“Gotcha. You’re pretty smart, aren’t you? How old are you? About twelve?”
The boy grinned. “Naw. I’m almost eight. But I’m big for my age.”
“You sure are.” Thad straightened and backed away, hands fisted on his hips. “Think that will do or should we go find more boxes and make higher walls?”
“That’s good like it is,” Danny said, considering their construction as if he were the architect of a skyscraper. “It needs a door.”
“Hard to do without a frame,” Thad said. “How about we give that some thought while you get used to your new office?”
The child giggled and looked to Lindy. “Okay, Mom?”
“Perfect. Have you thanked Mr. Pearson?”
Thad raised his hands in the air and backed away. “No need for that. We both worked on it. Now, what about furniture? Danny can’t do his homework without a table and chair.”
“Really, I...” Lindy’s objection was cut short by Thad’s warning glance. “Right,” she continued brightly. “How are you two geniuses going to make those?”
She saw her usually reticent son look up to the ex-marine as if he held the answers to all life’s questions.
Thad began to grin. “I have an idea. We’re pretty much out of boxes in here. Follow me.”
He never looked back as he strode past Lindy to the door. It was as if he knew Danny would follow. As if he was willing him to trust. And so he did.
She stood at the office door and watched an amazing transformation occurring. Not only was Danny keeping up with Thad, he had double-timed enough to walk beside him. The sight of her timid son joining such a sizeable man in any endeavor left her speechless.
Maybe this job was more than the answer to her prayers for employment. Maybe it was for Danny’s benefit, as well.
She began to smile in spite of deep concerns over her fragile financial situation. Yes, she was still very worried about the canceled credit cards and her missing money, but there were more important things in life than that. Danny’s recovery and future happiness meant more to her than all the money in the world.
Even if the cause of the cyber attack on her finances was never found, the unexpected side effects of that hacking were something to be celebrated. There she was, in a job she wouldn’t have gotten if she hadn’t been in trouble, watching her son warm up to a man he might never have gotten close to otherwise. How could she complain? This was almost too good to be true.
* * *
Thad hadn’t been sure his ploy would work until he’d seen the sparkle in Danny’s eyes. It was obvious that the boy’s mother loved him dearly but, somewhere along the line she’d lost her sense of playfulness. That was where Thad had the advantage and he intended to make the most of it.
Gathering stacks of slim cartons that were still in bundles from their delivery, he wound a short stack in plastic wrap and handed it to Danny. “Here you go. You carry the desktop and I’ll bring the sides.”
The child was beaming when he returned to where his mother waited. Thad was pretty happy himself, especially considering the beatific smile on Lindy’s face when she gazed at her son.
It must be comforting to please someone that much, he mused, refusing to let himself dwell on that thought. It was his job to help this fractured family and that was exactly what he was going to do. Period. He wasn’t about to picture himself as part of it.
It had taken him months to accept the fact that the military shrinks had been right about his mental state. Because of nightmares and flashbacks caused by the PTSD, he wasn’t the right person to parent his brother’s kids and it wasn’t fair to make them wait for a new home until he was well again—if he ever would be.
But he did have a way with children. He might not be suited for permanent fatherhood, but he could be a true friend, a buddy, on a level that youngsters understood. That was what he was doing when he led the Sunday school class and he was determined that the same would be true of his interaction with Danny Southerland.
Placing two medium-size boxes eighteen inches apart, Thad stood back and let the boy lay the planklike package across them to serve as a tabletop.
“Okay, now we need a chair.”
“I can do that by myself,” Danny insisted.
Watching him choose, Thad started to grin. He figured it was better to let the boy learn by making his own mistakes.
The minute Danny plunked down on the empty cardboard box he had selected as a stool, it collapsed and he fell on his back pockets, giggling.
“I think it might be better to use one with stuff in it,” Thad said, joining in the laughter. “I have just the thing. You don’t mind sitting on colanders, do you?”
Danny sobered. “What’s that?”
“A strainer, like I use when we make spaghetti,” Lindy volunteered. “They’ll be in boxes. You won’t even know.”
Thad’s grin widened when the child looked to him as if waiting for the final decision before saying, “Okay,” and swiveling to concentrate on his mother. “We can make that tonight for supper, huh?”
“If you want,” she said easily.
“And Mr. Pearson can come eat with us.”
Thad would have laughed aloud if there hadn’t been such a stricken expression on Lindy’s face. He thought about relieving her anxiety by refusing the childish invitation, then decided it would be advantageous to accept. The visit would give him a chance to look over her home and judge whether or not it was secure enough.
“I’d love to come to your house for supper, Danny,” he said. “How about if I bring some ice cream for dessert? What flavor do you like?”
“We don’t eat sweets,” Lindy blurted, her cheeks red, her eyes widening more by the second.
