”
The woman’s expression turned sympathetic. “Y’all all may want to pull your credit reports and make sure you haven’t been victims of fraud.”
Fraud. Identity theft.
The three of them exchanged a look. Petty vandalism might not be like Raynor, but this was exactly the shit he’d gone to prison for.
Knowing it wouldn’t get dealt with here, they all rose without a fuss, thanked the woman, and left the bank.
Nobody said anything until they got in the truck.
Brax leaned forward, bracing his arms on the front seats. “This sounds bad.”
“No reason to panic until we have all the intel,” Jonah insisted. “We’ll head to my place. We won’t get interrupted there.”
Half an hour later, they were all poring over copies of their respective credit reports. Reports that told a damning story. Multiple accounts had been opened for all of them. Nearly a hundred grand of debt had already been run up in mere weeks across the three of them.
Holt shook his head. “I don’t understand. As soon as Cayla told me, I locked my credit down. I didn’t think to mention it to you two at the time because there was no reason to think he’d be coming after you. But this shouldn’t be possible.”
Brax tossed his report onto the coffee table. “Well, looks like it is. And looks like Raynor’s got more balls than we gave him credit for. We do take this as confirmation that it’s him, right?”
“Has to be. Cayla said he had skills.” So much for his earlier theory. Scrubbing both hands over his face, Holt swore. “I’ve been telling her we’d be fine. That we were being careful. Vigilant. But clearly I missed something. And now you two have been dragged into all this because of me.” Guilt weighed heavy on his shoulders. He’d gotten into this to protect her and now his friends and prospectively his business were getting dragged down with him.
“Recriminations aren’t going to help a damned thing,” Jonah pointed out. “So, what are we gonna do?”
Holt blew out a breath. “What we’re not gonna do is tell my wife. Not yet. If she sees this level of damage, she’s going to freak out, and she’s already worried enough. So right now, let’s get the ball rolling, report fraud on all these false accounts. We’ll contact Cash, get him to do whatever he can do. Get any information he can that will aid our cause. It’s gonna take time to unravel. I want to know what we’re doing about it before I tell her what’s happening.”
Jonah nodded. “Makes sense.”
Brax looked skeptical. “I get where you’re coming from, but is that the best course of action?”
“What’s an extra day gonna hurt? We can take one day and figure our shit out, so when I tell her, a plan will already be in place. I’ll tell her tomorrow.”
He just hoped he had more positive news to share when he did.
“You heard about the break-in up at Bad Boy Bakers, didn’t you?”
Cayla’s hands tightened on the cart handle as she made her way through Garden of Eden for her weekly grocery run.
“No! What happened?”
“Another middle-of-the-night break-in. Smashed the front all to pieces, I heard.”
“Those poor boys. They’ve been working so hard to make a go of it.”
“You really have to wonder if the location’s cursed. I mean, given the questionable clientele The Right Attitude used to have.”
“That’s just silly. Why would any of that have anything to do with them? They’re good boys and the bakery is a wonderful addition to the Eden’s Ridge. Have you tried their coffeecake.? It is to die for .”
In the two days since the break-in, Cayla had been hearing more of the same all over town. Everybody was abuzz, and in the absence of factual information, people were plenty happy to manufacture some. Not wanting to engage, she kept her head down and finished up her shopping.
From behind the register, Ina Hanes flashed her a sympathetic smile as she began loading her items onto the belt. “Hey, Cayla.”
“Ina.”
“How’s that sweet girl of yours?”
“Growing like a weed and counting the days until summer vacation.”
“That’s always the way. What about that handsome hubby of yours? I heard they had a spot of trouble up at the bakery.”
Knowing better than to feed the gossip beast, Cayla just smiled. “Nothing they can’t handle. Did you know Marisol Sanz just got engaged to Shayne McDermott?”
Ina took the conversational bone and ran with it. “I did. I heard all about it from Peggy Wheaton.”
Cayla made it out of the grocery store with the full account of the proposal and a plan to check in with Marisol next week to see if she’d begun thinking about engagement parties or the wedding itself. She just needed to swing by the bank before heading home to drop these groceries.
The lobby was mostly empty this time of day. Too late for lunch, too early for the after-school crowd. She stopped by the counter in the middle of the lobby and began to fill out a deposit slip.
“Hey, Cayla!”
She looked up to find Brandy Brighton, one of the customer service representatives, whom she’d gone to high school with what felt like a hundred years ago. “Hey Brandy.”
