“I know.”
I pointed toward the photograph.
“That’s why I came here.”
I asked him what happened when Lauren—Laura—had asked him for the same amount.
“Did you give her the money?”
“Two thousand.”
“Why not the full five?”
“I told her I wanted to see paperwork before giving her anything else.”
“And?”
“The story changed.”
He leaned back.
“First it was an old debt. Then it was something involving her mother. Every time I asked for proof, there was another excuse.”
“What happened when you refused the rest?”
“She disappeared by the weekend.”
Then I remembered something Mom had told me.
She hadn’t actually sent five thousand dollars straight to Lauren.
Lauren had given her payment information.
I opened Mom’s banking records.
“Twelve hundred went to the body shop,” I said.
Ethan frowned.
“And the other thirty-eight hundred?”
I scrolled down.
A name appeared.
M. Alvarez.
Ethan leaned closer.
His face immediately tightened.
“What?”
“You know that name?”
Without replying, he grabbed his laptop.
A few moments later, he brought up old records.
Then he turned the screen toward me.
There it was.
M. Alvarez.
“You know her?”
“Two years ago, this woman sent me a payment request for two thousand dollars. She said Laura owed her money and asked whether I could help cover it.”
I stared at him.
Everything suddenly fell into place.
Ethan opened more files.
Old screenshots.
Messages.
Different names.
Similar requests.
“How many people are there?”
“Enough.”
I looked at Mom’s payment again.
“She thought she was paying Lauren’s car repairs.”
Ethan nodded.
“But Lauren gave your mother payment information belonging to someone she already owed.”
I felt a chill.
“She’s moving the money around.”
“What do you mean?”
“She borrows from one person, then gets money from someone new to pay the previous debt.”
Ethan slowly nodded.
“It certainly looks like it.”
Six months ago, I probably would have found some reason to tell myself we were misunderstanding everything.
Not anymore.
“I need to call Kyle.”
I reached for my phone.
