Chapter 1

I dragged my luggage to the rental counter and picked up the keys to a Chrysler 200. Following the directions Aunt Dora provided I headed toward the outskirts of town and found myself in a cluster of buildings, each housing a half-dozen townhouse apartments. Scanning the doors I found the one marked 12-B. After parking in the driveway I headed up the walk and rang the bell.

Mae answered it. We regarded each other for a long moment. My cousin Mae was a solidly built woman, about five foot eight. She always had been on the chunky side, with a round face, apple cheeks, intense blue eyes and a hint of a double chin. Her reddish-brown hair was cut in a short bob and she had patches of freckles on either side of her pert, upturned nose. She was wearing a pair of cutoff shorts and a hoodie sweatshirt over a pink tee. "Jon," she finally said.

"Hello, Mae. It's been a long time."

"Ten years," she replied, nervously. "I'm surprised you came."

"Didn't Aunt Dora tell you I was coming?"

"She did. I told her I'd believe it when I saw you."

"Well..." I pinched and tugged at my cheek. "Here I am, in the flesh. You look good, Mae. Have you lost weight?"

"Some," she replied icily.

"May I come in?"

She opened the door and I stepped inside to an empty apartment. I looked around. Some cardboard cartons were stacked near the archway leading to the kitchen. "Don't you have any furniture?"

"It's in there." She pointed to a storage pod sitting across from the unit in a parking stall. "When I told my landlord I was leaving, he filed a lien on it and impounded it. It's to make sure I pay what I owe."

"How much do you owe?"

She looked at the ceiling and bit her lip. "With the back rent, the cost of the lien ... About five thousand." Mae looked me in the eye, hers brimming. "Don't lecture me, Jon."

"Aunt Dora said you were in trouble..."

"The bank I worked for was bought by Allied. They determined my department was redundant. After six loyal years, I was out on my ass. Do you have any idea what that does to your sense of worth?"

I shook my head. "Luckily, I don't."

"Easy for you to say ... successful investment banker."

"I'm an investment analyst," I replied. "You've looked for work?"

"Of course. There's nothing in this town. My severance ran out, my savings are gone ... my credit cards maxed out. I spent ten months looking and came up empty. That's why Aunt Dora suggested..."

"You give my town a try. Well ... I do know that Kyle always is looking for talent. I can't make any promises. At least it's not a one-horse town like this one. I was going to rent a U-Haul and was trying to get a fix on how big of one we'll need."

"There are some boxes upstairs and these here ... and, what's in the pod."

"Okay. That gives me an idea. Do you have a car?"

She nodded. Yes ... but..."

"But, what?"

"It's not very reliable. It's okay as an around-town car but I wouldn't take it on a cross-country trip."

"Then, we'll need a towing rig," I said. "Maybe in the morning I can make arrangements for a cashier's check to get your furniture out of hock. Where do you sleep?"

"I have a sleeping bag."

"I was going to get a motel room. Maybe you'd like to bunk with me tonight."

"It's better than sleeping on the floor."

The next day was a busy one. After a trip to the bank I had a cashier's check; then we rented a truck and tow dolly. I drove the truck to Mae's town house. She met with her landlord, who unlocked the storage pod.

Finally we had her furniture, lamps, boxes and luggage in the back of the truck. After returning the rental car the last order of business was loading and firmly strapping down her car onto the tow dolly.

We drove the U-Haul to the motel and I crashed on one of the beds. Mae stepped from the bathroom in a knit sleep tee and folded down the covers on the other bed in the room.

I lay on my back, looking up in the darkened room. My thoughts wandered, back to when Mae and I were kids. She was the same age as I ... although, she was two years behind me in school. We grew up in the same house. My parents were killed in a plane crash when I was an infant -- I never knew them. Aunt Dora was my father's aunt -- his mother's spinster sister -- and she took me in. Mae's mother was my father's sister. When I was five, Aunt Dora took Mae in, too.

"Thanks again for helping me out," I heard Mae say in the darkness. "I will pay you back, Jon. I promise."

"Right..." I pondered for a moment. "Mae -- is there anybody else you owe money to?"

"No ... Well..."

"You said you maxed out your credit cards."

"Yeah..."

"Are any of those overdue?" Silence. I drew in a breath. "Mae?"

"Yes, I'm late on them."

"How late? Sixty days?"

"Yeah..."

"Ninety days?"

"No. One of them will be in a week or so."

"What's your outstanding balance?" More silence. "Mae?"

