Page 47

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA

TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2023

4:45 P.M.

Adam Brewster was in the process of shutting down his computer to head home when a call came in from James Fisk. Jimmy—as Adam’s previous partner, Michael Lafferty, had called him. Fisk had been Michael’s personal banker for decades. Now, with Micheal gone, he was Adam and Joel’s personal banker.

“Hey, Jimmy,” Adam said when he answered. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering how things are with you?”

“Fine,” Adam began, then changed his mind. “Fairly fine,” he amended. “My father passed away a couple of weeks ago, so things have been a bit complicated.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jimmy said. “Had he been ill?”

“Actually, he was murdered,” Adam answered. “His wife, my stepmother, appears to be the prime suspect.”

“Wow,” Jimmy said. “Losing a parent is tough, but losing one to a homicide has to be devastating.”

James Fisk wasn’t privy to the details of Adam’s personal life, and Adam felt a little further explanation was necessary. “My father and I had been estranged for close to twenty years. We had just begun to reestablish contact when all this happened, so I’m still not sure what I’m supposed to feel. But what can I do for you?”

“I’m actually calling about one of your accounts—the one ending in 024.”

“That’s the household account,” Adam said.

“There’s been some unusual activity on it in the last couple of weeks, and I’ve just now noticed that it’s overdrawn,” Jimmy explained. “Your line of credit is there, so there won’t be any overdraft charges, but would you like me to transfer some funds in from your investment account to put the other one back in the black?”

Adam was mystified. On the first of every month, he made a twelve-thousand-dollar deposit into the household account to cover all automatic bill-paying activity and for Joel to use to cover groceries, the landscaper, the pool guy, auto repairs, and anything else that might come up. Yes, it was close to the end of the month, but Adam had never known the account to be overdrawn.

“What kind of unusual activity?” he asked.

“In the past week or so there have been several sizable checks that came through that account. They’ve all been written to cash and endorsed by Joel. One for five thousand dollars cleared just a little while ago. That one, combined with the posting of the ACH on Joel’s Camaro, put your balance over the edge.”

“Why on earth would Joel be writing checks for cash?” Adam demanded.

“I have no idea,” Jimmy replied. “As a signer on the account, the tellers had no reason to ask. The situation came to my attention due to the overdraft. Would you want me to make that transfer?”

Adam’s investment account held the remainder of the sizable inheritance he had received in the aftermath of Michael’s death, and he had maintained that account as his separate property. He had occasionally felt guilty about doing so, but right this minute, if Joel was doing things behind his back, that was probably a good thing.

“No,” Adam said decisively. “I’m leaving for home right now and I intend to find out what the hell is going on. I’ll get back to you tomorrow about making that transfer.”

“Should I post a fraud alert on that account?” Jimmy asked.

“By all means,” Adam said. “I want the regular bills to go through without interruption, but if Joel tries to write any more checks, can you keep those from clearing?”

“In order to do so, I’ll need you to come in and sign some paperwork.”

“All right, then,” Adam growled into the phone. “Depending on what I find out once I get home, I’ll stop by tomorrow. We can square things up then.”