Page 94 of See You There

Something expanded in Dahlia’s chest. Luke said his reason wasn’t noble, that he was only in it for the money, but it wasn’t true. “You went to work for the public defender’s office when you graduated?”

“My father loved that,” Luke said sarcastically.

The sun was now high overhead, beating down on them through an opening in the trees. “I’m starving,” Luke said, rubbing his stomach. “Ready to head back to get some lunch?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Dahlia volunteeredto make lunch while he stepped outside to return several missed calls. A couple were from Brady, one from James, and another from an unknown number.

“Hey, man,” Brady greeted him.

Dahlia had said not to search for Scott, but… “Any luck?”

“Not a lot. I found a marriage license in a small town in Ohio. That gave me a jumping off point. Found a mugshot. Do you want me to send it to you?”

Brady took Luke’s noncommittal grunt as a yes, and seconds later Luke’s phone pinged with a text. The photo showed a young man whose skin was already showing the signs of hard living. No one looks good in a mugshot, but Luke couldn’t see anything about Scott English that would have made Dahlia put up with so much. The only thing that was even remotely interesting about his appearance was that his eyes were two different colors.

“I ran a check of some known associates. Looks like this Victor guy is related to her husband,” Brady said, after Luke closed the photo.

“Yeah, she told me that. What about Scott? Criminal history?”

“Pages and pages. Nothing major. Petty theft, drunk and disorderly, DUIs, but nothing in the last five years.”

“He hasn’t been arrested at all?”

“Yeah, it’s suspicious. Before that, he had an arrest at least every six months.”

“Is he in jail?”

“Not that I can find,” Brady said. “But I’m still looking.”

“If we could locate his bank—”

“That’s a dead end. It’s one of those internet banks, no physical location. Another weird thing—Victor’s name is on all of Scott’s accounts except for one which has a Tammy English as a co-account holder. Wasn’t hard to discover she’s his mom.”

Luke sorted through the information Brady had shared. There was something about the whole thing that felt wrong.

“I got some stuff on your girl, too.”

A knot formed in Luke’s stomach, and his eyes went to where she was dancing around to music playing out of her phone while she made sandwiches. “What about Dahlia?”

“She’s broke. Huge balances on her credit cards and next to nothing in the bank. Can’t find any assets either, other than a late model car.”

Luke’s mouth fell open. “How can she be broke?” Had she lied about the casino? Did she have a gambling problem, too?

“I had a couple of my sources do some digging. Off the books, of course. The amounts she deposits aren’t large, and most of her credit card purchases seem legitimate.”

“Her contract has her paying a pretty big percentage to her agent and Scott, but there should be plenty left over. I don’t know what the going rate is for an actor, but it can’t be that small. She’s about to be in a major movie!” Luke rubbed the base of his neck.

“She has a couple of repeating transfers. Without them, she’d be better able to pay her bills.”

“Repeating transfers?”

“Yeah.” Luke heard Brady move some papers. “One to the state prison in Ohio and one to a credit union in the same county where the marriage was registered. Sometimes larger lump sums go into that account, too. Account holder is Hannah Towton.”

Hannah. Dahlia was sending money to her family.

Luke watched Dahlia as she shimmied around the kitchen, her thick hair swinging against her back. He thought of the pain in her eyes when she told him how her siblings blamed her for marrying Scott and leaving town. She obviously still blamed herself. Yet she sent them money she couldn’t afford.