28. The Smoking Gun #2
“Ian will obviously be there, and we wanted to talk to you about that and to let you know what is going to happen at the meeting and what we have been doing over the last couple days.”
“I’m listening.”
“Doc, if I may?” Annie says.
“Of course.”
“Ellie, there is a lot to tell, and nothing at all at the same time. But, I want to give you my full honesty. All I ask is that you let me finish before you ask any questions. Okay?”
Ellie stops moving in her chair and nods, “Yes.”
Annie takes a deep breath. “Ian was my boyfriend a long time ago when I lived in Portland. I thought he really liked me then. He was a developer then too. Was trying to renovate a building, similar to the cannery.”
“Okay,” Ellie breathes out tentatively.
“Well, I really believed in him and cared about him so I helped him with his project any way I could. Which ended up being telling my friends about how great the project was, going to events with him saying the same to strangers. Helping him look good to people by standing next to him and believing in him.”
“But he wasn’t. Was he?”
“No. He was not. He took money from people who believed in him and then skipped town before finishing the project. It hurt a lot of people.”
“And it hurt Annie,” I pipe up.
“What did he do to you?” she asks and puts her hand over Annie’s.
“He left town without telling me. And when everyone found out, they accused me of knowing about his fraud. They were not very nice to me and the police even had to investigate me in case I helped Ian steal the money he took.”
“Which you did not,” Ellie barks out roughly. “They said that, right?”
Annie smiles. “Yes El, they knew that and cleared me. Not long after that, my mom and dad were killed and I was happy to move home. Where people didn’t look at me funny anymore. It didn’t matter that the police cleared me. Not everyone believed that.”
“Well, they are just stupid and you don’t need them,” Ellie announces, confidently.
“Thanks El. I know now that I don’t need them. But what I do need is Ian shut down once and for all. So your dad and your Uncle Admiral have been trying to help me catch Ian in his lies.”
“Oh if Uncle Admiral is helping, I’m excited. I think he is really a spy. You should see his house. It’s like Batman’s bat cave.”
“Well, he is trying. We’re gathering evidence, and if we can put enough together by the meeting tomorrow night. I’m going to expose Ian in front of the town. It's a secret. So you can’t tell anyone, not even Erin.”
“Oh gosh no. Erin can’t keep a secret,” she whispers. “But I can.”
“You don’t have to go tomorrow,” I say. “I mean that. He’ll be there. I don’t want you upset by having to see him.”
She shoots me a look. “Dad.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.” Her gaze moves to Annie. “I want to see you end this jerk.”
Annie presses her lips together. “Ellie.”
“What? I do.” Ellie shrugs. “I’m not going to lie about it.”
Annie looks at me and I look at El. “Okay Kiddo. You sit with me, and if you get overwhelmed, we’ll leave.”
“Fat chance, Dad. But thanks.”
Annie giggles a little and then stifles it quickly.
***
After dinner, Ellie lingers longer than usual. She helps clear plates. She asks too many casual questions and tries to draw out going to bed. Finally, at nine, I send her upstairs.
She makes it up three steps, then turns. “Annie?”
Annie looks up from the sink. “Yeah?”
“Tomorrow, you’re going to be great.” Then she heads upstairs, leaving Annie with one hand braced on the counter and a few tears running down her cheek.
I take the dish towel from her hand. “Come on, let's get some air.”
We walk out onto the porch and sit on the steps. The yard is dark and dotted with fireflies, moonlight breaks in and out of the clouds, casting uneven strips of light across the water.
For a while, we don’t talk.
“What if they look at me differently?” she says.
I turn my head.
“After tomorrow. What if I tell the town everything, and all they hear is I supported him and did nothing. What if I lose them?”
I tell her the truth. “Some people may need time, sure. But I think everyone will see, especially with the evidence you do have. That he conned you as much as investors in Portland.”
She shudders. “I love this town. I know it gets in everyone’s business at times. But it’s mine. They’re mine.”
“You are a part of Coupeville, that is for sure.”
I reach for her then, and she slips against my side, her head against my shoulder, her body pressed against me. Just standing with me in the moonlight.
“I don’t think you’ll lose them tomorrow,” I say.
“You don’t know.”
“No. But I know what it looks like when someone loves a place. You do. People may be confused. They may be shocked. They may be angry that they almost believed him. But they know who cares about them and their families.”
“Doc.”
“I’m not telling you it won’t hurt. I’m telling you the hurt won’t last.”
She turns her face up to mine.
