Chapter 17 - Who Took the First Dollar
The words frightened me for one reason: Sloane had discovered how to mix a true fact with a lie. The first suspicious transfer had been made before the wedding bills came due. The $18,600 equipment-repair invoice had been filed under a subcontractor we really used. Someone had paid a legitimate supplier, then routed the money onward through a false correction.
Ira finally finished that portion of the trail. The subcontractor had reported a changed bank account to Harborlight. The request carried my name, but it had originated on the family tablet session. After the funds were redirected, the real supplier had received nothing. This was not a wedding deposit mistakenly billed to the wrong card. It was a planned diversion.
We paid the real supplier, apologized, and repaired our verification process.
Detective Price asked whether I could identify anyone who'd had access to my recovery folder. Mom, Dad and Sloane had known where it was. At Thanksgiving I'd left it inside a locked desk drawer in my parents' den. Dad had always kept a spare key.
"What about Frances?" Price asked.
"She shouldn't have been in the house."
"The records suggest she was paid a consulting fee through the relocation company. We're examining it."
That afternoon my father arrived unannounced at my hotel. Staff refused to send him to my room, so he waited in the lobby and called. I came down with Nia, using crutches, and stayed close to the front desk.
Dad looked at my brace, then at my face. "Sloane says you did this to her."
"She pushed me. You stole from the company."
"I was desperate."
"You had a choice. You could have asked me for help or told your employees the truth."
His eyes filled. "Will you ever forgive me?"
Before I could answer, two investigators entered the lobby and approached him by name. One held a folder. They asked whether he would accompany them to discuss the fraudulent invoices.
May you like
Dad turned to me in disbelief. "You called them here?"
"No," I said. "You left a trail."
