“It’s about that check you gave me the other day for the community center. The computers, remember?”
“Yeah.” Nick’s insides relaxed. It was just like Dean to get him all worked up over nothing. “What, did you lose it?”
Dean had a hard time looking Nick in the eye. Nick didn’t like that. Dean shook his head, and said, “It bounced, man.”
“What?” Nick’s mouth dropped to the floor, carrying his confidence along for the ride. “There’s gotta be a mistake. Did you go inside the bank?”
Dean shifted from foot to foot and then rubbed his forehead. “There’s no mistake. Hang Ten’s petty cash account is empty.”
Nick massaged his chin. “That can’t be. There’s never less than twenty grand in that account at any given time. If it drops below, money comes straight out of the line of credit to top it back off.” Nick shook his head adamantly. “They made a mistake at the bank.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but you’d better call the bank.” Dean offered the check to Nick. He took it, wondering if this was another one of Dean’s pranks.
If this was a joke, Dean was one hell of an actor. Besides that, Dean wouldn’t use something that meant so much to both of them as vehicle to fuel his prank.
Uncertainty gnawed at Nick’s insides. This had to be a mistake. He headed for his office, waving at Dean to follow him. Nick wanted him to hear it for himself that there had been a mistake. That’s all it was. A simple mistake. Maybe the teller was new and hadn’t quite learned the system yet.
Whatever. Nick would get this cleared up in a jiff.
After getting the bank on the phone, and explaining the situation, Nick gave the girl his petty cash account number and then she put him on hold.
Each second that passed while Nick waited jabbed at his confidence. What if Dean was right? What if there was no money in the account? But that didn’t make sense. Nick had plenty of money at his disposal. Not tons, but enough for him and Hang Ten.
Nick heard the click at the other end of the line. “Mr. Matthews…?” When she said his name, her voice was not nearly as confident as it had been two minutes ago. “I’m afraid your account is overdrawn.”
“Overdrawn?” Nick said in a sharp tone.
“Yes, sir,” she said. “By twelve hundred thirty-two dollars and forty-eight cents.”
“That’s impossible.” Nick adopted a defiant tone. “When that account goes below twenty thousand, the bank automatically transfers funds from my line of credit to top it off.”
“Let me check that account.” She paused. Nick could hear her typing in the background. After a moment, she said, “Can you give me that account number so I can make sure I’m looking at the right one?”
“Sure.” Nick fished his wallet from his back pocket and rifled through the contents until he found his list of account numbers. He rattled off the line of credit’s number and waited.
And waited.
Finally, the girl on the other end of the call cleared her throat. “Mr. Matthews…?”
“Yes.”
“I’m afraid your line of credit is maxed out.”
“What?” Nick’s voice had gone high and loud, fueled by the instant overdrive his heartbeat had gone into the second she said the words maxed out.
“Yes, sir. In fact, all of your accounts are overdrawn or maxed out, except for payroll and the account that pays the mortgage on the restaurant.”
The Hang Ten mortgage and the payroll accounts? Suddenly, and sadly, the clouds were beginning to clear. Ginny had access to all the accounts except those two. “How badly overdrawn am I?” Nick asked in a low, strained voice, afraid of the answer.
“Give me a sec and I’ll add it up.” More clicking. Nick’s heart thudded harder against his chest. His thoughts went fuzzy. He was almost able to grasp the notion that he might be financially ruined. The girl cleared her throat again, and said, “All totaled, your accounts are overdrawn by eight thousand seven hundred fifty-six dollars and seventy-eight cents. Plus there’s the one-hundred thousand that you now owe on the line of credit.”
And that, no doubt, would soon start accruing interest. How in the world was Nick supposed to pay back a hundred grand? He was financially ruined, and it was all Ginny’s doing. “My ex-fiancée did this,” he said. “Do I have any kind of recourse?”
“She is a joint owner on all of your accounts but two.”
“We need to stop that right now.” Nick struggled to hold his temper, reminding himself that his real target was Ginny, not this poor girl on the other end of the phone.
“You’ll need to come down to the bank to sign a form for that.”
“I’ll do that this morning.” Nick had managed to calm his tone. He needed this girl’s help, not her rebuttal. “How long do I have before the bank gets nasty about these overdrawn accounts and the maxed out credit line?”
“If the overdraft fees aren’t taken care of in thirty days, the bank will report you to ChexSystems and start collection proceedings. Your first payment of two thousand one-hundred thirty-nine dollars and twenty-four cents will be due on the line of credit in approximately thirty-five days.”
“Thank you. I’ll be down to the bank in a bit to take my ex off the accounts.” Nick hung up the phone and looked at Dean. “Turns out…” Shock flowed like lava through Nick, hot and burning, and nothing could stop it. “Ginny’s a lot more devious than we’ve been giving her credit for being.”
“What’s going on?” Dean’s voice was edgy, nervous.
“I’m in deep shit, Dean. Deep, deep shit.”
CHAPTER NINE
DEIDRA STOMPED HER FEET like a spoiled teenager. At twenty-three, she and Lecie were hardly more than that. But they had to grow up sometime. Maybe just not today.
Lecie chuckled to herself. Deidra’s temper tantrums had always amused her. Today’s was no exception. Although, she wasn’t about to give in to Deidra’s whims. Not this time.
“Let’s find a new place to hang out,” Lecie insisted. “Hang Ten can’t be the only cool place on the California coast.”
“But I like their blackened tilapia, and their lemon drop martinis.” Deidra’s tone went nasal. She leaned against the fireplace mantel and stared at Lecie, who was sitting on the couch with her eyes focused on her laptop.