Chapter 8 - Breaking The Ledger
The pavilion was so quiet you could hear the wind rustling through the carousel canopy.
Shauna rushed up the steps, her voice cracking with fury and hysteria. "Mom, stop this right now! Turn that off! You’re humiliating us in front of everyone! You’re destroying our lives!"
She reached for the microphone cord, but Arthur Vance stepped between her and the podium, extending an open legal folder with the authority of an iron gate.
"Mrs. Drury," Arthur said, his gravelly voice cutting through her panic. "I suggest you take your hands off the equipment and sit down. If your mother finishes this speech, you have options. If you disrupt this proceeding, my associate is waiting outside the Brumley police station to file the formal criminal complaint for felony identity theft and federal tax fraud under Section 7206."
Shauna froze, her hands hovering in the air, her face turning gray.
Jarrett stumbled up the steps, sweat pouring down his temples. "Cassia... please. Look, it was just an accounting maneuver. Our accountant said we needed business write-offs, and you weren't using your architectural license anymore! We were going to pay the taxes! We were going to handle it before the audit!"
"You weren't going to handle anything, Jarrett," I said into the microphone, stepping down from the stage to stand right in front of them. "You bought a twenty-one-foot boat and put an inground pool in your backyard while the federal government assessed fifteen thousand dollars in back taxes and penalties against a widow living on a fixed income. You left the IRS bill in my mailbox and went to buy barbecue."
The crowd behind us was already beginning to move. Two families stood up, whispered among themselves, and walked out of the pavilion toward the parking lot. The zoning commissioner Jarrett had been boasting to five minutes earlier slipped out the side exit without looking back.
I opened the first binder and pulled out two contracts, laying them on the nearest table.
"Here is what happens today," I said, my voice dropping low so only Jarrett, Shauna, Dorene, and Burl could hear. "You have two choices. Option one: Arthur walks these binders to the United States Attorney’s office tomorrow morning. Jarrett’s contractor license is revoked, the business is liquidated, both of you are indicted, and Easton and Olive’s lives are torn apart by your criminal trials."
Shauna began to sob, sinking into one of the folding chairs, burying her face in her hands. "Mom... please. Please don't send us to jail. Please, I’m your daughter..."
"Option two," I continued, completely ignoring her tears. "You sign this irrevocable legal confession and restitution agreement. Jarrett, you will take out an immediate second mortgage on your house and sell that boat by the end of the month. Drury Hardscape will file an amended corporate tax return, paying every cent of the $81,600 back to the IRS, along with all associated interest and penalties under the company’s name, completely exonerating my record."
Jarrett swallowed hard, his throat clicking. "We’ll lose the house, Cassia. The equity..."
"Then you lose the house," I said without a flicker of hesitation. "You should have thought about the roof over your children's heads before you built a pool with stolen money."
"And what about us?" Dorene shrieked, finding her voice at last, her face twisted with bitter tears. "What happens to our mortgage? We’ll be out on the street!"
Burl stood up then. For the first time in thirty years, his shoulders were straight. He looked at his wife with cold, weary disgust.
May you like
"We sell the split-level, Dorene," Burl said, his voice cutting through her screeching like an axe through kindling. "We sell it, we downsize to a two-room trailer like the one Cassia grew up in, and I get a job sweeping floors if I have to. Because I'm not spending another night sleeping in a bed paid for with Orin’s name."
Dorene opened her mouth, but for once in her life, no sound came out. She slumped back into her chair, clutching her purse to her chest, utterly broken.
