“I vetted the invoices before Mat paid them. They were legitimate companies, and they had good reputations. Amy was the one who drove them off, deliberately if you’d like my opinion on that.”
“Ah, yes, but were you aware that they are all owned by someone related to or working with her mother?”
I frowned. “Pardon?”
“I was curious, so I started doing some research on each of the businesses, and with some poking, I found out that they’re all owned by people Amy’s mother works with in some fashion or another.”
Ugh. Great. “Mat is not going to be happy if he finds that out, especially when accounting for how she’s run at the altar how many times?”
“It gets better.”
That didn’t sound good, especially when his tone of voice promised there was nothing actually better about the situation. “All right. I’m ready. Hit me with it.”
“Her mother owes all of them money, in similar amounts to the lost deposits.”
Fuck. Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck. “Are you implying that she was using Mat to use the deposits to pay off her mother’s debt, Rick?”
“Basically. And because she actually married Mat, the odds of this being exposed are rather high. Amy went off somewhere for a week, apparently for a business trip, and Mat isn’t really sure where she’s at. He’s started doing some investigating of his own. I’m concerned.”
My initial knee-jerk reaction involved popping the bitch in the mouth for using my brother like that, but instead of saying so, I took a few steadying breaths. “Okay. So, she may have done that. She still got married to my brother, even though I did catch her trying to climb out the window. Then there’s the issue of the baby.”
“That’s the only thing going right. Mat’s excited, Amy’s excited, and they’re probably going to end up with a functional marriage because they both want that baby. Don’t ask them if they’re sure they want a baby so early. They will go for your throat. It’s nobody’s business other than theirs, by the way. They’re tired of the question, and they don’t appreciate anyone being nosy.”
“Did you make that mistake?”
“No, that honor went to your father.”
Oh, boy. “I’ll call Mom tomorrow and see about playing peacemaker.”
“That wasn’t why I told you. You don’t have to do that.”
“I’m definitely contributing to the problem, and as such, I can solve the problem easily. I’ll just show up, yell at people for a while, and snarl at them until everyone behaves.”
Rick stayed quiet, and in the background, I heard his dog give a quiet woof. He chuckled, and a moment later, he grunted. “Sorry about that. Annabel Lee gets sad if I don’t pay enough attention to her. That sound was her vocalizing how her heart is breaking because I haven’t paid attention to her for five whole minutes.”
“She has a convincing argument.”
“She usually does. So, that’s the current situation with your brother, and it annoys me that I somehow became the bearer of bad news.”
“Well, view it this way. My brother hasn’t completely written you off if he’s dragging you into this mess. That’s something.”
“That’s true. I have a much better understanding on why you would just pack your bags and go. I’m glad I’m already on the way to my new residence, as I don’t think I’d be able to deal with the family drama for much longer. Your family’s drama is almost as bad as my family’s drama. Oh, I have another bit of insider information for you.”
“You do? I’m not sure I can handle any more information today, Rick. All the information you’ve given me means I’m going to have to find time in the next week or two to go down there and knock some heads together. Also, I’m inviting you to the festivities, and it doesn’t invalidate our scavenger hunt. You can’t use my tags to get my address, though. You can’t use anything that happens during this gathering against me.”
“I find these terms to be acceptable. Amy’s father had been trying to get her married off for a lot of reasons, including the preservation of his personal reputation. Her tendency to flee her weddings has lost him a lot of business. This was creating problems between Amy’s parents, and it would not surprise me if there’s a divorce in their future. With how much debt her mother’s accrued and how much business her father has lost, it doesn’t hurt her father too much to get out of the relationship now. He is confident