Chapter Thirteen
Everything seemed to be in a holding pattern.
The roofer was working the house into his schedule, so that hadn’t started. And with winter completely set in, there was no telling if Luna would have plastic whipping around on the roof until spring.
There was zero movement on the car, something Luna had given up on. Ash was right, the car was long gone, or unrecognizable if it was ever recovered.
Luna had started a search on the least stolen cars out there. The ones with decent gas mileage or a hybrid that wasn’t going to cost her an arm and a leg. A car payment wasn’t on her bingo card for the year, but neither was having her car jacked.
“You don’t have kids to support, take advantage while you can,” Miley had said when they debated buying something new or used.
By the time Friday rolled around, Luna had managed several hours on the Mercier files but still felt less prepared for her meeting with Nate than she’d have liked.
They met at a quiet coffee shop that had a library vibe complete with books and people spread out reading.
Luna set up with her laptop in the far corner with a clear view of the door while she waited for Nate.
He pushed through the door two minutes early and immediately snagged her gaze. His smile was quick, familiar.
She gave a little wave.
He shrugged out of his coat on his way to her table. “I forgot how much it rains here,” he told her as he set his bag on one of the empty chairs at the table.
“You’ll remember how much it’s worth it in the spring.” There was nothing quite like looking out over the lakes and bays that surrounded Seattle with the lush green landscape framing the scene. And then there was Mount Rainier. Her beauty unmatched as far as Luna saw it.
He looked at the table and pointed toward the baristas. “What are you drinking?”
“Large cappuccino with milk from a cow.”
Nate turned and made his way to the counter.
He was wearing jeans. The kind that hugged his backside and made it look . . . “Stop it,” Luna scolded herself out loud.
Realizing the man had a nice ass wasn’t a crime.
Pining over it, at least in her world, was.
Good thing he isn’t wearing gray sweatpants, she mused.
Luna grinned at the memory and pulled up the BOHO files.
Nate returned with their coffee and took a seat at her side. “Any word on your car?” he asked.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m trying to talk myself into something new and not used to replace it.”
“Are you opposed to something new?”
“There’s the depreciation the minute you take it off the lot,” she said.
“But then you have the full warranty and know exactly what the car has been through if you’ve had it since mile one.
Not to mention all the new bells and whistles that keep the car from being stolen.
” She paused. “I should have put an AirTag in my old car. Why do we only think of these things after there’s a problem? ”
Nate stared at her after a short pause. “Does your mind run like this all the time?”
“It’s a lot to think about. I’m going to have a car payment either way, but for how much and for how long?”
“If there’s anyone that can answer that, it would be the forensic accountant.”
Luna moved the cursor around on her computer to bring up the files she wanted to go over. “I hate making these decisions. I don’t want to screw it up.”
“Screw up with the kind of car to buy?”
“Less about the type of car, and more about the finance of it. You’d think I’d be used to it by now but I second guess myself all the time. I think Ash inherited all the ‘make a decision and move on’ genes in the family.”
Nate picked up his case and removed his laptop. “Can I ask you something personal?”
Oh shit.
When she didn’t answer, Nate asked anyway.
“I’ve seen your portfolio. I’ve heard about your reputation and seen your list of clients, at least those who’ve gone public with it.”
“Okay.” Everything he spoke of was easily found on the internet.
“People in your area of expertise make decent money. More than decent money.”
“Yeah . . .”
He paused, looked at her. “Do you gamble?”
“What? No!”
“Have a habit that costs a lot of money?”
“What are you getting at?” she asked.
Nate regarded her with a tilt of his head.
“You’re single, in your early thirties, without kids.
You live in a house you don’t have a mortgage on with a roommate.
Buy the car. Buy the newest, the greatest, the one that makes you smile every time you get behind the wheel.
You have money. What are you saving it all for? ”
She blinked.
Twice.
“Did you investigate me?”
“Deductive conclusion. Am I wrong?”
She didn’t want to answer that. “I have to think about retirement.”
Nate laughed.
“People that don’t plan for their future end up on the street after one emergency,” she argued with his laugh.
“Do you have an emergency fund?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“A 401(k) with a cap on what you can put into it every year?”
“Yes.”
“Stocks and bonds accruing compound interest?”
She let her silence be her answer.
