Chapter 8 - The Borrowed Name
Natalie met Ryan in the hotel lobby while her family slept upstairs. The decorations were cheap plastic holly, but the room smelled like the Christmas mornings she had once loved.
"Two years ago," she began, "I tried to start an event-planning company."
"I know. It failed."
"It didn't just fail. I kept taking deposits after I knew I couldn't deliver the events. I told myself I'd make the next booking cover the last one."
Ryan shut his eyes.
"Derek offered to consolidate the debts. He demanded collateral. I sent him an old loan statement with your father's name on it. I said Paul had guaranteed the business."
"Dad was already dead."
"I know."
He took a step backward. "You used a dead man's name."
"I didn't forge that statement. I changed the date."
"Natalie."
"I know what it sounds like."
"It sounds like you lied to everyone and then borrowed against Mom's house to hide it."
Tears slid down her cheeks. "I was ashamed. Every time I tried to tell you, another bill came."
Ryan wanted to comfort her. The impulse hurt. She was the woman who had sat beside him when his father died, who had held his hand through a failed business and a terrible winter. But she was also someone who had stolen his mother's safety to protect a story about herself.
"We need to give all of it to the deputy," he said.
"Derek said he'll say I planned the whole thing."
"Maybe you planned some of it. The truth doesn't become optional because you hate it."
She stared at him as if he had struck her. He had never spoken to her that way.
The elevator doors opened. Colin stepped into the lobby holding his phone. "My friend Derek just called," he said. "He says you're making threats against his daughter."
"His daughter?" Ryan repeated.
Colin showed them a photo of the girl in the red hat.
"Her name's Elsie," Colin said. "And her mother reported her missing this morning."
May you like
Natalie covered her mouth.
The last message on Colin's screen read: If they call the police again, nobody will see her before Christmas.
