Chapter 8: What Ray Knew
I met Ray at a coffee shop twenty minutes from the house.
He was already there when I arrived, seated at a corner table with both hands wrapped around a mug he wasn't drinking from.
He looked smaller than I remembered.
The firm handshake and the long stories about himself had gone somewhere.
What was left was a man who hadn't slept.
I sat down across from him.
"You said you could give me more than the bank footage," I said.
"Good morning to you too," he said.
"Ray."
He set down the mug.
"Evelyn called me last night after Gerald made his call.
She told me what you had.
She told me what she'd said." He looked at the table.
"She told me she'd told you it was my idea."
"Was it?"
"The consulting account was my idea," he said.
"The fraud wasn't.
That was hers." He looked up.
"I want to be clear about that.
I gave her access to the tools.
I showed her how the transfers worked.
But the decision to take from your account — to set you up — that was Evelyn."
"You still helped her."
"Yes," he said.
"I did."
"And the family from eight months ago?"
He was quiet for a moment.
"That one I didn't know about until after.
She used what I'd shown her.
On her own."
"So there may be more."
"I don't know," he said.
"Maybe."
I looked at him.
He wasn't performing.
He wasn't calculating.
He was just tired and frightened and trying to find the least damaging version of the truth.
"What do you want to give me?" I asked.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded set of papers.
He slid them across the table.
"Account records," he said.
"Every transfer.
Every date.
Every account number.
Including the one from eight months ago — I tracked it down last night.
The family's name is Kowalski.
They're in Denton.
They never got their money back."
I looked at the papers without touching them.
"Why are you giving me this?" I asked.
"Because Evelyn is going to say it was all me," he said.
"And some of it was.
But not all of it.
And I'm not going to prison for the parts that weren't mine."
"You might go to prison for the parts that were."
"I know," he said.
He picked up his mug.
Put it down again.
"I've already called an attorney.
I'm going to cooperate with whatever investigation follows.
I'll testify if I have to."
"Against Evelyn."
"Against whoever I have to testify against."
I picked up the papers.
Folded them.
Put them in my bag.
"The Kowalski family," I said.
"Do you have a contact for them?"
"On the last page."
I nodded.
"Is Gerald—" Ray started.
Stopped.
"Is my brother going to be all right?"
I thought about Gerald's hands on the table last night.
Perfectly still.
"He's going to be honest," I said.
"Whether that's the same as all right, I don't know yet."
Ray nodded.
He looked like he'd expected that answer.
I stood up.
"One more thing," I said.
"The men who came to your house.
The ones Evelyn said she was protecting you from."
Ray looked up.
"Are they still a problem?"
"I've made arrangements," he said.
"It's handled."
"Handled how?"
"Legally," he said.
"I sold some things.
It's done."
I looked at him for a moment.
Then I picked up my bag.
"Ray," I said.
"If you're lying to me about any of this—"
"I'm not," he said.
"I'm done lying.
I've been done since last night."
I walked out of the coffee shop into the cold morning air.
I called Patricia from the parking lot.
"I have additional documentation," I said.
"Account records covering multiple transactions.
And a name — a second family who was targeted."
"Send it to me," Patricia said.
"I'll make sure it goes to the right department today."
"Thank you."
"How are you holding up?" she asked.
I stood in the parking lot and thought about that.
"I'm standing," I said.
"That's enough for today," she said.
I got in my car.
I sat for a moment before starting the engine.
My phone buzzed.
Daniel.
*Can we talk tonight?
Just us.*
May you like
I looked at the message for a long time.
Then I typed back: *Yes.*
