Chapter 3 - The Ledger Never Lies
The courtyard went deathly quiet. Several of Darlene’s wealthy country-club friends, who had lingered near the outdoor bar sipping chardonnay, set their glasses down in stunned anticipation.
Marcus Sterling walked with a slow, deliberate cadence up the flagstone terrace. He didn't look at Darlene. He didn't look at me. His entire focus was locked onto Warren, who looked like he was about to vomit over the gardenia bushes.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Vance," Mr. Sterling said smoothly, acknowledging Darlene with a tight nod. "I apologize for interrupting your garden party. But when Mr. Sloane arrived at my district office this morning asking for a formal audit on an anomalous transfer linked to his land sale escrow, we discovered a rather alarming chain of transactions."
Darlene’s face pinched into an ugly mask of indignation. "Audit? Transactions? What are you talking about? My daughter-in-law stole thirty thousand dollars from my personal safe this morning! That boy Reid came here to pay it back before I put her behind bars!"
"Nobody stole thirty thousand dollars from your safe, Darlene," Reid said, walking right past his sister to hand me his jacket. "Put this on, Laurel. You're shivering."
I pulled Reid’s heavy denim jacket around my shoulders, feeling an immediate rush of warmth against the sting of my scraped arms.
"How dare you contradict me!" Darlene shrieked. "The cash was gone from my wall safe! Laurel was the only person in the wing before lunch!"
"The safe was indeed opened," Mr. Sterling agreed, setting his heavy briefcase on an antique wrought-iron table. The metallic *click* of the dual combination locks sounded like gunshots in the tense silence. "However, the thirty thousand dollars you kept there wasn't stolen by Laurel Vance. In fact, that money was deposited into First Horizon Bank branch 14 at precisely nine-fifteen this morning."
Darlene scoffed. "Then Laurel took it straight to the bank! Arrest her!"
"It wasn't deposited into Laurel's account, Mrs. Vance," Sterling replied, pulling a laminated sheet of paper from the folder. "It was deposited into a corporate trust account titled *Sterling Horizon LLC*. An entity registered under one sole director."
Sterling looked directly at Warren.
"Your favorite son, Warren Vance."
A collective gasp swept through the remaining guests. Grant took another step toward his brother, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned white.
"Warren?" Grant said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, gravelly register. "Is that true?"
"It’s a lie!" Warren shouted, his voice cracking with hysteria. "Mom, he’s lying! They forged documents! Reid Sloane knows people in the county clerk's office, he set me up!"
"I set you up?" Reid chuckled without humor. "Warren, you texted me three days ago asking to buy my parcel of inherited land through a private handshake deal. You offered cash. When I told you I had already sold it to an independent developer for thirty grand, your jaw dropped. You knew the exact figure because you were drowning, and you thought you could use my money to patch the hole in the bottom of your sinking boat."
May you like
Mr. Sterling pulled out a second sheet. "Mr. Vance, at ten o’clock this morning, you attempted to initiate an international wire transfer of ninety thousand dollars. Thirty thousand from your mother’s cash deposit, and sixty thousand drawn against the equity of your mother’s home via an unauthorized line of credit."
Darlene froze. The haughty, imperious sneer on her face cracked right down the middle. "An... an equity line? On my house?"
