Antler Crown, Silent Departure novel · Chapter 14 of 24
Chapter 14: Nothing to Ask
Malcolm's POV
My father's office at Brannigan Floor Supply smelled of carpet glue and burnt coffee.
He sat behind the desk with the events account statements spread out in front of him, and he did not ask me to sit.
I stood.
"Read it," he said.
I read it.
Lacey had run the company's events since March, and she had been the only name on the account besides my father's.
Every month there was a deposit for a caterer or a florist, and every month a smaller amount went out the other side.
It was a payment to a title company in Logan County, and another to a lake cabin seller, and one to a bridal shop in Dublin.
The total at the bottom was forty-one thousand dollars.
"She never touched it before June?" I said.
"The first one is in June." My father tapped the page. "The month you told her you wouldn't say a word."
I took that.
It was true, and there was no use arguing with it.
"Dad, call the bank. Freeze it today."
"I thought about it. I thought about it for an hour before you came in."
"Then do it."
"If I freeze it, Friday's closing dies quietly. Zack tells everyone she tried to cheat him. Lacey says it was a clerical mistake, and my lawyer says I never reported a crime."
"So you want it to close."
"I want the paper to be finished," my father said. "Every payment, every signature. I want the board to read it on Saturday, and I want her standing in the room when they do."
I understood, and I did not like it.
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