Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Frank had gone golfing early, leaving Essie to run a few errands and putter around the house. There was also laundry to do and dinner to figure out. Maybe she’d roast a chicken and do it with mashed potatoes and green beans. She could make gravy from the pan drippings.
Frank loved that and it would be easy enough to pick up a roaster at Publix. Not only that, but with everything going on with Sophie, some comfort food might really do him good.
She did a quick inventory of the fridge and pantry to see what else she might need, then she ran her errands, hitting the post office and the dry cleaners, with Publix as her last stop.
When she got back, there was a golf cart in her driveway and Maude was sitting in it. She waved to Essie.
Essie rolled down her window. “Are you looking for me?”
“I am. Let me back out and you can park, then I’ll pull in behind you.”
“All right.” Essie put the car in reverse to give Maude some room, then they traded places. Essie opened the tailgate, got out, and retrieved her groceries and dry cleaning.
Maude quickly stepped in to help, taking some of the bags and freeing Essie’s one hand, even though she had a computer bag over one shoulder. “Sorry for dropping by unannounced. I should have texted, but I guess I got too excited.”
Essie unlocked the door. “Excited about what?”
Maude looked around. “I’ll tell you inside.”
Curious, Essie just smiled and pushed the door open. She couldn’t imagine what was going on but she liked Maude. She wished she had half of her energy. “Come on in.”
Maude followed her into the kitchen, and they dropped the bags on the counter. “Is there anything else in the car that needs to be brought in?”
“No, that’s it. Let me just hang up this dry cleaning and I’ll be right back.” When Essie returned from the bedroom, Maude was sitting at the kitchen counter. Essie got the groceries put away. “Would you like something to drink? Something to eat?” It would be lunch in a bit.
“No, I’m good.”
“I have lemonade. The real stuff. Homemade.”
“Yeah? Okay, thanks.”
Essie poured them each a glass. “So…everything all right?”
“Oh, yeah, totally. I mean…” Maude took a sip. “Wow, that is good lemonade.”
“Thanks. You want to sit on the porch?”
“Living room might be better. This isn’t the kind of conversation that should be overheard.”
Essie’s brows lifted.
“Nothing bad.” Maude made a face. “Well, maybe a little bad.” She shook her head. “I did this to help, I swear.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Essie said. “Let’s sit and you can tell me everything.”
They both went to the couch, positioning themselves so they faced each other.
“Okay,” Maude said. “So yesterday at the pool, I was trying to think of a way to say thanks for inviting me and then you were talking about Sophie, and I kind of put two and two together.”
Essie nodded. “All right. What does that mean?”
“That means, I did some digging into your stepdaughter.” Suddenly, she glanced over her shoulder. “Is Frank here?”
“No, he’s out golfing. Do you want to wait until he comes home?”
“Not really. I’d rather tell you and see what you think.”
“That’s fine. I assume you found something then?” Essie was almost afraid to know what else Sophie might be up to online.
“I did. And I might be wrong, but I think it’s the reason—or at least one of the reasons— that Sophie is doing what she’s doing.”
Essie sat back. “What is it?”
“Do you know a guy named Ryan Van Fossen?”
Essie shook her head. “No. Wait. I think her new boyfriend is named Ryan. Is that right? We don’t know anything about him, really.”
“Yes, as best I can tell, he’s Sophie’s boyfriend. And he lives—or at least tries to portray that he lives—a very extravagant lifestyle.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Long story short, lots of digging into her social media. And then his.”
“But I’ve never seen her post anything specific about him. Which she would, if she had a boyfriend. At least that’s what I’d think. She’s mentioned him by his name, that’s all.”
“Except Ryan is the kind of guy that would probably make Frank angry if Frank knew what kind of guy he was. I get the feeling that Ryan is the one calling the shots. Telling Sophie what to do. He might even be the reason she thinks she can be an influencer. He could be pushing her to do this.”
“But why would he do that?”
Maude took a breath. “I think because he knows that Frank has money, and he sees Sophie as a way to get to that money. I don’t really know that, it’s just a gut feeling.”
Essie felt sick. “You brought your computer. Is that so you can show me what you’ve found?”
