Page 147 of Mangled Memory
“C-Bar was a company I incorporated that I planned would take the fall if shit went south. You put money in from your joint account so Janie could get medicine or have additional care when necessary. You stopped making deposits when you fell for that man’s bullshit. Your mother suffered. The end.”
“And the Laotian nationals?”
“They said they wanted to attract business to the country and thought that having a presence here would help other investorssee the legitimacy of their business ventures. In reality, they wanted a couple of buildings for whatever they were smuggling in or out of the country.”
“What were they smuggling?”
“Again, I don’t care. They paid. I accepted. It was fine.”
“Until they stopped paying and wanted their investment capital back?” I’m making this up on the fly but either I’m right or he’ll spill.
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you care about Mom and you care about money, not always in that order. The only thing that would bother you about smugglers would be if they wanted something from you. And they wouldn’t want Mom, so money is the other option.”
He stares at me, anger bubbling visibly in his features.
“So they shot Christian, thinking that would motivate you, and figured they’d kidnap me for good measure. They failed the first time, but managed to do it yesterday. What happened in the meantime?”
He says nothing.
I’m pushing my luck, but I don’t give a shit. I need these answers. I want fucking iced tea on my front porch in Aspen and I don’t want to drink it while wearing Kevlar.
“Did you steal their smuggled goods? Or try to cheat them in some other way?”
He goes silent.
I slide my phone from my pocket and call Christian.
“Hey, baby. How’s it going?”
“Dad doesn’t want to talk. Please tell Mr. Dohltree that I’ll sign an affidavit indicating my involvement in the forgery at my father’s coercion.”
“Is this the final nail in the coffin? Or are you bluffing and at your wits’ end?”
“I can’t believe Mom agreed to go with you to confess to fraud.”
“Holy shit, you’ve taken it up a notch. Seamus is going to lose his mind.” The smile in my husband’s voice is unmistakable.
“Hang that fucking phone up right now.” Dad is irritable and turning the color of a bruised beet.
I cover the mouthpiece but not with any intent of blocking the sound. “Why? Something you need to tell me?”
He stares at my phone, and I speak into the receiver. “I need to call you back. Give me a few.”
“I gotta say, Princess, you’re making me hard with this act.”
“Love you, too, Honey.” I disconnect and drop my phone from my face, turning my attention back to my father.
“You wanted to say something?”
“They wanted their investment capital back and they wanted payment for the opium.” He looks away in complete defeat. He must love my mother, because he’s confessed to more shit than I can count. Felony shit.
“Opium?”
“The buildings needed one secure room. I didn’t have to do anything other than buy the properties and get one solid room for them. But when they stopped paying rent, I was left with notes on buildings that weren’t finished, so they couldn’t be rented. I couldn’t finish them with the capital already spent and I couldn’t sell when they were in that condition without short-selling in a huge way. And the drugs were easy to move. It bought me enough capital to sell all the buildings but the one we were in yesterday.”
“The one where they asked me to kill you, or they’d kill Ci. Let’s be specific. You put me and my brother in that situation.”