“I just wanted to pop over and say again how much my sister enjoyed that baby shower you organized back in the spring.”
“It was my pleasure. Babies are such blessings.”
“Aren’t they, though? And my new nephew is just the cutest thing ever.” She promptly pulled out her phone and flashed pictures of the newborn.
Cayla made the appropriate noises of admiration and finished filling out her deposit slip.
“Anyway, I was really sorry the bank wasn’t able to extend a line of credit to the guys to help—you know—make up for things after this latest… unpleasantness.”
“I’m sorry?”
Brandy’s round cheeks pinked as she realized Cayla had no idea what she was talking about. “I… oh. I misspoke.”
“I don’t think you did. My husband and his partners were in here for a line of credit?”
“I, um, think that’s something you’ll need to discuss with your husband.” She began backing away. “It was good to see you.”
Holt had said nothing about going to the bank. Nothing about needing a line of credit to replace the cases destroyed at the bakery. She’d assumed insurance would cover it. Which meant he was keeping things from her. It wasn’t the same as with Arthur. She knew that. She knew Holt wasn’t that kind of man. But it didn’t stop the sick, oily feeling from churning in her gut. She was willing to put up with him not sharing a lot about his past, understanding that kind of trust would take time to build. But she sure as hell wouldn’t stand for being kept in the dark about something that was clearly related to the threat they were supposed to be facing together.
Stuffing the deposit slip into her purse, she marched out of the bank and drove straight to the bakery. He was serving a customer when she came in and offered her a little smile and a wave. Temper still simmering, she hung back by the door, taking in the temporary displays they’d arranged in baskets on a few card tables until they got new refrigerated cases. Beyond the pass-thru, she spotted Jonah and Brax working. Good. She wanted to talk to them, too.
As soon as the customer departed, she flipped the sign from open to closed and locked the door.
Holt was around the counter in a flash, brow creased with concern. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Not bothering to hide the temper, she stepped around him before he could touch her and shoved her way into the kitchen. Brax and Jonah looked up in surprise.
She divided a narrow-eyed gaze between them all. “Do y’all have something you want to tell me?”
Jonah and Brax looked at each other and pointed directly at Holt.
“What’s the matter?” he demanded.
She propped her fists on her hips and glared at him. “I just ran into Brandy Brighton at the bank, who tells me that, for whatever reason, they couldn’t extend y’all a line of credit for what shouldn’t amount to that much of a business loan to deal with the new bakery cases.”
Though his expression didn’t change, he shifted on his feet, a sure sign he was uncomfortable. “Yeah.”
“Have y’all all checked your credit reports?”
Again, Brax and Jonah looked at Holt.
She infused her voice with every ounce of mom-guilt she could muster. “Don’t you look at him. You look at me.”
As their expressions shifted to guilty, she shook her head. “He’s gotten to you. He’s gotten to all three of you, hasn’t he?” The sick churn turned into full on knots as she realized that everything she’d imagined on the drive over here was probably only the tip of the iceberg.
Holt stepped toward her. “Cayla, honey, we’re handling it.”
“You’re handling it? You’re handling it. By keeping me in the dark? That’s not acceptable. Not now, not ever. Not to me.”
Regret flashed over his face. “Look, I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to worry you until I had more information?—”
She held up a hand and struggled to modulate her voice. “No. We are not doing that shit. Information is power, and I will not be cut out. Not for what you perceive to be my own good. Not for any reason. I am too far down this path with you. I won’t live like that again. Right now, I’m calling my contact with the FBI, and all three of you are going to give him whatever information you have, because it is very clear that my ex-husband is up to his old tricks, and he’s not satisfied with trying to just ruin me.” She rounded on Holt. “Then we are going home to have a conversation about this.”
As her phone vibrated with a reminder of her upcoming meeting, she blew out a breath through her nose. “Scratch that. You’re talking to Special Agent Marquez, and then I’m going back to work. After which, I will see you at home, and we are having that conversation.”
With shaking hands, she jabbed at the buttons on her phone, putting through the call to her contact. Thank God he’d given her his direct cell number.
“Ms. Black, is everything all right?”
“That is a decided, ‘no’. My ex-husband is up to his old tricks again. I have three people that you need to talk to. Hopefully, they’ll be able to give you enough to continue building a fresh case against him.”
With a fulminating look, she handed the phone to her husband and leaned back to listen.