“Okay. Then I’ll bring dill-pickle-flavored,” Thad gibed. To his delight, Danny started to laugh so heartily he got short of breath and tears filled his eyes.
Judging by the incredulity on Lindy’s face, it had been a long time since she’d seen her son express that much unbridled amusement.
She finally recovered her composure. “All right. Please join us for supper, Mr. Pearson. And you don’t have to bring pickle ice cream. I suppose we can eat normal flavors once in a while without getting too many cavities.”
“Chocolate okay?”
She didn’t have time to comment before the office phone rang and she slipped into her formal persona to answer. “Pearson Products. How may I help you?”
Thad and Danny watched her grow pale, then reach for the edge of the desk to steady herself.
“What? That’s impossible.”
Thad didn’t know what was being said by the other party to the call but he could tell enough to cause him to reach for the receiver. Instead of balking, Lindy relinquished it to him.
“This is Thad Pearson. Is there something I can do for you?”
“Our business is with Mrs. Southerland.”
“Who has just passed your call to me. Now what’s going on? She looks like you just told her somebody died.”
“Mrs. Southerland has not kept up with her mortgage payments since before Mr. Southerland passed away and there was no insurance on the account to pay off the loan in case of the death of either party. Therefore, she’s seriously in default.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? In plain English.”
“According to the acceleration clause in her contract, we can assess late fees as well as require that the loan be paid in full to avoid foreclosure.
Our records show that she is six months in arrears as well as owing substantial penalties and processing fees.”
“That’s impossible. She paid off that loan right after she got her husband’s life insurance settlement.” Thad looked to Lindy for confirmation and saw her nodding rapidly.
“Not according to our records. Since she has chosen to ignore our letters, I’m afraid we have been forced to begin foreclosure proceedings.”
“Hold on. Let me speak to your supervisor.”
“I am the supervisor,” the harsh female voice insisted. “I’m truly sorry for Mrs. Southerland’s situation but it’s out of my hands now. We’ve already filed a ‘Notice of Default’ with the county clerk’s office. This is merely a courtesy call.”
“Wait a minute. How did you get this number?” Thad’s grip on the phone tightened. “Well?”
“Mrs. Southerland left it as a secondary contact when she called our Atlanta branch earlier today. We’ve been trying to reach her at home for weeks with no success. If she had not telephoned us this morning to report a so-called theft of funds we would have had to settle for a registered letter.”
“You’re saying you’ve phoned her at home?” Once again his eyes met Lindy’s. There was no detectable deceit in her expression, only confusion. She shook her head adamantly.
Her scowl deepened as she mouthed, “No.”
“Okay, assuming you’re just mixed up about all this, give me a number where I can reach you. We’ll look into the situation and call you back.”
“Calling me won’t be necessary. If you disagree with our findings you’re welcome to write a letter to the State Banking Department and lodge a formal complaint. If your complaint is valid they may launch an investigation.”
“How long can that take?”
“I really can’t say.”
“All right. We’ll be in touch.”
He ended the call, sat down at his desk and slid his keyboard closer. There were a lot of things a savvy person could learn with the right connections and he counted himself among the best. Anything a hacker could hide, he could uncover.
He sensed Lindy leaning closer to peer over his shoulder as she said, “That must have been a crank call. I checked into everything I owed right after—well, you know when—and the only debt outstanding was for the mortgage. I took care of that months ago. There’s no way I can be in arrears.”
“Do you have receipts? Canceled checks?”
“No. I did everything electronically. That’s the way Ben always handled our bills.”
As Thad typed he noticed that Danny had reverted to his earlier shyness and was clinging to his mother. It didn’t take much to set back his healing, did it? Thad wasn’t surprised. The simplest memory or most innocent incident might be enough to trigger his own PTSD and unless he missed his guess, this seven-year-old was suffering from similar emotional damage.
Had Lindy taken the child to the right kind of doctors after his trauma? Did he dare ask?
Later, he reasoned. There would be plenty of time to quiz her about her son as they worked together. The last thing he wanted to do was make her mad enough to quit, at least not until he’d sorted out the mess she was in.
Frustrated, he leaned back and shook his head slowly, thoughtfully. “It doesn’t look good, Lindy. I can’t tell how far the hackers got yet but one thing is certain. They’ve totally corrupted your accounts to make it look as if you defaulted on the loan the way the bank says.”
“So it wasn’t just the missing cash we discovered today? It’s worse?”
“Much worse.”
Without turning around, he laid his hand lightly over hers where it rested on his shoulder and felt her trembling. Thad didn’t blame her. His own finances were in turmoil, thanks to having to keep the business afloat while he tried to pick up the pieces of his brother’s estate, but his money problems paled in comparison to what someone had done to Lindy.
