Abby had only slept for four hours when her phone buzzed her out of sleep.
“Abby, what happened? Your message scared me so badly. Tell me it’s okay.”
Abby rolled her eyes in the dark. “It’s really not okay, but I survived. But listen, the main thing is that the money’s gone. all of it.”
Trish made a strangled noise. “You mean the five million? What happened?”
“Well, I sleeping in a hotel in Paris, and I stupidly used my credit card the day before for something dumb, a Chanel jacket, that I just felt like I deserved. Then in the middle of the night there’s a knock on the door and before I even know what’s happening this guys have grabbed me and are holding a gun to my head. They tell me to transfer all the money to this account, or they’ll kill me. So I do it. It’s wweird, I think it only took five minutes for the transfer to go through. And then they left. So i checked out and moved to a different hotel across town, not that I think those guys are going to come back for me. They got what they wanted.”
“All the money’s gone!” Trish now sounded hysterical, “And you almost got killed? Abby, come home right away. We’ll sort this out. We’ll get the FBI onto them. they have all sorts of tracking software, we’ll get the money back.
“Trish, it’s gone. I mean, even if the FBI could track that money it’s clear it was dirty. They wouldn’t give it to me. And to be honest, having the FBI look into how I behaved, laying low in Europe. It just looks bad all around. In a way I kind of deserve all this.”
“You don’t deserve any of this. It’s all Sally’s doing, I mean what was she thinking? She thinks she can steal money from bigshots and then hand it over to you like she really got it by daytrading or whatever.”
“She hadn’t meant to hand it over. Remember, that beneficiary notice letter went to her apartment address. My guess is that she was never going to give it to me. Maybe she was going to fake her own death so that–” Abby stopped. Fake her own death? Was it possible that Sally had faked her own death? That the person found in the parking lot was someone else? But then that would mean Sally had gotten hold of a body or gotten someone else killed. Would she stoop that low?
Abby drew in breath. Sally would stoop that low. From everything she’d heard about her aunt, she was ruthless and uncaring, using people and then throwing them away.
“Well, at least you paid off your student loans.” Trish said, obviously not paying attention to Abby’s rambling. “You did pay them off, didn’t you?”
“Some of it,” Abby admitted. She’d sent off a check for $50,000, the most she’d dared without raising suspicion. That meant $65,000 was still hanging over her. But she couldn’t focus on that because now she had a weirdly powerful urge to dig up Sally’s body. How much would that cost? Sally’s body had been identified by her landlady, since no one had been able to contact Sally’s family. Would the landlady even know what Sally looked like? Or had she been paid off?
“Well, you’re going to have to come home, that’s for sure. Do you think those guys are going to come after you in New York? I’d have you stay with me but it’s a lot to take on and–”
“I’ll stay with my mom.” For the first time since being woken up at gunpoint Abby felt hopeful. She needed to get a lot more information from her mom about Sally. She needed to talk to the landlady, get that laptop figured out, it was still the key. Even if Sally had gotten herself killed she suspected there was still money she’d hidden. From the way those guy acted they’d expected a lot more than five million dollars in that beneficiary account.
— Von
“Abby, what happened? Your message scared me so badly. Tell me it’s okay.”
Abby rolled her eyes in the dark. “It’s really not okay, but I survived. But listen, the main thing is that the money’s gone. all of it.”
Trish made a strangled noise. “You mean the five million? What happened?”
“Well, I sleeping in a hotel in Paris, and I stupidly used my credit card the day before for something dumb, a Chanel jacket, that I just felt like I deserved. Then in the middle of the night there’s a knock on the door and before I even know what’s happening this guys have grabbed me and are holding a gun to my head. They tell me to transfer all the money to this account, or they’ll kill me. So I do it. It’s wweird, I think it only took five minutes for the transfer to go through. And then they left. So i checked out and moved to a different hotel across town, not that I think those guys are going to come back for me. They got what they wanted.”
“All the money’s gone!” Trish now sounded hysterical, “And you almost got killed? Abby, come home right away. We’ll sort this out. We’ll get the FBI onto them. they have all sorts of tracking software, we’ll get the money back.
“Trish, it’s gone. I mean, even if the FBI could track that money it’s clear it was dirty. They wouldn’t give it to me. And to be honest, having the FBI look into how I behaved, laying low in Europe. It just looks bad all around. In a way I kind of deserve all this.”
“You don’t deserve any of this. It’s all Sally’s doing, I mean what was she thinking? She thinks she can steal money from bigshots and then hand it over to you like she really got it by daytrading or whatever.”
“She hadn’t meant to hand it over. Remember, that beneficiary notice letter went to her apartment address. My guess is that she was never going to give it to me. Maybe she was going to fake her own death so that–” Abby stopped. Fake her own death? Was it possible that Sally had faked her own death? That the person found in the parking lot was someone else? But then that would mean Sally had gotten hold of a body or gotten someone else killed. Would she stoop that low?
Abby drew in breath. Sally would stoop that low. From everything she’d heard about her aunt, she was ruthless and uncaring, using people and then throwing them away.
“Well, at least you paid off your student loans.” Trish said, obviously not paying attention to Abby’s rambling. “You did pay them off, didn’t you?”
“Some of it,” Abby admitted. She’d sent off a check for $50,000, the most she’d dared without raising suspicion. That meant $65,000 was still hanging over her. But she couldn’t focus on that because now she had a weirdly powerful urge to dig up Sally’s body. How much would that cost? Sally’s body had been identified by her landlady, since no one had been able to contact Sally’s family. Would the landlady even know what Sally looked like? Or had she been paid off?
“Well, you’re going to have to come home, that’s for sure. Do you think those guys are going to come after you in New York? I’d have you stay with me but it’s a lot to take on and–”
“I’ll stay with my mom.” For the first time since being woken up at gunpoint Abby felt hopeful. She needed to get a lot more information from her mom about Sally. She needed to talk to the landlady, get that laptop figured out, it was still the key. Even if Sally had gotten herself killed she suspected there was still money she’d hidden. From the way those guy acted they’d expected a lot more than five million dollars in that beneficiary account.
— Von
Didn't expect this! And yes, it DOES look suspicious for her to be "laying low in Europe." Abby could be good, or she could be bad, or maybe some of both. Looking forward to more! ---Macoff
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