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Holly
Holly took a deep breath before entering the bakery. It had taken her a few days to build up the desire to meet with Mandy, but she’d finally decided it was time. She could ask a few probing questions and hopefully get something Dougie could use to run a test. One way or another, at least she’d be able to put this issue in her life to rest.
The bell above the door jingled, and Mandy’s eyes lit up when she recognized Holly. “You came. I was beginning to think you weren’t going to.”
“Yeah, well, it’s been a tough few weeks. Honestly, finding the energy to get out of bed is a little challenging sometimes.” She was trying hard not to let depression take over her life, and Dougie was certainly helping with that by checking on her each night, but with no word on the arson investigation and nothing from the insurance company yet or Sylvia, it was getting harder and harder to greet each morning, and doing it with a cheerful smile and sunny disposition was nearly out of the question.
“I can’t even imagine, but thank you for agreeing to meet again,” Mandy said as she grabbed two mugs and a pot of coffee. “Are you hungry? Becca made some amazing cinnamon rolls this morning.”
“Sure, a cinnamon roll sounds nice.” Holly sat down at one of the tables and waited for Mandy to join her with the food and drinks. She might have been slow when she was new, but she seemed completely at ease now, balancing the pieces effortlessly.
When Mandy set down the coffee, Holly grabbed the mugs and began pouring. “I realized I probably didn’t give you the reaction you were hoping for the other day, but I was kind of in shock.” She pushed a mug across to Mandy and grabbed one of the cinnamon rolls.
Mandy smiled as she tore open a sugar packet and poured it into the coffee. “That’s completely understandable. I showed up here unannounced wanting to be part of your life and you didn’t even know I existed. I’d be in shock too. Plus, with your restaurant and everything… well, I’m sorry about the timing.” She stirred the coffee but didn’t drink any.
“Yeah, the timing is unfortunate, but not your fault, so I’d like to know about you. Tell me about your mom and your life growing up.” Holly lifted her mug in hopes it would entice Mandy to do the same. She didn’t know how she was going to sneak the woman’s mug out, but it was worth a shot.
Mandy twisted the mug in a circle. “My life was interesting. Mom was an event planner, which is how she met Brad. Evidently, she was in charge of setting up one of his campaign rallies. He charmed her, as I’m sure you know, got her pregnant, and then left her. I think she really loved him though because as I said she never remarried, and she didn’t even date until I graduated high school.”
“So, she raised you as a single mother? That must have been hard.” Even though Brad had been in her mother’s life, she’d often felt like her mother did the same with as much as he was gone.
“Yeah, I mean, it wasn’t easy. It never is, but she did the best she could. And Brad at least sent money to help. He never mentioned having other children?”
Holly took a sip of her coffee and shook her head. “No, we knew about the affairs but he always played them off as one time things. My mother should have left him the first time he did it, but I think she enjoyed the lavish lifestyle too much.”
“I can see that. When I found out Brad was my father, I was angry at first and didn’t want his money or anything associated with him. But then I realized his money could help me and there was no reason not to take it.”
“Yeah, money is funny like that. The love of it certainly leads people to evil and changes them, but you also need it to live.” Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out to silence it, but when the message on her screen showed the insurance company, she clicked it instead. “Sorry, give me just a second. This is about the insurance claim.”
Were they finally paying it? Sylvia hadn’t mentioned anything lately, but maybe the company had decided to message Holly directly. She clicked the message and perused it, wrinkles erupting on her forehead as she read.
“We thank you for working with us on your claim. All funds have been disbursed. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.” All funds disbursed? Why hadn’t Sylvia told her it was settled? Holly clicked over to her banking app and pulled it up, but there was no deposit there. What was going on?
“Is everything okay?” Mandy asked, concern coloring her voice.
“I don’t know. Give me another minute.” Holly dialed the number listed for the insurance company and punched the buttons impatiently as she tried to get a human on the line.
“This is Entitled Insurance, what can I do for you?”
“My name is Holly Bingman. I received a message that my claim was paid out, but I have no deposit in my bank account.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Ms. Bingman. Can you give me the claim number and I’ll look into this?”
Holly rattled off the number and waited as the representative did whatever she needed to on the other end.
“Thank you for waiting. I do see that claim was paid out this morning to an account number ending in 2543.”
“2543? That’s not my account number. Where did you send my money?” Holly could not believe this was happening.
