Chapter 2

I hung up and looked at Jason, whose face was ashen. "Now you get it, right?"

Jason slumped onto the couch, the contract slipping from his hand and falling to the floor.

He'd been in the loan business for over a decade, but this was a first for him.

The deed, the land title, the appraisal. Every document was in order. There was even a notarized certificate.

Who could have guessed the property itself no longer existed?

"Wait." Jason looked up sharply. "The notary office had to check the records. How could they notarize a property that was already off the books?"

I handed him another document. "This is a statement from the notary. They never notarized this mortgage. That certificate is a forgery."

Jason started trembling all over.

Two million. For a small operation like his, it was enough to crush everyone.

If he couldn't recover the money, he'd face personal liability and lose everything.

"I'm calling the cops." Jason shot to his feet. "This is fraud."

"Good. I was about to do the same." I pulled out my phone. "I'm pressing charges against Henry for theft, forgery, and fraud."

Just then, I heard hurried footsteps outside. Henry and Amy burst in, both out of breath.

Amy jabbed her finger at me. "Queenie, how can you be so heartless? Henry is in trouble, and you're going to sit back and do nothing?"

I looked at her calmly. "Do you know when this house was condemned?

"Last August. And Henry used the deed as collateral this February, after the holidays.

"Which means when he stole the deed, he already knew the property was void."

Henry's face flushed crimson, his lips trembling, rendered speechless.

Amy was about to keep mouthing off, but Jason cut her short. "You'd better shut up. This is a fraud case. Two million dollars. That's enough to land you at least ten years behind bars."

Amy went ghost-white at the mention of "ten years."

She grabbed Henry by the collar. "Didn't you say you were borrowing money to get us through? Didn't you say you could pay it back?"

Henry avoided her eyes, his voice barely audible. "I thought I could earn it back."

"Earn it back?" I pulled up a photo on my phone. "You thought you'd take the 2 million to a casino table and earn it back?"

The photos showed Henry sitting there, stacks of chips piled in front of him.

A friend sent this to me from Crescent Bay.

I'd started getting suspicious about Henry's whereabouts a month ago.

Amy was frozen in shock when she saw the photo.

"You went gambling in Crescent Bay?" Her voice quivered.

Henry tried to defend himself, but Jason grabbed him by the collar. "How much of that 2 million dollars is left?"

"There's more than 100 thousand dollars left," Henry mumbled, his head hanging low, his voice barely audible.

Jason let go, stumbling back a couple of steps, nearly losing his balance.

Of the 2 million, only 100 thousand remained. In six months, Henry had gambled away 1.9 million.

Amy let out a shriek and slapped Henry hard across the face. "You good-for-nothing. Are you trying to ruin our whole family?"

After the slap, Henry suddenly crumpled to the ground and grabbed my leg, begging desperately. "Queenie, please, you have to help me. We're siblings. How can you watch your own brother go down like this?"

I looked down at him, my heart sinking with sorrow.

Was this really the same brother who used to stand up for me and protect me from everyone?

"Henry, get up," I said, my voice calm. "Do you remember how Mom and Dad died?"

Henry's body went rigid.

"Ten years ago, Mom and Dad were driving out of town to pick up some goods when they got into a car accident," I said, enunciating every word. "It was before Christmas. Why were they in such a rush?"

Henry stayed silent, and Amy stopped crying.

I continued, "Because you owed someone 20 thousand dollars, and they were pressuring you to pay up. Mom and Dad drove through the night, trying to make extra money to help you pay off your debt.

"But on the highway, Dad was exhausted from driving and crashed into the guardrail."