Page 7 of Absolute Valor

The longer I stared at the phone, the more my frustrations grew. Dylan was right, there was no reason for a credit card company to call a business, and specifically one I’m not listed at yet. Still, calling Austin would indicate I needed his help, something I wasn’t ready to admit. Things seemed to work out for him and Lainie, the truth about the—.

“Motherfucker!” My hand stings from hitting the wood of the desk as my own memories gave me the solution. Pulling my cell from my pocket, my thumb touched the screen as fast as I could. Austin wasn’t the only computer genius in this family.

“Hello?” I can picture the look of confusion on her face, Momma had given me Lainie’s number when she went to work for Austin. Priscilla Morgan wasn’t too happy with the riff between her boys.

“Miss Lainie, it’s Chase Morgan, Austin’s brother.” Rubbing the back of my neck, a nervous habit I’ve had my whole life. “I hope I haven’t caught you at a bad time. I have a problem I’m hoping you can help me with.” There’s a brief pause before she assures me she is never too busy to help a Morgan brother. I tell her about the phone call and how the debt cannot be mine. I can hear the clicking of her fingernails against a keyboard.

“Okay, I’ve got your credit report and it appears there was an account opened on November seventeenth, with a credit limit of seventy-five hundred dollars.” The clicking continues as my heart crawls into my throat. “Chase, there were three more opened a month later, all with fairly high credit limits and all maxed out.”

I jumped to my feet, pacing the room like a caged animal. “Lainie, I was in the middle of a gun fight in late November and didn’t see the inside of anything but a makeshift tent and the side of a mountain ridge the whole month of December. There’s no way those are mine.” My voice rose as I kicked the leg of the desk. Something tells me, in the weight of her silence, there’s more to the story. My anger and frustration are running a close race to see what will explode first in my head.

“Chase, please calm down. There are a few things I can do to minimize the damage.”

I feel terrible for raising my voice at her. Lainie is doing something I asked of her and I have no call to act this way. “I’m sorry, Miss Lainie, I didn’t mean to fuss at you.”

“It’s okay, Chase. If I had twenty thousand dollars of credit opened in my name without my consent, I’d be upset too.” The amount sends the feeling of dread coating my body; I’ve always been able to pay for what I needed. Being in the military gave me a place to sleep and money in the bank. Being a Morgan, gave me a nest egg as a backup. “Listen, I’ve put holds on all of the accounts, so they cannot be used. I’ve also alerted the companies with a fraud warning, so you will most likely get a call from their investigative teams. I do recommend you contact your bank and other card companies to let them know, perhaps cancel your existing cards and issue new ones.”

“Lainie, thank you, for all your help. I would say let’s keep this between us, but that’s putting you in a place I have no right to.”

“I won’t say anything to Austin, unless he asks me. I won’t lie for anyone.” From the little I knew of Lainie, I figured she was a woman of her word. I’d have to talk with Austin; eventually.

Ending the call after thanking her again, I made my way around the desk and back to the front of the shop. Audrey stood in the kitchen area, stirring the cup of tea she had made. I watched as she put the tea bag into a plastic baggy, and then place it in the pocket of her worn sweater.

Over the course of the day, I noticed her several times come into the kitchen, stand before the sink, remove the same tea bag from her pocket and use it over and over again. I couldn’t understand why she was milking that bag for all its worth, Momma kept the kitchen stocked with everything imaginable. More importantly, why am I watching her?

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