“Um, I’m not sure. It appears the account has your name on it as well as a Sylvia Mason.”
Sylvia. Had she been duped again? She supposed it was possible Sylvia had opened an account for Holly and had to be on it in order to receive the funds from the insurance company, but if that was the case, why had she never mentioned it? A red hot rage erupted in Holly’s belly. Sylvia was not going to get away with it if that was the case. “Thank you.” Holly ended the call and then dialed Sylvia’s number, but all she got was a recording that the number was no longer in service. This could not be happening.
She ended the call and was about to dial Dougie when the phone began ringing in her hand and his name popped up on her caller ID. “Dougie? We have to find Sylvia. I think she stole my money.”
“Holly, Sylvia is the woman Frederick was having an affair with,” he said at the same time.
“Wait, what?” Holly asked. “Sylvia and Frederick?”
“She’s the woman from the hotel. She wore a wig and rented the room under a different name, but we ran facial recognition and Miguel is almost certain it’s her. What do you mean she stole your money?”
“I just got a message that the insurance claim had been disbursed, but I checked my account and there was no deposit. I called the company and they gave me the last four digits of the account they paid it to, and it’s not mine, but it had my name on it as well as Sylvia’s. I’ve tried calling her, but the number is disconnected. I can’t believe I fell for another con.”
“Holly, we will find her. When was the money disbursed?”
“This morning. I’m going to head over to her business. Maybe she hasn’t left town yet.”
“No, wait. We have no idea if she’s dangerous. I’ll head over there and we’ll check traffic cameras and start a background check on her to see if there are any other known aliases. Plus we’ll put a BOLO out on her and her vehicle, but you need to stay out of it. We will find her.”
“I’m sorry, Dougie, but I’m not letting her get away.”
He sighed on the other end. “Fine, but don’t confront her. If you see her, wait for me or follow her, but stay in your car. I’m heading there now. Oh, and Holly? I ran a background on Mandy, and she appears legit. I don’t know all of what happened with your father, but I thought you should know.”
Holly glanced over at Mandy as she pushed back her chair and stood. “Thanks, Dougie. I appreciate it.” She ended the call and grabbed her keys. She knew Dougie was doing all he could, and even if he failed, she knew he wouldn’t stop trying until there was nothing more he could do, but she couldn’t just sit back and wait. Not anymore.
“Is everything okay?” Mandy asked.
“No, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to cut this short. Sylvia Mason is trying to steal my insurance money and I can’t let it happen.” She looked down at Mandy’s still untouched mug and decided it no longer mattered. Dougie had done a check on her and that was almost as good as a test. Besides, she didn’t have time to wait for the woman to drink it. “We’ll find another time, I promise.”
With that, she hurried out of the door and to her car. Firing up the engine, she peeled out of the parking lot and headed for Sylvia’s business. She had no idea if the woman would be there, but she didn’t know where Sylvia lived, so it was the only place she knew to go.
She reached the office just moments before Dougie’s car pulled in, but there were no other cars in the parking lot and the lights in the building were off. Holly pounded the wheel in frustration and yelled out at God. “Why, God? Why can’t I ever catch a break?” Hot tears flooded her eyes as she watched Dougie approach the building and try the door. Shaking his head, he made his way over to her car and pulled open the passenger door.
“It’s locked. There’s no one here, but I promise you we will find her.”
“How, Dougie? How will we find her? She probably knew the money was coming this morning and left town days ago. She didn’t need to be here to get it.”
He scooted as close as the seats would allow and pulled her to him. “We’re tracing activity from any account with her name on it. She’ll have to use the money sooner or later. Officer Shelby is pulling the traffic cams, and we have an alert out on her car. Someone is bound to see it.”
Holly shook her head. “I just can’t believe I got conned again. What’s wrong with me? Why do I trust all the wrong people?”
“Hey, she fooled Tiffany and the whole town too. This is not on you, and I promise we will find her.” The radio on his side squelched at that moment.
“All units, we have a hit on that BOLO. Suspect’s card was just used at a gas station in Graham. Local officers are en route.”
Dougie smiled at her. “You see? I told you we’d get her. Now, how about we head to the station and wait for her to get hauled in so we can find out what the whole story is?”
Holly sniffed back her tears and nodded. It wasn’t over yet, but it appeared she owed God an apology.
