Chapter 37

Tom went to fire up his computer while Nena poked around.

He logged into his own bank account and was rather surprised by a large amount of money in his personal account and wondered if the bank had made an error by adding a few too many zeros.

He checked his emails and found one that Mark had sent late the evening before. The email sent from Mark read:

“Hi, Tom.

I’m pleased to tell you that the class action suit against your father’s old company has finally been resolved and they have paid-out the workers. Since your father was the only one to die from the company’s failures, he got a larger payout than the rest, as we fought for.

As per his will, half of the money goes to you. How does it feel to be a millionaire, even if it is only, just over $1.5 million?

I haven’t told your mother yet. The payments were only deposited in our holding account late this afternoon, just before the close of business. The bastards held out until the last minute. So, I’m still at work transferring the money and composing emails.

I’m sure you will get a call from your mother as soon as she realises why her bank account is flush again. Mary has been ringing me every week for months to find out if they have paid. If she doesn’t call me first, I will call her on Monday.

The money had to be deposited into your personal account. I did retain the tax departments share and have paid it for you. It will still probably buggar up your tax for this financial year, but we will sort it out.

I suggest you transfer most of the money into your Trust, and can you get that loan sorted out, as it just costs you money now? Maybe it is time for you to buy something new, hint, hint.

Your friend, Mark Simons, Attorney in Law.”

Tom had to chuckle as he emailed back:

“Thanks, Mark.

Yes, I plan to pay off the loan today. I’m also quitting my job next week. I am going to medical school, so factor that into my tax burden for this financial year. I know you don’t agree, but it is something I feel that I have to do. Wish me luck.

Since you have boosted my funds, I can now pay for my medical training upfront and live comfortable until I’m finished. Since I’m flush, I’ve decided that I need to buy a house on the Gold Coast where I intend to study.

I will contact you when I find a place. I still have that place in mind we discussed six months ago but haven’t tried to purchase it yet. Will let you know how it goes.

You have made my day, my friend.

Your friend, Tom White.”

“What are you chuckling about?” Nena asked as she stood behind Tom’s chair.

“I got a nice fat payout today that is going to make my going back to school a lot easier to do,” Tom said as he flicked back to the on-line banking page and showed Nena the totals.

“Well, crap! That makes my money look like chicken feed. It’s nice to know I have a rich boss,” Nena replied as she squeezed Tom’s shoulder.

“As to your money, it will still feed a lot of chickens, and it is still yours. Did you useta access your old account on-line?”

“Yes, why? It’s no good to me because Neil closed it.”

“Well he may have, but for tax purposes, you will still have access to the information, you just can’t use the account. Let’s log in and see how much money he owes you.”

Nena handed Tom the details and then told him the password when he got to the login page. The page did warn that the account was closed, but it still let her do searches and print out summaries. Tom printed them out so Nena could look at them and have a hard copy for her taxes.

Tom even found the information for the account that the money was transferred to before this one was closed. The webpage also had an internal email telling Nena how to set up a new transaction account so that she could link it back to her high-interest savings account.

Nena told Tom to set up the new account while she worked out how much of the money Neil took was hers.

Tom soon had Nena’s new account set up.

Apparently, this was standard practice when a joint account had been closed. Tom checked that he had access to Nena’s saving account and transferred a small amount back into the main account to check it all worked.

He even sent in the application for a new credit card for her. He had used his address as her new one. Tom then opened his account again and set up an automatic transfer to pay some money into Nena’s new account each week.

He just called it ‘Shopping money’ since he didn’t have an official employment agreement with Nena. “Nena, what’s the chance that you know Neil’s favourite passwords,” Tom called out. He could hear Nena rattling around in his kitchen.

Nena scoffed and walked back to Tom. “He uses three. HotNeil1, HotNeil2 or HotNeil3. If he can’t remember if he used one, two or three, he could try them all without being locked out.”

Tom shook his head and went back to the login page. He put in Neil’s new account number and his password. The first failed, but the second didn’t. Tom was soon looking at the transactions Neil had done the day before. “So how much does he owe you?”

Nena bent over Tom’s shoulder and looked at the banking page. “My rough estimate is twenty-two grand, but he doesn’t have that much in his new account. What did he do with all the money we had?”

“My guess is that he purchased a new car?” Tom said and showed her the last transaction in the new account. Tom grinned, “It’s still pending, shall we cancel it?”

“Why not,” Nena replied with a feral grin.

Tom cancelled the transaction and then refreshed the account. He then transferred Nena’s money to her account and typed, ‘Pay Nena her share’ as the description to go on his statement.

“Can he stop that transaction?” Nena asked with worry.

Tom shook his head, “Not easily. That was a direct transfer between Comm accounts, so it goes straight through. The other one was to a finance company so it would take three working days to clear. If he challenges the payment, the Bank will have to ring you.”

“Since you were a joint holder of the original account and your pay went into it, he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. The bank would expect most of the money to be paid to you, especially since you regularly earned more than he did.”

“Since this is his new account and you don’t live with him anymore, he can’t prove that he didn’t transfer it himself after you set up your new account. It might be a good idea to email him the details. And request your money and the amount.”