He sighed. “Look, we’ll figure it out. I’ll work on it until I do. The important thing is not to panic. This can’t all have happened as a result of last night’s burglary. It has to have been in the works longer than that. This plan is sophisticated. Complicated. Somebody went to an awful lot of trouble to ruin your credit.”
“Why me? I haven’t hurt anyone or stolen anything. I’ve never even had a parking ticket.”
“Then you should have called the police the minute you had a reason to,” Thad said flatly. “Doing it now will look suspicious.”
“It doesn’t matter because I’m not calling them.”
One dark eyebrow arched and he stared up at her. “Why not? There’s no way to tell if this mortgage mix-up is connected to the thugs who threatened you to keep quiet last night.”
She met his gaze boldly. “Do you think it’s separate?”
“No,” he admitted quietly, worried about Danny’s mental stress as much as Lindy’s. “I think you’re in the crosshairs of some broad-reaching scheme you have no idea about and everything that’s been happening to you goes with it. There. Satisfied?”
Though she did nod, Thad was sorry he’d been so abrupt. The woman was in way over her head. For that matter, it was starting to look as if he was, too, by making the decision to help her, but he wasn’t about to throw in the towel. No, sir. When a marine was given an assignment, he carried it out no matter the hardships.
At its heart, this task was no different than combat. They—he and Lindy—were facing an unidentifiable enemy whose methods were hidden and whose tentacles of influence reached far beyond what was visible.
The menace was real. Very real. And he was going to protect her. No matter what it took.
FIVE
Lindy had wanted to start home ahead of her new boss so she could begin cooking but he wouldn’t hear of it. She understood his evident concern because she shared it, she just didn’t want Danny to sense her uneasiness.
She’d left some of the food she’d bought in the fridge at work so Danny would have after-school snacks. The rest she intended to carry into the house herself. As long as she still had a house, that is. The notion that someone could have infiltrated her bank accounts and made her credit look so appalling had shaken her to the core.
Could they actually cause her to lose her beautiful home? Certainly not that easily. Suppose she and Thad managed to thwart that plan as he’d suggested they could? What else might her enemies try next? She didn’t even want to think about the possibilities.
“Grab your backpack and don’t forget your jacket,” she called to her son. “I’ll bring the groceries.”
Before she could open the trunk of her car and pick up the few remaining plastic sacks, Thad appeared at her elbow. “Fancy place you have here. It looks practically new.”
“I’m not sure when it was built. I do know it’s newer than the other houses on this street. The yard was a mess when we moved in but I happen to like gardening. Everything will be prettier later in the spring when my flowers start to bloom.”
“I’m amazed you can keep it up so well by yourself.”
“I manage.” She started to gather the plastic grocery sacks.
“I’ll get those for you,” Thad said pleasantly.
“I can do it.”
“I know you can. Humor me. I feel guilty enough letting Danny talk you into feeding me. At least let me pitch in a little.”
“Okay.” Lindy backed off. Considering the trying day she’d had, what she really wanted to
do was take an aspirin, kick back and relax, not prepare a fancy meal for someone she barely knew. Therefore, if Thad wanted to help, she’d let him.
Fisting her key ring, she led the way to the side porch and unlocked the door. Danny burst in and took off at a run. His small feet hammered the stairs as he climbed.
“You can put those bags on the kitchen table,” Lindy said, thankful she’d taken the time to load the dishwasher instead of leaving dirty glasses and plates stacked in the sink. Maintaining a routine was comforting, to her and to Danny, so she always made an effort to keep things the same.
A terrified squeal of “Maaa-ma!” echoed down the stairwell.
Lindy froze. Glanced at Thad. Saw recognition dawn as her own mind wrapped itself around the shout.
If she hadn’t moved a split second faster than Thad did, they might have collided trying to climb the stairs at the same time.
“Danny!” Lindy shouted. “What’s wrong?”
“My room,” the child yelled, sticking his head out the open door so she could see his incredulous expression. “Somebody trashed my room.”
She slewed around the newel post at the top of the stairs and sensed Thad right behind her as she pivoted.
In seconds they were at Danny’s door. The sight that greeted them was unbelievable. No mess made by a child had ever been this bad.
Lindy held out her arms to her distressed son and he flew into her embrace. “I’m so sorry, honey.”
“Whoa,” Thad said. “I don’t suppose it looked like this when he left this morning.”
“Of course not. Danny always makes his bed and puts his toys on the shelf or in his closet before he goes to school.”
“Okay, if you say so. Personally, my room used to be almost this messy when I was a kid.” He caught her eye and arched an eyebrow. “Anybody you want to call to report this?”
She knew exactly what Thad was asking and the temptation to involve the police was growing stronger by the minute.
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