“Can I please have your account information?”
I rattle off the account number and my PIN, then ask her what my most recent deposit has been. I haven’t touched this account since I’ve been back in L.A.
“Let’s see…” she says. “There was an eighteen thousand dollar deposit on June seventh.”
That was royalties. “What about other transactions?”
“It looks like check number seventy-six just cleared last week. It was for ten thousand even. And there was another one a week earlier,” she adds after a brief pause. “Check number seventy-five, also for ten thousand.”
My throat tightens as I thumb through the checkbook and find the top check is number seventy-seven. “And I signed those?” I ask, my voice rough.
“Are you saying you didn’t?” she asks, alarmed.
“I might have,” I say like an idiot. Not too many people would forget writing ten thousand dollar checks. “Is there somewhere I can see a copy?”
“Your online banking statement will have an option to view individual checks. Have you set that up?”
“Um…no.”
She walks me through the steps and when I get into my account and pull up the checks, my breath catches. Blood pounds in my ears as I lift Billie’s handwritten paper and compare the writing, but I already know it’s hers. Both checks are made out to her.
“Can I ask you about another account?”
“Certainly,” Christina says.
I read the number on the deposit slip and wait with a speeding heart through a pause.
“That’s not ours,” she finally says.
“Thank you,” I say and hang up, staring at the papers and trying to make sense of them.
#
When Billie comes home, I’m sitting at the kitchen table with everything from the folder laid out in front of me. I try not to let her see my shake.
“What’s going on, Shiloh?” she asks, her eyes darting from the papers to my face. When I don’t answer, she moves closer and picks up the stack of contracts. “How did you get this?”
“I broke into your briefcase,” I say, holding her gaze.
Her face goes slack. “Why would you do that?”
“Because you wouldn’t tell me anything about those,” I say, gesturing with a nod of my head at the contracts, still in her hand.
Her eyes fall on the yellow page with the bank information on it and widen. She drops the stack of contracts and scoops up the page. “This is nothing, Shiloh,” she says, crumpling it into a ball. “I just needed your account information so we could set up direct deposit for your Universal checks.”
“So…you didn’t write two ten thousand dollar checks out of that account?”
Her face goes ashen and it’s a second before she answers. “It was to reimburse Universal for tour expenses…the venues and travel expenses and paying the staff…”
“Then why aren’t the checks written to Universal?”
She lowers herself into the seat across from me. “I wanted to set some money aside so I could just take care of it when the itemization came. It’s…I opened a new account for you, just to keep everything separate from your State money. I thought it would be easier.”
“Why?” I say, trying to make myself believe what she’s saying makes sense. It takes me less than a second to realize it doesn’t. “I can write checks out of that account with no problem.”
“But if you want me to take care of things for you, I’ll need access too. I couldn’t do that with your other accounts.”
“What’s this?” I ask, lifting the deposit slip from my lap. “This is a lot of money. Where did it come from?”
“Universal.” She swallows. “It’s your cut of ticket sales.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about it?”
She slams her palms on the table. “Why are you giving me the third degree, Shiloh? I’ve only done any of this to make your life easier.”
“Then why didn’t you just ask me to write a check, instead of taking my checkbook and doing it yourself?”
“I…” Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she finds words. “I’m trying to keep things simple for you. I didn’t think you’d mind if I took care of this.”
I stand from the table and lift my phone. “I’m calling Phillip.”
“No!” she shouts, lunging for my hand.
I yank it away. “I want him to tell me how much they’re charging me for tour expenses.”
“Shiloh…wait,” she says, panic thick in her voice. “Just…let’s just talk about this, okay? It’s late. You can wait for morning to call him when he’s in the office. He’ll have all the numbers there.”
I pull up his number and hit connect.
“Hello,” he says when he answers.
I try to keep the shake out of my voice. “Hi Phillip. Sorry to call so late. This is Shiloh Luck.”
“Shiloh!” he says as Billie sinks onto the couch with her head in her hands. “Has Billie had a chance to take you through the new contract?”
“Um…no. I didn’t know we had one until just now.”