Page 21 of Stone Cold Savage

“Not at all. Just the account number on which you made payments. Looks like there were a couple of accounts attached to her.” Coy said, “Either of these look familiar? We can’t see anything but the account number right now, and we get this wrong; we set off a lot of alarms that will be tough to shut off because financial institutions don’t mess around.”

“I thought you said there wouldn’t be any consequence here…” Nash nervously questioned. “I’m not trying to catch felonies of any kind.”

“And that will land you dozens of them.” Devyn chimed in.

“Thanks. That was helpful.” Coy sneered. “You won’t be liable, Nash. I’m just saying it’s best if we don’t sound those alarms. You good?”

“I’m good. Let’s just get it over with.” Nash said. “Let’s do this.”

The group stayed at the table together for longer than anyone cared to admit, hunting for answers everywhere they could. With multiple downloaded files safely stored and just as many printed stacks of paper, they closed the computers, and everyone let out a sigh of relief.

“That loan didn’t pay for the cancer,” Coy grunted. “Just as we suspected.”

Nash flipped through pages of medical bills, shaking his head, “Not even a little bit. I can’t believe this is how much there is left to pay. How do people afford this?”

“They don’t,” Charlotte said. “It’s unfair, really, like putting a price on life.”

“And in this case, there’s a large sum due, and she didn’t even get a second chance at life.” Nash tossed the papers on the table in frustration. “Dying is expensive.”

“I think we should have the itemized bills further analyzed.” Coy continued.

“You think she was charged incorrectly?” Charlotte asked, “I can help if…”

“Not exactly.” Coy interrupted. “I think we need to make sure she got all the treatment she needed and nothing extra.”

“Extra?” Charlotte questioned, awareness washing over her, “Oh, you think… Oh my…”

“Care to fill us in?” Devyn huffed.

“I think what your brother is eluding to is… what you all would consider… foul play?” Charlotte swallowed hard, nearly choking on her words. “I, uh, I can help you sort that out. I’m not an expert, but I’m the closest one you probably have here. And, like I said before, you probably shouldn’t read the chart notes unless absolutely necessary. It can be heartbreaking.”

“I’d appreciate that.” Coy nodded. “You find anything out of the ordinary –– bring it up. We have people who can dig deeper if we give them a starting point. I don’t want to exhaust resources on a gut feeling.”

“Understood.” Charlotte’s eyes welled up, “Just the thought of…”

Nash covered her hand with his, “I know, honey. We all know.”

When a single tear escaped her, Dillon spoke up, “Charlotte, no matter what you find in there, know that we don’t hold you accountable. If something was done maliciously…”

Charlotte nodded vigorously and swiped the tear away as if she’d dug deep and found a new source of strength, “I know. I can’t say it would sit right with me for obvious reasons, but I understand. Please… let me help you with this.”

Coy quickly glanced at each of the siblings and nodded, “Thank you, Charlotte.”

“The other thing we need to dig into, Coy, is these financials. If that money didn’t go toward her treatment, where did it go, and why?” Kenzie asked. “I know we still have a lot of unanswered questions, making it hard to determine what applies and what doesn’t, if anything, but I think it’s pretty clear now these things are all connected, and Lilah had many secrets that she was juggling, all the way to her grave.”

“It’s a fair conclusion,” Coy said. “It’s so out of character for her, but then, she even kept the cancer from all of us until she couldn’t any longer. There’s a lot about our mother, none of us knew. Not even you, Nash, and you spent the most time with her in her final year.”

“I hate to say it, but she did seem different. Stressed. Anxious. On edge. Quiet. I just assumed it was the cancer.” Nash said, “In hindsight, I can see there being much more to that than just being ill, and I wish I saw it for what it was.”

“The secret that killed her?” Devyn deadpanned.

Coy put up a hand to stop the speculation from getting out of control, “Hold on, we don’t know…”

“Sure, we do,” Devyn replied, her words full of pain and sorrow. She didn’t trust me, changed her will, and took out loans that could rob us of the only home any of us have ever known…”

“We won’t let that happen. The debts are large, I’ll admit, but we aren’t going to lose this place –– we have some money…” Dillon started.

“As do I…” Coy chimed in.

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