Page 50 of Judas

Without warning, Judas veered the Audi onto an offramp then into the parking lot of a near empty Whataburger, beforeslamming on the brakes. The plan was fully formed in his mind before he had time to stop the car.

"Jesus, Judas! What's wrong?" Eliza gasped, still clinging to the dashboard.

"Your dad's a lawyer," Judas said, his eyes darted as all the pieces fell into place.

She looked at him incredulously, "Yeah, so am I. The point?"

"You'rebothlawyers," he offered.

Eliza's eyes rolled, "We've established that."

She wasn't getting his point and it made him smile. He turned to her, "Your father has a will, correct? I bet you do as well."

"Of course. Dad set up a trust years ago. I'm the sole beneficiary," her brow furrowed deeper.

"Eliza," Judas cleared his throat. "When was the last time you knew of a lawyer not having all of his affairs in order? I'm willing to bet Paul also has you listed as his Power of Attorney, in case something were to happen. Say… he's incapacitated?"

Her heart fell to her knees; this man was a certified genius. She looked back down at the check in her hand, "North Texas Bank and Trust."

Before she could utter another word, Judas already had the car turned and back on the freeway.

Chapter thirty-six

The tiny, unassuming white building of the North Texas Bank and Trust sat meekly between a cluster of similar retail spaces. Much taller office buildings with mirrored windows surround the bustling area like guardians. Once inside, Eliza and Judas waited for a young woman, with a long braid of chestnut hair to finish with another customer before they stepped forward.

"Welcome in! How can I help you today?" her Texas drawl dripped with sweetness.

Eliza read her name tag. "Hello, Ashley, I'm Eliza Arthur and my father has an account here. Unfortunately, he's been in an…accident," she paused. "I'm his Power of Attorney on record and need his bank statements for the past month so I can reconcile the account. Can you help me?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry about your daddy, Ms. Arthur," Ashley said before a soft smile smoothed her lips. "He's such a nice man…and I'm just so excited he's going to be our next state senator.I'll just have to check your identification and match it with the records real quick."

Removing her wallet, Eliza handed her driver's license to the woman as she punched in keys on her computer. Eliza assumed she was pulling the trust paperwork to confirm the claim and match names. Once satisfied, Ashley nodded to herself before turning back to Eliza and Judas.

"I'll get all of that printed for you in a jiff. You can just wait here, I'll run back to the printer," she instructed. They waited in pregnant silence for several minutes before the teller returned to her post with a small handful of neatly stacked and paperclipped papers. "Here you go! And you tell your daddy, we're all praying for him here."

Eliza painted on her most charming smile, and Judas almost laughed. Almost. Just as suddenly as the amusement fell over him, it just as quickly dissipated. He felt sad for her in a way. How many years had she been putting on that fake smile of hers? Certainly long enough to fool her father and everyone else, but not him. He could see right through the mask and into the pain she held underneath. If he could, Judas would die a thousand deaths if he never saw that mask again.

"Thank you," she replied before turning sharply toward the door, Judas on her heel. They were barely outside the tinted glass doors and Eliza's eyes were scanning every word. Judas read quickly over her shoulder and found something interesting.

"There," he pointed to the bottom of the page. "A check for four thousand five hundred dollars written to Dr. Abigail Dupree. I wonder who that is."

"I don't know," the crease between Eliza's eyes furrowed deeper. But like a light in the darkness, a switch flipped, "Dra!"

Judas exclaimed understanding, "D-R-A. Dr. Abigail. But why is he paying her these large amounts of money? You said they went back years on the computer, right?"

"They do," Eliza nodded, looking up at him as they walked to the car. "But, who is she?"

Judas held the door for her, "Paul's not sick, is he?"

She waited for him to slide behind the wheel before answering, "No way…and if he was ill for this long, I'd know it. Judas, these payments are going back at least a decade, maybe longer. And there's no pattern to them, as far as I can tell. Two checks one year, five the next. It's so weird."

She paused to think for a moment.

"That number…didn't you find a phone number at my dad's?" she asked excitedly as a plan was rumbling in her mind. She didn't know who this person was or what connection she had to her father, but Eliza was damn sure going to find out.

Judas took his wallet off the dash of the car, "Yeah, it's right here."

Eliza nearly snatched it out of his fingers and was dialing before he could get a word in. When the phone began to ring, she put it on speaker so he could hear as well.

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