Chapter 7 - The Default Notice
Andre arrived home twenty minutes later.
Rachel had called only once.
“Come home now.”
No explanation.
He found Jordan sitting at the kitchen table.
The boy’s face told Andre this was not another homework issue.
Rachel stood beside him holding three pages.
“What happened?”
She handed them over.
Andre read the Northline invoice first.
Then the CH Development payment.
Then Calvin’s ownership record.
His expression did not change.
That frightened Jordan more than yelling would have.
“Where did you get this?”
Jordan placed the brass key on the table.
Andre looked at it.
Recognition appeared instantly.
“Warehouse seventeen.”
Jordan nodded.
Andre’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“You went there?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
Andre shut his eyes.
Rachel said, “He knows.”
“I can see that.”
“No. He knows about the debt.”
Andre opened his eyes.
Jordan reached into his backpack.
He removed the default letter.
Andre stared at it.
“I found it by your office.”
“When?”
“Sunday.”
Andre took the envelope.
The key clip was torn.
Everything connected.
“You should have given this to me.”
Jordan’s fear turned briefly to anger.
“You should have told us.”
Rachel looked at her son.
Andre did too.
The truth of the statement prevented an easy response.
Jordan continued.
“I thought we were losing the house.”
“We are not losing the house.”
“You didn’t tell Mom about the money.”
Andre stiffened.
“That is between your mother and me.”
“It affects me too!”
Jordan’s voice rose.
Rachel reached across the table.
“Jordan.”
He stopped.
His breathing was fast.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
Andre’s anger vanished.
Jordan stared at him.
“I kept thinking we’d have to move. Or you guys would get divorced.”
Rachel’s face broke.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Jordan looked away.
“I didn’t know what to do.”
Andre sat opposite him.
For several seconds, he struggled to find words.
“I’m sorry.”
Jordan looked back.
Andre continued.
“You should never have found out that way.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
Rachel glanced at Andre.
He did not soften it.
“I did.”
Jordan’s eyes filled.
“I thought I was the screwup.”
Andre leaned forward.
“You made bad choices. That does not make you the only person in this house capable of making them.”
Jordan gave a humorless laugh.
Rachel sat beside him.
Andre pointed toward the warehouse documents.
“But going there alone was dangerous.”
“I know.”
“You are not going back.”
“Okay.”
“You are not investigating Calvin.”
Jordan looked at him.
“Do you believe me?”
Andre’s jaw flexed.
“I believe the documents.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Rachel watched Andre carefully.
Andre picked up the page showing Calvin’s company.
“My brother has access to every financial system in Dad’s business.”
Jordan corrected him quietly.
“Your business.”
Andre looked at him.
Jordan held his gaze.
“Grandpa’s gone.”
The words were not cruel.
That made them harder.
Andre looked down.
Rachel saw something change in him.
For years, Andre had spoken about the company as though he were temporarily guarding his father’s property.
Maybe that had been part of the problem.
He had never allowed himself to own it enough to change it.
Andre took his phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Our attorney.”
Rachel shook her head.
“Not the company attorney.”
Andre paused.
“Why?”
“Because Calvin has been dealing with him too.”
Andre understood.
He called an independent attorney recommended by a contractor he trusted.
The conversation lasted twelve minutes.
When Andre ended it, his expression had become focused.
“He wants us to preserve everything.”
“Us?” Rachel asked.
“You copied lender documents.”
She nodded.
“Jordan copied nothing,” Andre said firmly.
Jordan opened his mouth.
Andre looked at him.
“That part is over.”
Jordan closed it.
Andre turned back to Rachel.
“We hire a forensic accountant tomorrow.”
“What about Calvin?”
“We say nothing until we know what we have.”
Jordan whispered, “He might know someone was in the storage room.”
Andre looked at him.
“Why?”
Jordan explained the misplaced file.
Andre stood.
“Did he see you?”
“No.”
“Did you touch anything else?”
“No.”
Andre grabbed his keys.
Rachel stepped forward.
“Where are you going?”
“To the warehouse.”
“Alone?”
Andre stopped.
Rachel raised an eyebrow.
“You just gave our son a speech about that.”
Despite everything, Jordan nearly smiled.
Andre exhaled.
“You’re right.”
He called the attorney again.
They arranged to meet at the warehouse with a locksmith and an independent records technician.
Rachel looked toward the clock.
“What about Calvin?”
Andre stared at the brass key on the table.
“For the first time in my life,” he said, “I’m going to stop assuming my brother deserves the benefit of the doubt.”
Jordan looked at his father.
Andre picked up the default letter.
Then he noticed a handwritten number on the back.
Jordan had not seen it.
Neither had Rachel.
Three digits.
419.
Andre’s face changed.
Rachel saw it.
“What is that?”
Andre turned the letter over.
His voice became almost a whisper.
“That was my father’s old employee number.”
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And suddenly the fraud did not look eight months old.
It looked as though it might have begun years before Andre inherited the company.
