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“Just a small one,” Victoria replied. “The backyard is big, but it’s not that big. But I knew Archie wanted to have a first dance, and there’s enough room that about half the people coming should be able to fit as long as they don’t get too crazy.”
Somehow, I doubted anyone attending the wedding would turn the dance floor into a mosh pit. It would be a small group, just twenty-five of us, which Victoria had said suited her just fine.
“I’ve overseen enough huge weddings that I’m fine with having something small and low-key,” she’d told me months ago when she and Archie were still in the early planning stages of the ceremony, and I could totally understand her position. Calvin’s and my wedding had ballooned into a much bigger production than I’d originally planned, partly because his own family was so large, and although I wouldn’t have changed a single thing about the day, I also had to admit it had been kind of exhausting.
Then again, a good chunk of weariness at the end of that particular day could have been because I’d been up past midnight the evening before making sure Alice Bigelow, the resident ghost in the mansion where the wedding had taken place, was finally reunited with her true love and able to move on to the next plane of existence.
Victoria would have her parents at her ceremony, although the rest of her family back in Minnesota wouldn’t be attending, mostly because her brothers and sister all had small children to wrangle. The other guests included a couple of her college sorority sisters, and some friends she’d made while living here in Globe.
One of whom was Joyce Lewis, who obviously would bring Henry with her.
That wouldn’t be awkward at all.
As best I could, though, I pushed all that out of my head, and tried to focus on how lovely the day would be despite Victoria’s current legal troubles. After all, it could have been worse — the judge could have denied bail, could have told Victoria she needed to put everything on hold until after the trial. I still wasn’t thrilled with him for keeping her here instead of allowing her to go on her honeymoon, but it was still better than being behind bars.
The spa day — such as it was — had been my treat, so I headed up to the counter with Jackie so I could pay for all three of our mani/pedis. When I handed one of my debit cards to her, however, the card machine made an extremely unpleasant sound.
“I’m so sorry,” Jackie said, not quite meeting my eyes. “Your card was declined.”
Declined? I thought, flabbergasted. No, I didn’t check my accounts every day, but I knew there had to be at least fifty thousand dollars in the one that particular card was attached to. There was no way in the world there couldn’t be enough to cover the two hundred bucks or so that our three manicures and pedicures had cost.
Trying to ignore the unpleasant thump-thump of my worried heart, I pulled out another card. “Try this one.”
To my infinite relief, that one went through, and because Victoria and Hazel had been taking their time slipping their sandals back on, I didn’t think they’d noticed anything. I forced a smile as they approached the counter.
“I guess we’ll all reconvene at Victoria’s house tomorrow,” I said, and she nodded.
“That’s the plan,” she said. “See you around ten-thirty?”
We’d already agreed on that hour — I could tell she didn’t want Hazel and me coming over too early — so I just nodded. “See you then.”
Hazel also promised to be there at ten-thirty, and we all got into our separate vehicles and headed home.
The whole way, my thoughts wouldn’t stop racing, trying to figure out what had gone wrong with my debit card. True, that wasn’t my biggest account, and I had literally millions of dollars stashed in various places, some of which were investment accounts that would be very difficult to access, but still.
What the hell was going on?
Calvin was already home from work, and he took one look at my face as I rushed into the house and said, “What’s wrong? Did something happen at your appointment?”
“They declined my card, is what happened,” I told him, and his dark eyes widened in shock.
“That’s impossible.”
His tone was flat; while he’d always told me the money I’d inherited from Lucien Dumond was mine and he didn’t have any right to any of it, he still knew enough to realize there was no way even the smallest of my accounts wouldn’t have sufficient funds to cover a trip to the nail salon.
“We’d better go look,” I told him.
So the two of us headed into my office, Sadie dancing at our heels and looking puzzled why we’d gone straight there rather than settling down in the living room or going to the kitchen the way we normally would. I booted up my laptop and logged into my account…only to find, as my stomach clenched in shock, that it had been drained down to almost nothing, with only a hundred dollars and some change left.
Just enough so I wouldn’t have gotten a warning text from the bank, letting me know I’d fallen below the minimum I’d set for any account balance alerts.
It wasn’t as though the money had been taken out in one lump sum, though. No, there were dozens and dozens of charges, mostly to online jewelry and electronics stores, some to clothing and shoe outlets.
“I didn’t even realize you could spend eight thousand dollars at Zappos,” Calvin remarked as he looked over my shoulder.
“Oh, you’d be surprised,” I said. “I mean, one pair of Fluevog boots is like five hundred bucks or something. But I know I sure as hell didn’t spend any of this.”
“You need to call the bank and report all these fraudulent transactions,” my husband replied. “And then try to find out where all this stuff is being shipped. That should point you toward the thief.”
