“I cannot believe you called the police on me like a common criminal.” Janice fisted her hands at her sides.
“Janice Johnson. You need to sit down.” Rebecca demanded.
Rebecca had always been kind to Carolina but it was clear that she had had enough of Janice.
“If you prefer not to sit then I can call the police in here to escort you to a jail cell where you might be more comfortable.”
Janice’s eyes popped but she did as Rebecca said and sat across from Carolina.
“We are here because we are straightening some things out.” The phone on the table rang and Rebecca answered it. “Perfect. Put him through.”
“Hello?” A male voice sounded confused on the speaker.
“Mr. Johnson. This is Rebecca with the bank. I have your mother Janice and your ex-wife Carolina sitting in the conference room with me. Mr. Johnson, a crime has been committed and I think you need to hear what’s going on.”
“What’s the meaning of this? I’m in Paris. We are about to head to Greece.”
“It can wait. And if you hang up on me there will be legal ramifications.”
Chris was silent for a minute before he muttered. “Fine. But can you make it quick?”
“You need to know that your ex-wife secured a line of credit with our bank because the lake house that she got in the divorce was in dire need of a roof.”
“So? What’s that got to do with me?”
“Well, it appears your mother stole Carolina’s checkbook for the account of the line of credit, and went and bought some bedroom furniture since there was none in the lake house. It’s a felony to forge someone’s name on a check.”
Chris was silent.
“And after talking to Janice, it seems some more information has come to light.”
“What are you talking about?” Carolina looked between the two women.
“It seems you, Chris, told your mother to get the checkbook and write the check. You told your mother to commit forgery.”
“You what?” Carolina gaped at the phone. “Why would you do that?”
“It’s not like that.” He struggled to find the right words. “You’ve got to understand that she was constantly calling me on my honeymoon. I got tired of hearing her calling me and complaining. I might have mentioned to her to just buy some furniture. I didn’t actually think she’d do it.” Chris yelled.
Carolina looked at Janice who had gone pale. She felt a teensy bit bad for her, despite how Janice had treated her. Janice was still someone’s mother.
“Why didn’t you tell me that Chris told you to do that?” Carolina asked quietly.
“I honestly didn’t think anything about it. He always made sure I was comfortable when I visited. Besides, he surely was going to pay it back once he was back in the States. I really didn’t see the harm.” She lifted her chin defiantly.
“So you thought it was okay to steal from Carolina?” Rebecca wrote something down on a legal pad.
“Well, I...” Janice stuttered.
“So that puts Carolina in a bind with her loan.” Rebecca spoke to Chris.
“Not my problem.” Chris countered.
“Your problem is that you have already told Carolina you aren’t paying her alimony on time. Which will now put you in breach of a court order and Carolina has every legal right to sue you. And, I for one am encouraging such action,” Rebecca cooed.
“You can’t do that.” Janice shook her head. “If Carolina needs the money she should sell something.” She looked down at Carolina’s hand. “It looks like you already did. Where’s your engagement ring and band?”
“My rings. I’m glad you noticed.” Carolina cocked her head.
