go to the bank with that figure, and they tell them they need all that money because they have to make a long list of repairs. The bank’s got the appraisal and figures everything’s okay. They’ll have a renovated house worth more than the appraisal, even if the new owner defaults.”
Tracy’s head was swimming, but she nodded as if she understood every detail.
“So then the new owner’s got a big new mortgage that’s worth a whole lot more than the house. He pays the original purchase price, then he takes all the extra, and pays off whatever appraiser helped him get that far, and he walks away. He doesn’t make a single mortgage payment, and the bank is left with an abandoned house that’s only worth a fraction of what they loaned. And we won’t even talk about what that does to the price of all the other houses on the block.”
Tracy started on mascara, and when she’d finished that, she moved on to her lips and finished them before she spoke. “Maybe you misunderstood. We’re not financial geniuses. What do we know about the housing market or bank loans?”
“That’s what I thought. So I showed everything to Kenny, and I told him I’d gone by that house and something was mighty fishy.” She came over to the mirror. “And you know what he told me? He told me to stay out of it. He told me to stay way, way out of it. Not to tell anybody what I’d seen or done, and put some miles between me and the Statlers and that husband of yours, Tracy. And he told me he wasn’t supposed to say even that much.
Tracy felt her stomach drop a good inch. “CJ?”
“I’m not even supposed to talk to you about that no-good ex of yours, only I know you haven’t really shucked him off like you ought to. And what would I think of myself if you got caught smack in the middle of this?”
“Did you tell Ken where you got the information? Did you tell him you stole it?”
Wanda looked past Tracy’s shoulder, although there really wasn’t anything to see. “Not the whole version.”
Tracy could just imagine what Wanda had told her husband. “Does Janya know?”
“She’s not exactly dying to be in my company these days.”
“Nobody else knows?”
Wanda shook her head, but not in agreement. “I told Dana. She’s right there in the shop with me every day, and she went with me when I drove by that house. She got out and peeked through windows, too. She was a real support until…”
“Until what? You stole somebody else’s papers?”
Wanda lifted her chin defiantly. “Until I asked her to come along and tell Kenny what we’d seen—or rather, didn’t see—at the house. Then she acted like I was a rattlesnake shaking my tail right at her.”
“Why do you think she reacted that way?” Tracy asked, although she suspected this was a different subject entirely.
“I don’t know. She’s the best manager I could ask for. She’s good at everything. But I notice she’s a lot better with women than she is with men. Kenny’s noticed it, too. He’s good at noticing things like that. Comes with the territory. He says she’s so short with him when he sees her at the shop, she’s almost rude, like a woman trying to hide something.”
Tracy was on information overload. “I don’t know what to say about any of this. I’m about to go on a dinner cruise with CJ, and I can’t get out of it. Henrietta Claiborne’s the hostess, so my job’s on the line.”
“You’ll be careful? You’ll watch out? And you won’t end up at his place tonight?”
“Wanda!”
Wanda held up her hands. “I’m a mother. I can’t help myself.”
“Not my mother, you’re not. My mother pushed me into CJ’s arms.”
Wanda put a sympathetic hand on Tracy’s shoulder. “Being a mother is a lot more than giving birth, although that’s one heck of a wake-up call. But some of us are fit for it and some aren’t, and the Good Lord can’t always tell the difference, I guess.”
Tracy managed a smile, although she thought right now she really had very little to smile about.
If she’d thought the day couldn’t get any worse, on her way to the Sun County Yacht Club, Tracy glimpsed Marsh and Sylvia outside Gonzalo’s. As she roared by, she saw Bay between them, one hand firmly tucked into each of his parents’. She couldn’t see his expression, nor did she want to. She’d