“You’re not going to screw up your future by buying a car you can afford. I do suggest you avoid a Ferrari.”
The thought of a Ferrari brought Luna back to earth. “I’m making too much out of this.”
“I’m sure you have your reasons, but yes. From where I’m sitting, you’re spinning without need.”
He was right.
Luna was so worried she’d make the wrong decision that she’d avoid making it. A pattern in her life that she repeated constantly.
“Thanks,” she said under her breath.
Nate sat his hand over hers for the briefest of moments. “Let’s chat about our client’s mismanagement of money. I looked at BOHO INC. Something isn’t adding up.”
Luna slid her hand into her lap and launched into what she’d learned.
Luna had been with Alliance Insurance company ever since she’d moved into the house on Queen Anne Hill. Other than sending the company a check every year and every six months for her car, Luna didn’t have a need to know the man that represented the company.
She’d met Greg Filmore once, shortly after she moved in.
He was a round man, thinning hair, somewhere between fifty and sixty. He stared at her from across his desk. The office couldn’t be more than sixty-five degrees, yet he was dabbing a handkerchief against his face to mop up the sweat beading on his forehead.
Luna wouldn’t need Jorden and her tarot cards to suggest the man wasn’t in good health. He reminded her of many of the CPAs she met in her career right around April fifteenth. Stressed, overworked, and one fried meal away from a heart attack.
“I spoke with Officer Kempski with the airport police earlier this week,” Greg started. “As far as they’re concerned, the theft of your car is already filed as a cold case.”
It had only been two weeks. “My brother said it was cold after forty-eight hours.”
“We still have to wait the entire thirty days before Alliance will consider a payout.”
“Consider?”
“It’s a formality. I’ll make sure the company has everything they need on day thirty. The police report, the follow up report from Seattle PD and the airport PD. Sometimes they drag their feet verifying everything, but once they have all that I should have a check for you rather quickly.”
“The car was eleven years old, with a depreciation rate of fifteen percent per year—”
“Twenty,” Greg interrupted.
“Fifteen to twenty, but the miles on the car were well below average and it had never been in an accident. I would expect Alliance to take that into consideration.” Luna came in armed with the industry standards and was ready to instruct Greg to fight for as much money as he could.
“If it were up to me, I’d give you the lower depreciation number. It isn’t up to me,” he told her. “You also have a two-thousand-dollar deductible, which will be taken out before they send a check.”
“Is the rental car coverage included in that?”
“Yes.”
It wasn’t much, but it was something.
“If I were you, I’d replace your car sooner than later. If your car turns up, you’d likely be able to sell it for more than what Alliance will give you for it.”
She’d already concluded that.
“Have the repairs on the roof started yet?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Brian’s backed up with his other projects because of weather delays. He has it penciled in to start in a couple of weeks, but according to the weather report, we won’t get a break other than a day or two until next month.”
“Not surprising.”
“How long do we have to get this done?” she asked.
He waved her off. “You’re good for up to a year. Just make sure you’re doing everything in your power to prevent any internal damage.”
“He has tarps covering half of the roof.”
Greg patted his brow with the cloth in his hand. “Good. Keep them up there. Your contractor knows the insurance drill better than anyone.”
Luna leaned forward and asked the question she really wanted an answer to. “What is all this going to do to my rates next year?”
He hesitated.
Shit. Hesitation was always a bad sign.
“You should be fine.”
“Should or will?”
“It depends on what you buy. New cars cost more to insure.”
“That I understand. But will I get dinged as if I’d been in an accident?”
Another dab of his forehead.
“If Alliance can’t find any fault with you, it won’t go up.”
“If? I left it in a secure lot at the airport, not running with the keys in it in downtown Seattle.”
“It’s not up to me, Luna. I’ll do everything I can to get you as much money as we can from them. I don’t want to lose you as a customer.”
Now that was why he was sweating.
He knew she was going to get shafted one way or another, but he wasn’t about to admit it.
She didn’t press him more and stood to leave.
“Be sure and call me as soon as you buy something. If you’re worried about what the rate is, call me before you purchase and I’ll give you a quote.”
She shook his hand. “Thank you, Greg.”
As soon as she was out of his office, she patted her palm on the wet side of her jacket. She preferred rainwater over sweat on her hands.