It all made my head hurt. “We aren’t ever going to see this money again, are we?”
“It’s highly unlikely,” Dex softly said.
I swallowed hard. “We won’t be able to repay you for a while. There’s too many improvements that need to be made.”
“Lucy,” Dex tried to speak but I kept talking.
“Maybe we could do a repayment plan? You could charge us interest and consider it a loan." I tried to think of what we could do and how I could shuffle the little money that we had around to make payments.
“Lucy, you aren’t paying me back,” Dex told me.
“But we have to." I could feel panic building up inside of me. It was basically all of our contingency money and we had a roof to fix, a swimming pool that needed attention, plus so much more to do.
“Stop thinking for a moment,” Dex gently ordered me, reaching out to pull me into his arms. He hugged me to him. “I’ve got you. It’s okay.”
I leaned against him, hoping it was true.
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Search
Dex
Morning arrived before I stopped thinking about numbers. I had spent half the night reconciling charges, double checking transactions, and confirming what I already knew. Wickham had taken the money, and the odds of full recovery were slim. The coffee in front of me had gone cold and I rubbed grit out of my eyes as the invoices started to blur. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss any. If I did, I knew the Bennet’s would pay it, no matter how difficult it would be for them to absorb the cost. It was a point of pride with them, and I wanted to alleviate the burden Wickham had put on them.
Lucy stepped into the front office, hair pulled back, eyes tired but clear. “Good morning.”
“Morning. I have a meeting with my legal team soon. If you would like, you should sit in on the discussion,” I offered. I didn’t mention the hug from last night, or how beautiful she was this morning.
“Your city firm?” she asked.
“Yes. They handled commercial fraud for one of my past clients. They know the process,” I said. Also, I would be able to pay the legal bills with the Bennet’s none the wiser.
“My dad should be here for the call as well,” Lucy murmured. “I’ll go get him.”
I nodded but Lucy was already gone. Taking a picture of the last invoice, I sent it on to my accountant in an email with all the others.
Lucy returned with a grave Williamand Helen. We all arranged ourselves in chairs near the laptop.
I connected the call. The senior partner and her associate appeared on screen. They already knew what had happened since I had called them last night but the lawyers wanted to go over what had happened again, taking notes from our testimony on the timeline, withdrawals, vendor receipts, and the total known missing amount with the presumed missing charity amount. Lucy added the event details in a steady voice. She didn’t flinch once and I admired that.
When we finished, the partner spoke. “We’ve confirmed the account linked to the ticket site. Our IT team was able to take down some details before the site was deleted. This indicates that Wickham is starting to cover his tracks. It’s important that you file the police report this morning to start the process of investigating from their side.”
Helen leaned forward. “Will we recover the money?”
The lawyer’s tone softened. “Unlikely in full. This type of offender moves cash quickly. You might see a portion returned if the police catch him quickly enough and the court orders it returned to you. Expect months to receive anything but it’s more likely you’re simply not going to receive a dime.”
Helen’s breath hitched and William took hold of her hand.
“We can go to the police right after this call,” Lucy said.
The lawyer continued, “Keep a copy of every document. Stick to the facts when you speak to the police. It builds credibility.”
“Understood,” I said.
We ended the call. The screen went dark, leaving a reflection on the screen of four tired people and one flickering desk lamp. I shut the laptop and rubbed the back of my neck.
“Do you think you could go in ourplace? I’m not feeling up to it this morning,” William quietly requested.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Lucy asked in concern.
