Page 37 of A Week Away
“We’ll leave you to it, then,” I said. I nodded at Cass to get him to lead me to his mother’s office. He popped to life and led me into the office.
The office had a window that looked out onto a wooded area. There was the desk with a computer sitting on it, a credenza behind it, a guest chair, a bookcase filled with three-inch binders, and a corn plant that was thriving. On the wall was an idyllic scene of a cabin in the woods.
“Who is that?” I whispered.
“Claudia. She’s the secretary.”
“Does she normally make collection calls?”
He shrugged.
“Find something we can say we came to get. Something personal,” I said, then I went and sat behind the desk. I started opening the drawers.
Obviously, I didn’t expect to find anything to do with Joanne’s embezzling from Top Dog. She kept all evidence of that at home. What I was looking for was more personal. Something she might want to hide from Cass.
The desk top was neat. There was a spotless blotter, a computer that looked recent—but then what did I know—a telephone that matched the one Claudia was using, with lights on the side that showed which lines were in use, a cup from Caesar’s Palace filled with pens, in and out trays with neat stacks of paper, and a box of tissues.
One of the lights on the phone came on. Claudia was on the phone again. I listened a moment. While I couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying, I heard the words lawsuit, garnish and judgement. Another collection call.
I glanced at Cass. He was completely still, yet tense. Like he was waiting for a bomb to go off. I didn’t have time to deal with him. The top drawer held paperclips, a stapler, a couple of rubber stamps, a roll of US stamps—thirty-two cents, yellow roses, Post-its, some spare change, a bottle of clear nail polish and a random pink lipstick.
The drawer on the left held business envelopes and small lined pads. The drawer on my right held a deposit bag for Chase Manhattan. I took it out and flipped through. There were about twenty checks equaling close to thirty thousand dollars. They were all made out to TOP DOG COLLECTIONS and dated in the last week. If that was an average weekly haul, then I could see why it was so simple for Cray’s employees to help themselves to a bit off the top.
When I put the bag back into the drawer my hand brushed against something in the back. I pulled it out. A photograph. Polaroid. There was a pretty teenage girl with a big smile and black hair done up in high pigtails like the girl inThree’s Company. Next to her was a muscular guy around the same age with curly black hair, a crisp jawline and a permanent five o’clock shadow. He had an arm slung over the girl in a possessive way. His dark eyes seemed to challenge all comers.
I’d already noticed there were no photos at the house, and no photo albums that I’d been able to find. So why did Joanne have this photo? Why was it here? In her desk?
I showed it to Cass, asking, “Do you know who these people are?”
“Yeah. That’s my mom.”
“And the guy?”
“My second cousin, Luca.”
CHAPTERTWELVE
September 15, 1996
Sunday afternoon
It wasn’t hard leaving the office, Claudia was deep into a call, “Don’t you have any family? Can’t you ask your mother for the money? Your dad? You have a brother? You have friends, don’t you? You really need to pay this bill. The doctor saved your life, and you owe—I see. I see. Well, I’m sure he did his best by you. And medical school isn’t free, you know.”
Once the door was shut behind us, I asked Cass, “Do you know how all of that works?”
“I already told you.”
“Tell me again.”
“There’s these companies that buy debt from department stores and hospitals and places. Like, people can’t pay and they don’t feel like making them pay. So these other companies buy up lots of that bad debt. Pennies on the dollar. Then Mr. Cray buys it from them for a tiny bit more than they paid. He only buys debt in Michigan in case he needs to go to court. Mostly they threaten people a bunch of times until they cough up some money, so he doesn’t go to court a lot.”
“Sweet,” I said sarcastically.
By the time he was done, we were climbing into his car.
“How long have you worked there?”
“Since I was fifteen.”
