Chapter 13
“Then who benefits?” I asked.
Claire’s answer was simple.
“Follow what happens after the money arrives.”
Two days later, she had something.
The companies receiving the payments belonged to Dustin’s uncle, Raymond Reed.
But the money did not stay there.
Within days, most of it was transferred again as consulting payments to another company.
Hollis Management Services.
Eddie stared at the name.
“No.”
We were sitting around our kitchen table.
Marcy had insisted on being included, though Linda kept reminding her not to stare at the laptop too long.
“You know it?” I asked.
Eddie nodded.
“My business manager.”
Dustin leaned forward.
“Cal Hollis?”
“He’s handled the gym books for four years.”
Marcy looked at him.
“Does he have your office code?”
Eddie didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
Cal Hollis was fifty-three, soft-spoken, and so ordinary that I struggled to remember him even after Eddie showed me a photograph.
That seemed to be one of his greatest advantages.
He had access without attracting attention.
He processed invoices.
He reconciled accounts.
He knew when Eddie would be gone.
And he knew Raymond Reed’s companies were complicated enough to become easy explanations for irregular payments.
“Why would Raymond send the money on to him?” Dustin asked.
“He might not know,” Claire said. “If Hollis controls the accounting paperwork for both sides, he may be creating the transfers himself.”
“Can he do that?”
“Depending on permissions, yes.”
Eddie looked sick.
“I trusted him.”
Claire’s voice softened.
“That’s why internal fraud often lasts. Access is usually built on trust.”
Marcy leaned back.
Something about that sentence affected her.
Maybe all of us.
Access is built on trust.
So were families.
So were relationships.
And sometimes we mistook trust for never asking questions.
By Friday, we had enough information to do what Marcy had wanted from the beginning.
We called professionals.
Not vigilantes.
Not friends of friends.
Not men who promised to “handle” things.
Eddie contacted his bank’s fraud department and attorney.
Claire prepared a clear timeline.
The bank froze suspicious transactions while reviewing the accounts.
Nobody confronted Cal Hollis.
May you like
Nobody confronted Raymond Reed.
That restraint turned out to be valuable.
