Chapter 5 - The Nassau Panic
The tropical sun was beating down on the infinity pool of the Atlantis Resort in Nassau when Austin reached into his linen tote bag to grab his phone. He had spent the morning complaining to the poolside concierge about the price of private cabana rentals, trying to negotiate an influencer discount that Chloe insisted their social media following justified.
Chloe was lying on a padded lounger, a frozen strawberry daiquiri sweating beside her hand, snapping selfies in her oversized designer sunglasses.
"Did you check with your mom to make sure she gave Buster his kidney supplement?" Chloe asked without looking up from her screen. "You know how annoying he gets if he misses a dose, and I don't want to come home to ruined upholstery."
"She’s fine," Austin replied dismissively, unlocking his phone. "She’s probably sitting on the porch staring at Dad’s hydrangeas like she’s done every day this week. Honestly, giving her the animals was doing her a favor. It keeps her mind off things."
His screen suddenly lit up with a barrage of automated alert notifications from his business banking application. Austin blinked against the bright Caribbean glare, squinting at the red exclamation marks popping up across his dashboard.
*ALERT: Flagged Transaction. $10,000.00 Authorized at North Miami Animal Sanctuary & Boarding Lodge.*
*ALERT: Account Balance Below Minimum Reserve. Available Balance: -$2,418.12.*
*ALERT: Overdraft Protection Activated. Associated Credit Lines Frozen.*
Austin sat bolt upright, spilling his sparkling water across his designer towel. "What the hell?"
"What's wrong?" Chloe asked, lowering her sunglasses. "Did the cabana charge go through?"
"Ten thousand dollars!" Austin gasped, his face draining of color. "There’s a ten-thousand-dollar charge on my agency account from Doc Henderson’s clinic! My business balance is completely wiped out!"
"What?!" Chloe shrieked, sitting up so fast her sunhat flew off. "Why would Doc Henderson charge your card ten grand? Call your mother right now! She must have let Buster get sick and rushed him to the emergency room like an idiot!"
Austin’s fingers trembled as he dialed my home landline. The phone rang four times, followed by the automated operator tone: “The number you have dialed is no longer in service or has been temporarily disconnected. Please check the number and dial again.”
"Disconnected?" Austin muttered, sweat beading on his forehead. "That’s impossible. Dad’s had that landline since 1994."
He quickly dialed my cell phone. The call went straight to a generic recorded message stating that the subscriber could not be reached.
"She’s not answering," Austin said, his voice rising in panic. "Neither line is working."
"Call your uncle! Call the neighbors! Call whoever is on that street!" Chloe yelled, attracting stares from the vacationers lounging around the pool. "If your agency card is overdrawn, our resort room charge will be declined at checkout tomorrow! We owe eight thousand dollars on this hotel bill, Austin!"
Austin frantically scrolled through his contacts until he found the number for Marcus Peters, our next-door neighbor who had lived beside Ernest and me for twenty years. He hit call, holding the phone tightly against his ear.
"Marcus! Hey, man, it’s Austin," he rushed out as soon as the line connected. "Listen, I’m trying to reach my mom. Her phone is off and the house landline is dead. Could you run across the yard and knock on the door? Make sure she’s alright?"
There was a long silence on the other end of the line. When Marcus spoke, his tone was dry and unmistakably cold.
"Austin, your mother isn't here."
"What do you mean she isn't there? Where did she go? To the grocery store?"
"No, son," Marcus said. "A commercial moving crew pulled up at seven this morning with a lockbox and a work order. They changed the deadbolts on every door, installed digital smart locks, and placed an international corporate leasing sign in the front lawn. Then Eleanor Vance drove up, handed them a folder of legal permits, and watched them secure the property."
Austin felt his knees go weak. "A corporate leasing sign? What are you talking about? That’s my parents' house!"
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"Not according to the sheriff’s deputy who stopped by to verify the permits," Marcus replied smoothly. "And if you’re looking for your mother, she left yesterday with two big bags and a private car service headed for the cruise terminal. If you ask me, Austin, after the way you treated her at Ernie's service, she did the smartest damn thing of her life."
The line went dead. Austin stared at his phone, his jaw hanging slack as Chloe’s shrill demands faded into a white, buzzing roar in his ears.
