Chapter 3 Jade
JADE
Chloe opens her apartment door in pajamas with her hair piled on top of her head. There are law textbooks visible on the coffee table behind her.
"This better be good," she says. "I was up until three studying for Evidence."
I hand her the envelope.
She takes it, still half asleep, and pulls out the check. I watch her face change as she processes what she's seeing.
"What the hell is this?"
"Exactly what it looks like."
She reads the amount again. Blinks. Looks at me. "Is this real?"
"I don't know. That's why I'm here."
Chloe steps aside to let me in. Her apartment is nicer than mine. She has actual furniture that matches, a kitchen with counter space and windows that don't stick. Her parents helped with the security deposit.
She sits on her couch and examines the check like it's evidence in a trial. Which, I suppose, it might be.
"California Federal Credit Union," she reads. "That's a real bank. I can verify that much." She's already pulling out her phone, typing. "Yeah, it's legitimate. Based in San Francisco. Been around since 1950. Not some fly-by-night operation."
"So the check is real?"
"The bank is real. Whether the check is real is a different question." She picks up the card. "'You deserve better. P.C.' That's it? No other information?"
"That's everything."
"And it was just in your mailbox? No explanation, no contact information, nothing?"
I nod. My hands are shaking, so I shove them under my thighs.
Chloe sets the check down carefully on her coffee table. "Okay. Let's think through this logically. Who do you know with the initials P.C.?"
"Nobody. I've been running through everyone I can think of. I don't know anyone who has this kind of money."
"What about your mother? Could this be from someone she knows?"
"My mother doesn't have rich friends. She doesn't have any friends, really. She works, she goes home, that's it."
Chloe chews on her bottom lip, thinking. "The amount is too specific to be random. $387,443. That's not a round number. Someone calculated this exactly."
"It's what I owe. All of it. Hospital bills, student loans, credit cards. Everything."
"How would someone know that?"
"I don't know." My voice cracks. "That's what scares me. Who has access to that information?"
"Your credit report, for one. But that requires your social security number and..." She stops. "Have you checked your credit recently? Any suspicious activity?"
I pull out my phone and open the app I check obsessively. "Nothing. No new accounts, no hard inquiries. Just the same disaster it was yesterday."
Chloe picks up the check again. "We need to verify this. Call the bank."
"And say what? 'Hi, someone gave me almost four hundred thousand dollars and I'd like to confirm it's not a scam?'"
"More or less, yeah." She hands me her phone. "Put it on speaker."
I dial the number on the check. A recorded message walks me through options until I finally reach a human being.
"California Federal Credit Union, this is Rebecca. How can I help you?"
My mouth is dry. "Hi. I received a cashier's check from your bank, and I need to verify it's legitimate."
"I can help with that. Can you provide the check number?"
I read off the long string of numbers printed at the bottom. I hear her type furiously on the other end.
"Yes, I show that check in our system. It's a valid cashier's check drawn on an account in good standing."
My heart hammers. "So if I deposit this, it will clear?"
"Yes, ma'am. Cashier's checks are guaranteed funds. This check is for $387,443, is that correct?"
"Yes."
"That amount will be available immediately upon deposit."
I look at Chloe. Her eyes are wide.
"Can you tell me who issued the check?"
"I'm sorry, that information is confidential. I can only confirm that the check is valid and the funds are guaranteed."
"Can you tell me anything else? Anything at all?"
There's sympathy in her voice. "I understand this must be confusing. But I'm not authorized to provide account holder information. What I can tell you is that this is a legitimate instrument from our institution. Beyond that, you'd need to speak with the account holder directly."
"Right. Okay. Thank you."
I hang up. Chloe and I stare at each other.
"It's real," she says.
"It's real."
"Someone you don't know just gave you almost four hundred thousand dollars."
I pick up the card again. You deserve better. P.C.
"What do I do?"
Chloe stands and starts pacing. She does this when she's thinking, working through legal problems in her head. "First, we figure out if this is legal. I mean, is this money laundering? Is someone using you to hide assets? Could you get in trouble just for depositing it?"
"I don't know. How do I find that out?"
"You could ask a lawyer. A real one, not a second-year law student." She gives me a rueful smile. "But lawyers cost money you don't have."
"I could have money. Almost four hundred thousand dollars worth of money."
"If you deposit it."
"Right. If I deposit it."
We're both quiet. I can hear her neighbor's television through the wall, some morning show with canned laughter.
"Tell me the truth," I say. "What would you do?"
Chloe sits back down. "Honestly? I don't know. Part of me says run. This is how people get caught up in criminal enterprises or worse. Someone gives you money, then they own you."
"That's what my mother would say."
"Your mother is smart."
"My mother is in a hospital bed because she was too proud to accept help." The words come out sharper than I mean them to. "Sorry. I just... I'm tired of being poor because she chose to be poor."
Chloe reaches over and squeezes my hand. "I know. And I know you're desperate. But desperate people make bad decisions."
"So what's the good decision here?"
"I don't know if there is one." She picks up the check again. "But if you're going to deposit this, and I can see that you're thinking about it, we need ground rules."
"Like what?"
"Like you don't spend the money until you know who sent it and what they want. You deposit it, fine. It clears, great. But it sits in your account until P.C. makes contact again."
"And if they don't?"
"Then you have all of this money and no strings attached. Which seems too good to be true, which means it probably is."
I take the check back from her. The paper feels heavy. "What if I just paid the hospital? Just that. Nothing else. My mother gets taken care of, and I can still walk away if this turns out to be something awful."
"Except once you spend it, you can't give it back. And if this is illegal money, you've just made yourself an accessory."
"To what? Being helped?"
"To whatever they're hiding." Chloe's voice softens. "I know I sound paranoid. But this doesn't happen, Jade. People don't just give away this kind of money. There's always a catch."
She's right. I know she's right.
But I'm so tired of drowning.
"Make me a promise," Chloe says. "If anything feels wrong, anything at all, you tell me immediately. And we go to the police if we have to."
"Okay."
"And you don't make any big decisions without talking to me first."
"Okay."
"And you're careful. Whatever this is, whoever P.C. is, you don't trust them just because they gave you money."
I look at the check in my hands. Almost four hundred thousand dollars. Enough to save my mother. Enough to quit two of my three jobs. Enough to breathe.
"I'll be careful," I tell Chloe.
But we both know I'm going to deposit it.
Because when you're drowning, you don't ask questions about the lifeline.
You just grab it and hope it doesn't pull you under.