She drew in an exasperated sigh. "Altogether ... twenty thousand." I let out a low whistle. "Jon -- I don't expect you to help me out. I got into this jam. I'll get out of it."

"Right ... Try to get some sleep. It's about a twelve-hour drive."

Sleep was evading me. I couldn't help think about Mae's situation. I remember the merger between Allied and Lowes and Harding -- the bank Mae had worked for. It was the last, large, local bank in this town. I remember going over the L&H balance sheets and looking at their stock price. The place was ripe for a picking, I thought, and recommended our traders start buying shares ... discretely. A few months later the tender offer came and our L&H shares converted to Allied. Part of my bonus last year was based on that call.

Now, I was seeing the collateral damage that merger caused. Mae, and others, were out of work. It was a buyer's job market. This was putting a human face on it...

"Mae," I said, hoping she still was awake.

"What, Jon?"

"Any of those credit cards been referred to collections departments?"

"What do you mean?"

"Have you been getting calls?"

"A few ... before the phone was disconnected."

I winced. "Your cell still works..."

"It's my lifeline," she replied.

"Any legal action?"

"No. Not so far."

"That's good at least."

"Jon -- talking about this is making it hard for me to get to sleep."

"Okay ... sorry."

"I know it's my fault..."

"It's not your fault that you were laid off."

"But I should've looked harder. I should've taken any job -- Walmart greeter, burger flipper ... anything to pay the bills. I just didn't want to ... after being a professional..."

"I understand. I'm not blaming you, Mae. What's done is done and it's time to move on. Try to relax and get some sleep."

"All right. Good night, Jon."

"Good night, Mae."

Driving the U-Haul while towing Mae's car was more daunting than I had bargained for. Backing up was out of the question and I had to remind myself in making turns that the truck was now a whole car-length longer.

We decided to break the twelve-hour drive into three, four-hour shifts. I would take the first and third. With Mae in the passenger seat we headed toward the interstate.

"Mae," I said while accelerating onto the boulevard leading out of town.

"What?"

"We've gotta fix this credit card business. Do you have current statements?"

"Yeah ... They're in the box with stuff from my desk."

"When we get home, first thing is to dig them out so we can deal with them."

"Deal with them, how?" she asked.

"I'll sell some assets..."

"Please, Jon -- you don't need to go into hock on my account."

"Some assets out of my portfolio," I replied. "Next rest stop, I'll call my broker. As soon as we get home, we'll cut checks and overnight the payments."

"Jon ... Really ... I got into this all by myself."

"You do know that employers are doing more due diligence with new hires these days. They do background checks ... and credit history is part of that. Thirty days late is no big deal. Sixty ... that's bad enough. Ninety starts to look really shady."

"I never thought of it that way."

"We need to head this off at the pass, Mae. I consider this a loan. You'll still owe the money, except you'll owe it to me, now. What are those gougers charging you in interest? Thirty percent?"

"About ... maybe more."

"I'll charge you a tenth of that. We'll work out a payment schedule you can live with ... and, stick to. Got it?"

"Yes, Jon..."

"Until it's paid off -- no credit cards. You can get a bank account with a debit card, but stay away from those gougers. Understand?"

"Yes, Jon..."

I heard her sniffling, turned and saw her brushing tears from her face. "You're going way beyond the call of duty."

"Blood's thicker than water," I replied. I figured, fronting her some money might assuage my feelings of guilt a bit. "Also -- I've got plenty of room since the divorce. You can stay at my place 'til you're on your feet and ready to find one of your own."

"Thanks, Jon. I'll try not to get underfoot."

I pulled onto the on-ramp, merged into the right-hand lane and brought the rig up to cruising speed. Mae was staring at me. I could feel it. "Something wrong?"

"Jon -- why are you doing this?"

"Because ... Aunt Dora called and said you needed help. I'm helping."

"Are you doing this for her or for me?"

"I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do," I replied. "You're family. You're my cousin ... almost like a sister."

"With almost the operative word ... What happened, Jon? We were such good friends as kids. Then ... when you went into Junior High is when we ... stopped getting along. I couldn't understand why you started picking on me ... teasing me about my weight ... my interests ... my friends."

She was right. About the time Mae started to bloom and I was entering puberty we were at each others throats -- all the time, it seemed.

"You teased me about being behind in school," she said. "You knew it wasn't my fault."

"Yes, Aunt Dora told me the whole story ... about your mother and abusive father ... the separation, the restraining order ... how he slit her throat and kidnapped you. I know none of that was anything over which you had any control. I'm impressed you put it all behind you and succeeded as you did."