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Yep, she didn’t want to hear that. “How much?”
“Well, I told Quaid it was a quarter million, but it’s closer to half.”
“Half a million?” She lowered her tone because it was the lunch rush and this was gossip central. “You owe some guy half a million dollars?”
“It started at three hundred, but he’s serious about the interest.”
Jayna took a deep breath because this was way worse than she’d imagined. There might be a real reason Quaid didn’t talk about his brother. How much trouble was he in? No legitimate lender would charge him that much interest. Banks could be predatory, but not like this. “Paul, are you telling me you owe some mafioso half a million dollars?”
Paul glanced around as though trying to make sure no one was listening. He leaned forward. Jayna waited for what had to be a lengthy explanation. “Yes.”
Paul sat back.
“You can’t just tell me yes. I need more than that. Why would you borrow that much money from someone who likes to break arms and legs?”
“Well, I didn’t know he liked to break things,” Paul admitted. “I only knew I needed the money and no bank was willing to give it to me. Film is not cheap. This was a business loan. I needed it to finish my film. I’m the producer, so it’s my job to finance the project.”
“Usually that’s done through banks or production companies.”
“I would have had to give up control,” Paul explained. “And if I brought in other producers, they would want partof the profits. This all happened very quickly. There wasn’t a lot of time to think. We were going to lose our shot at hitting the festival circuit. Which, I mean, we lost anyway when the script got caught up in a lawsuit. I went to this guy who came highly recommended for short-term loans. The plan was to finish the film and put it up on the festival circuit, where we would absolutely have been snapped up for distribution. The film is great. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Probably because they convinced me not to act in it. I’m a terrible actor. But I’m a good producer, and I’m pretty good with a script. I took that money because I believe in myself.”
“And it didn’t occur to you to ask your mom for the money? Or Quaid? You have a very wealthy family.”
“I ask my mom and Quaid gets mad at me. I would never ask Quaid for money. Never. He would accuse me of wanting to buy drugs—which I haven’t done in a long time. You have one little cocaine addiction and Quaid never lets you forget it.”
“Okay, so because you didn’t want to fight with your brother, you went to a loan shark.”
“I didn’t know he was a loan shark. I thought he was a film enthusiast who wanted to help me out in exchange for thanks in the film’s credits and a potentially insanely high interest rate that I never thought I would have to deal with. There was a balloon payment, but I was sure I would pay it back before then.”
A sudden thought hit her. “Your car wasn’t stolen, was it?”
“Oh, it was stolen. I’ve been informed that it pays off a portion of my debt, but that car is worth a hundred K and he’s only giving me half credit,” Paul complained. “That’s not fair. Do you think you could negotiate with him?”
He wanted her to negotiate with his loan shark? “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We need to go to the police.”
“No. That is a very bad idea. It’s not that big a deal. Look,the car’s worth a lot. I’ve already started the paperwork for the...”
“Don’t complete that sentence. I’m not kidding. I do not want to hear the words ‘insurance fraud’ come out of your mouth.”
“I wasn’t going to say that. Is it fraud? It was totally taken from me,” Paul began.
She held up a hand. “Not a single word more. I cannot hear about any crime you’ve committed or are planning to commit.”
“Is it a crime?” Paul seemed deeply confused. “He stole it right from a parking lot. I didn’t know it was him until way later.”
“That’s great. That means you didn’t file a false police report. But filing that claim with your insurance company is a crime, and so is the loan you took out, so let’s go to the cops. We can explain the situation to the sheriff’s office, and he can put us in touch with someone in LA.”
Paul’s head shook. “I can’t. I took out the loan. I knew what would happen, but I was betting on me, you know? I was saying yes to myself.”
“And now some guy will also say yes to breaking your limbs.” Quaid had gotten all the brain cells. All of them.
“No, they won’t because I’m going to pay them off when the sale of my house goes through in a few days,” he said with confidence. “And then I’m going to play it safe from now on. I’m going to settle down here in Louisiana and get a real job. I was thinking about opening an acting studio in New Orleans.”
Yeah, that would work out for him. It was blatantly obvious to her that Paul was in trouble and was totally naive about everything in the universe. It was probably a terrible idea, but she couldn’t let Quaid’s brother go without advice. “So all you need is for me to read over a property contract?”
He hesitated, and she knew she was in for way more. “That, and I was hoping you would look over another contract for me. It’s the one for the film I produced. It’s a fabulous story. I worked with a friend of mine on the screenplay. It’s about these brothers...”
“I don’t need to know the plot.” Where was her food? The café was usually very quick. This felt like torture. “What do you want me to look for? If I actually agree to do any of this. Which I have not.”