Maude nodded, her face a mask of concern. “You’re upset. I’m sorry. I knew that would happen, but after I found this, I didn’t feel like I could keep it to myself.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m glad you’re sharing with me. If Sophie’s in trouble, we need to know so we can help her.”
“I doubt she thinks she’s in trouble. I’m sure she thinks things are just great.
But this guy is…” Maude shook her head again.
“I don’t like him. I don’t like him one bit.
I think he’s what we used to call a player, but no clue what they’d call him these days.
Let me grab my computer and I’ll show you what I mean. ”
She got up and got her bag from the chair in the kitchen, then brought her computer back, opening up the laptop as she sat down. She angled it so Essie could see the screen. “Give me a second to get logged on.”
Essie took a sip of her lemonade. The tang of the citrus did little to wash away the bitterness coating her tongue. Sophie might not like her, but Essie wanted nothing but the best for that young woman. What happened to Sophie affected Frank and Essie wanted her husband to be happy.
The well-being of his children played a big part in that. Which brought Frank’s son, Chad, to mind. Once again, Essie wondered if this was something Chad might be able to help with. If Sophie wouldn’t listen to her father, maybe she’d listen to her older brother.
“Here’s Ryan’s Instagram account.” Maude moved the laptop slightly so the screen was aimed at Essie even more.
Essie leaned in. There was no sound as she watched a video of a very tan young man in a thick gold chain and big gold watch partying on a boat with some other young men and women.
He had a few tattoos, including a dollar sign on his right biceps.
He held up a bottle of vodka to the camera and took a swig.
One of the young women in a skimpy hot-pink bikini came closer, smiling at him. He handed her the bottle and she drank, too. She had long blond braids and glittery sunglasses.
Maude pointed to the young man in the center of the video. “That’s Ryan. He posts videos like this all the time. And as you can see…” She pointed to the girl beside him. “That’s Sophie.”
Essie gasped as the young woman pushed her sunglasses onto her head and blew kisses to the camera. “That is most definitely her. And that’s Frank’s boat. I don’t think he’d be happy to know Sophie took all those people out on it.”
“That’s Frank’s boat? You’re sure?”
“Yes. He keeps it at the marina. We take it out once a month or so.”
Maude snorted as she paused the video. “Hang on. This video is about six months old, so was Sophie here then?”
Essie thought back. “No, but the boat was in Miami then. Frank originally thought he’d keep it there so we could use it when we visited Sophie, but he changed his mind when there was some damage to the boat.
Sophie claimed she knew nothing about it.
Frank thought the marina’s security was lax, so he had the boat brought up here. ”
“This party might be what caused that damage but get this.” Maude tapped another button on the keyboard, then used the cursor to start the video over.
Sound played through the laptop, Ryan’s voice coming through loud and clear.
“Yo, what’s up, all you landlocked losers.
I know you wish you were here with me on my killer cruiser, hanging with these baddies.
” He drank from the vodka bottle again, shared it with Sophie, then pulled her in close, kissed her hard on the mouth.
When he was done, he pushed her away, slapping her on the backside as he did.
Essie grimaced. “Frank will not like that. He won’t like any of this.”
“Well,” Maude said. “I hate to tell you, but there’s a lot more of these and in his latest video, he talks about how he’s got something big cooking. Says he’s about to ‘get paid.’”
The pit in Essie’s stomach opened wider. “That doesn’t sound good, does it?”
“The timing with the lawsuit is pretty interesting.” Maude frowned.
“If I had to guess, I’d say he’s orchestrating this whole lawsuit thing in the hopes of getting Sophie some publicity.
And him some money. That could mean Sophie’s going to make this lawsuit a big part of her social media content.
If so, I’d think that would definitely get her the kind of attention she’s looking for.
The kind Ryan might be pushing her to get.
And once she gets some clout, there’s no telling what he might have planned. But he definitely likes her money.”
Essie swallowed. “Frank’s going to lose it. But he needs to know. And his lawyer needs to know, too. Can you send all of this to me?”
“I’ve already got an email in my drafts. I’ll finish pulling all the links when I get home and send it right away.”
Essie grabbed Maude’s hand. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m still really sorry.”
“So am I. But not as sorry as Ryan’s going to be once Frank makes a plan.”