Chapter 7 - The Blue Folder
Cal Brooks arrived at the restoration shop carrying a laptop and a face full of bad news. The shop smelled of cedar dust. That morning it reminded Daniel of everything he might lose.
"The guarantee came through an online document portal," Cal said. "Your name was attached, but the login came from an address I don't recognize."
"Can we prove it's not me?"
"We can show the bank you were at Mrs. Keating's roof inspection when it was submitted. We have the work order and her security footage. After that, let the investigators do their job."
Nina examined the lender's correspondence. Bellweather Development had been trying to refinance an expansion that had already gone over budget. The eighty-six-thousand-dollar guarantee would cover a gap in the construction loan. Daniel's company was named as backup security.
"This isn't some automatic wedding obligation," Nina said. "It's an attempted use of your business credit. That's why the signature matters."
Daniel opened his appointment calendar. At 11:47 p.m. on the storm night, while he was still on a roof across town, a password-reset notification had reached his inbox. He had dismissed it as spam.
"Harper knew your password?" Cal asked.
"She knew the old one. I changed it last month."
"Maybe that didn't stop her."
A pickup pulled into the shop's lot. Joyce Rowe stepped out before the engine stopped. She walked directly through the open bay door in a cream pantsuit and pointed at Daniel.
"You've ruined my daughter's name over gossip from a child. You will issue a statement."
Nina rose. "You should leave."
Joyce dropped a stack of printed invoices onto the workbench. "Then ask him why he already owes my family for the wedding."
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Daniel flipped through the pages. One payment was for forty-two thousand dollars, marked as paid by Navarro Restoration.
He'd never authorized it. And the bank account listed at the bottom was not the account his company used.
