Sam sat back, comprehension dawning. “She wanted to give it back?”
“She chased the poor man for two blocks to give him his change. Imagine her surprise when he told her he’d left it on purpose. As a tip. She’s always so surprised when men flirt with her.” She smiled at the memory.
Sam shook his head. “So, she was a good kid. People can change.”
“Sure they can but I don’t think the core of a person changes so easily. You see, she wasn’t giving the money back because she thought she’d get in trouble or because someone was watching. She was actually worried that he’d need the money. She cares about people. Any of the rest of us would have considered it his loss and our gain. But not Ri.”
“So, she’s not a thief and this is some kind of mistake.”
“It’s not a mistake. I don’t think someone mistakenly wired this money into my sister’s account. I think someone did it on purpose and I think I know who. I think it was Nick.”
Sam raised his eyebrows. “You think he’d steal from his own brother just to make your sister look guilty?”
“I think he hates me enough to do just about anything. He’s a financial genius so I’m sure a little bit of wire fraud isn’t out of the realm of possibility. I just need you to prove it for me.”
“It seems a little far-fetched, but I’ll see what I can do.”
She checked her phone again, surprised to see that Nick had actually sent her the bank statements as she’d asked.
“Look. Here it is.” She handed Sam her phone and watched as he scrolled through the email attachment.
“Oh, she definitely didn’t do it.”
“Well, I know that. But why are you suddenly so certain?”
He leaned over and pointed to something on the screen of her phone. “This is Ridley’s regular bank account, right. It’s under her real name.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, what kind of criminal uses a bank account in their own name to commit fraud? Not that I doubted your heartwarming story but I’ve seen too many nice kids go off the rails when they get older. But this, this is not the move of a fraudster. I was expecting to see a wire transfer to a numbered account. If your sister was actually used to scamming people she wouldn’t be using the same bank account she uses to pay her electric bill.”
“I knew it. That bastard. This whole thing is so jacked up. Ridley cared about David and what did that get her? A near death experience and an FBI profile. She cares about Jackson and look how that’s turned out. Being accused of wire fraud? I want so much more for her than this.”
“What about you?” Sam asked. “What do you want?”
“Security. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. That’s why I have you. You’re the only man I need in my life, Sam.”
She leaned over and brushed his hair back from his face.
“Now, please find a way to prove that Nick is behind this so I can nail his balls to the wall.”
* * * * *
“WHAT ARE YOU doing still up?”
Jackson had figured he’d be alone at this hour. Nick and Elliott had gone to bed around the same time he had. After hours of poring over the documents they’d brought, he’d been emotionally exhausted.
It was one thing to be told that Ridley had stolen from him but another to see it. If he hadn’t seen the wire transfer on the bank printout, he wouldn’t have believed it.
“Just looking at the information I received earlier.”
Elliott held up the pages he was reading. Even from across the room Jackson recognized the photo of David Finemore.
“Why are you still looking at that? We already know he and Ridley were scamming people. It’s over, Eli. Let it go.”
His brother made a frustrated sound and dropped the papers on the coffee table.
“What?” Jackson asked. It was hard to believe but his brother seemed almost more pissed off by the turn of events than he did.
“I feel like I’m missing something. Or maybe I just don’t want to admit that I didn’t see this coming.”
Suddenly Jackson understood. All of his older brothers looked out for him but security was Elliott’s specialty. Of course, he felt guilty for not protecting him.
“None of us saw this coming. You can’t blame yourself for that.”
“I agree.”
They both turned to see Nick standing in the doorway. His brother had removed his dress shirt and tie and wore just a white tee shirt and slacks.
“You can’t sleep either, huh?”
Nick shook his head. He crossed the room and sat on the couch next to Eli, propping his feet on the coffee table in front of him.
“I’m surprised you haven’t said I told you so. It’d actually be justified for once.”
Nick leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head. “Somehow, I’m not enjoying this as much as I thought I would.”
Jackson observed his brother from across the room. They all had stubble and looked tired but Nick looked the worst of them, easily. It made him feel marginally better that his brother wasn’t gloating. Especially since he’d tried to warn him about Ridley from the beginning.
“I just can’t believe she would do this. I would have just given her the money if she’d asked.”
Jackson gritted his teeth. He’d told himself that he wasn’t going to think about it but he’d been doing nothing but all night. Turning it over and over in his mind. He still had no explanations for why Ridley would steal from him. She had to have known that he was gone over her. So infatuated that it was embarrassing.