The kiss starts softly. Her mouth opens under mine, and I feel the little shiver she tries to hide. I cup the back of her head and kiss her until tomorrow falls away for a few stolen seconds.
I pull back gently. If I don’t, this is going to go a lot longer and farther than we have time for.
“We need to call Admiral.”
“Mm Hmm.”
I take out my phone before I can make poor choices.
Admiral answers and I put him on speaker. “You both there?”
“We are,” I answer.
“Annie, how are you holding up?”
“That depends entirely on this call.”
Paper rustles. Then Admiral’s voice gets serious. “Annie, look at the attached photo and tell me if this is the Ian Thorne you knew.”
We open the attachment in the chat. Annie’s inhale is abrupt.
“I think that is a yes, but I’m going to need you to say the words for me.”
“Yes,” she says. “That is him.”
“Excellent, I’ve found your smoking gun. Actually, it looks like five of them.”
Annie's eyes get huge and she presses a gasp back against the palm of her hand. She leans closer to the phone.
“His birth name is Chad Daniels,” Admiral says. “Forty-three, from Chicago, Illinois.”
“Jesus,” she says.
“The earliest project I can tie to him is from Chicago. A small restoration venture. It failed. Badly. From what I can tell, he ran from the failure. There is no evidence that he collected any monies. It went poorly before that.”
“Okay. I’m listening,” Annie says.
“The next evidence I find is from Lafayette, Louisiana. Similar venture. New name, new company name. Old hospital property, community benefit and jobs promises. This time, money began to be collected and the project stalled. He bailed and when he left, some of it went with him.”
Annie says nothing. Admiral continues.
“Next is Sausalito, California. Another new name and company. More bold. Waterfront property. Investors were solicited. Money was collected before the project collapsed. All funds disappeared along with him. Lawsuits scattered enough that no one seems to have had the whole picture.”
“Jesus,” I say.
“Jacksonville, Florida. Same progression. Different alias. Bigger confidence. Same exit.”
“And Portland,” Annie says.
“Portland is where he appears to have perfected the art of his con, for a while. He had the language, the public face, and the documents were more impressive this time.”
Annie flinches.
“Annie. He has had mechanisms in place. You were not part of the fraud. You were part of the damage. Don’t confuse the two.”
She closes her eyes. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Let’s get you through tomorrow. I’ve got a slide show I’m working on for you. I’ll have it by noon tomorrow, your time. Is that okay?”
“That’s amazing of you,” Annie stutters. “How can I repay you, seriously, for helping me.”
Admiral laughs. “Just keep our boy here out of trouble out there. Okay?”
“Shit. Don’t you want something a little easier to pull off?”
Admiral laughs. “Oh you are definitely familiar with his work I see.”
“You betcha.” She laughs.
Then Admiral says, “Annie. Tell me something.”
“Anything.”
“What do you really want to see end up happening to that cannery?”
She seems thrown by the question. “Excuse me?”
“If this stops tomorrow and that building still sits there, what do you see it becoming?”
The moon catches the side of her face. Tired. Beautiful. Fierce in a way that has nothing to do with anger.
“I don’t know exactly,” she says. “But I know what I would want it to become.”
She glances at me, almost embarrassed.
“A bigger clinic. Not just medical exams and flu shots. Physical therapy. Mental health treatment. Space for specialists so people don’t have to leave the island for every appointment. A place where older patients can come in without navigating ferries and a hospital parking garage.”
“That’s a hell of an answer.” Admiral clears his throat. “I can see why you and Doc get along so well.”
She laughs. “It’s a wish list.”
“Most things worth building start there.”
She looks out over the water again. “It deserves better than Ian.”
“Yes,” Admiral says. “It does.”
The call shifts back after that. Practical but not cold.
Admiral tells us he will reach out to Alvarez in the morning to share his data with him and the slide show. Alvarez can insert the video from the library. Admiral will leave a placeholder for it.
“You’ve got me, Alvarez, Doc and a whole town that knows and respects you, Annie,” Admiral says. “Trust in that.”
Annie takes that in and I watch it settle.
“I will,” she says.
Admiral adds, “Okay, try to get some sleep.”
Annie laughs softly. “That’s adorable.”
“I’m told I have my moments. Good night you two.”
I put my arm around her and she leans her head against my shoulder and sighs.
“You okay?” I ask.
“No,” she sighs. “But I will be.”
Tomorrow, Ian Danvers, Ian Thorne, Chad Daniels, whoever the hell he is, will walk into town hall expecting Annie Lockhart to cower beside him and sell his bullshit.
He has no idea she’s selling him tomorrow.
Selling him out.