Page 100 of This Time Around
“Let me guess.” Jack picked up his wineglass and swirled it around, his expression more guarded than it had been five minutes ago. “Your mom told you the money’s yours free and clear. That you should just spend it and not worry about things. Is that about right?”
Allie gritted her teeth and fought the urge to argue. So what if he’d used almost the exact words her mother had? She took a small sip of wine, willing herself not to react. “That is what she told me.”
“Did she say where it came from?” Jack asked. “Or did a million dollars cash miraculously drop from the sky?”
Allie frowned. “Why are you being so snarky about this? The money was in my grandmother’s home—a home she willed to me, along with its contents. The combination on the chest was my birthdate. Don’t you think that adds up?”
“You’re kinda dodging the real issue here.”
“Which is?”
“Which is the fact that no one’s saying where the money came from.” He took a bite of bruschetta, and Allie wondered if they were both continuing to sip and eat as a way to make this whole conversation feel less acrimonious than it really was. Jack was still touching her leg, and they sat close together on the sofa.
Allie took a deep breath. Sixteen years ago, this would have been a fight by now. She was determined not to let it escalate. “My family has a history of making a lot of money,” she said. “My grandfather made a killing on Portland real estate in the eighties.”
“And your parents made a killing on unsuspecting investors thirty years later. Just because they made a lot of money doesn’t make it legit.”
Allie frowned. “Maybe we should talk about something else.”
His palm curved over her leg, and the look he gave her was almost sympathetic. “Allie. I know you always love to believe the rosiest, happiest version of a story, but don’t you think you’re taking it a little far here?”
“No, I don’t.” She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you think you’re being a little suspicious?”
Jack sighed and sipped his wine. He didn’t say anything for a long time, and Allie began to fidget. She picked up a piece of bruschetta, then set it down again.
When Jack spoke again, his voice was softer. “I have a legal team on retainer for my company. They usually work on stuff related to app development, but I asked them to help me with a little legal research a couple days ago.”
“Oh?” she tried to sound casual, but her hands were shaking.
“I had them pull up information on Oregon’s found-property laws.”
“You mean the same information Wade dug up for me?”
“Right,” Jack said, his voice even. “I wanted to read it for myself. Have you read the whole text of ORS Chapter 98?”
Allie nodded. “Yes.”
“So you know what it says about your obligation to provide notice to the county clerk within ten days and in the newspaper within twenty days.”
“I read the laws,” Allie said, doing her best to summon the lawyer voice she’d worked on up until she’d dropped out of law school. “But the notification rules only apply if you don’t know who the money belongs to. And I know now that it belonged to my grandmother. And now to me.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “On your mother’s say-so.”
“And the fact that my own birthdate was the combination on the lock.” Her pulse began to race. “Doesn’t that seem significant?”
“Maybe not as significant as the fact that the amount in that trunk isn’t too far off the mark of what was unaccounted for during your parents’ trial.”
She shouldn’t have been surprised he’d know the details. It had been in the papers, which also made clear that Priscilla Ross had been the instigator of the investment scam. Still, she hadn’t expected Jack to go reading up on old court cases and statutes that Allie would just as soon forget.
“Look, Allie—I’d love for that money to be yours. I really would.”
“It’s not about that, Jack.” Allie heard her voice start to quiver, but she was determined not to get choked up. “I’m not counting out fistfuls of hundreds and thinking about buying Prada handbags and a condo in Lake Oswego.”
“So what is it about?”
Allie sighed. “It’s about wanting to believe that’s not dirty money. That my family did something good by leaving it to me. That my grandma really cared that much.”
He didn’t say anything for a long time. When he finally spoke, his voice was softer. “I understand what you’re saying. But I’m just trying to keep you safe. To make sure you’re acting within the parameters of the law. That we both are. You know this affects me, too. I was there when you found that money.”
