The Devil Is a Lie

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  “I got it,” Michelle said, stepping forward. “It must be some type of bank error.” She whipped out her Visa card and handed it to the cashier. The purchase went through in seconds.

  Nina was beyond embarrassed. The people in line behind her were looking at her like she was a thief. She wanted to scream, “I just won the lottery. I’m not broke!” Instead, she quietly made her way over to a table.

  “Girl, let it go,” Michelle said as she sat down across from Nina.

  “No way,” Nina said, beyond upset. “I just can’t believe my card was declined. I’m going to give the people at the bank a piece of my mind.” She whipped out her cell phone, punched in the number to her bank, and followed the prompts to check the balance on her account.

  “Your available balance is twenty-four dollars and sixty-three cents,” the automated voice said.

  Nina sat back in her chair, stunned. She pressed zero to speak with a customer service representative.

  “Hello, Bank of Texas. This is Amy. How may I help you?” the perky customer service representative said.

  “Yes, my name is Nina Lawson. I’d like to talk with someone regarding my account, because obviously there’s something wrong with your system.”

  “No problem, Ms. Lawson. I can help you with that. But if I may please first verify some information for security purposes. May I have your Social Security number and your mother’s maiden name?”

  Nina rattled off the information and waited with bated breath. There is nothing wrong. There is nothing wrong. Just calm down, she kept telling herself.

  “Yes, Ms. Lawson. I have your account right here. How may I help you?”

  “What is my balance?” Nina quickly asked.

  “Your balance is twenty-four dollars and sixty-three cents,” Amy said.

  “Okay, let me back up. Are you sure you have the right account? My name is Nina Lawson. I—”

  “Yes, ma’am. Account number three-two-zero-nine-seven-one-five-nine-zero?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Your balance is twenty-four dollars and sixty-three cents,” the representative repeated.

  “My balance can’t possibly be twenty-four dollars. I just deposited over four million dollars!” Nina screamed. Several people in the restaurant turned to stare at her, but she didn’t care.

  “Yes, ma’am, we see that you did make a substantial deposit last week.”

  “Then you can see how there’s no way all my money can be gone!”

  Michelle reached for her arm, trying to get her to lower her voice.

  “Let me see what the problem is,” Amy said.

  “The problem is something is wrong with your system!” Nina snapped.

  “Yes, here’s where the confusion is. You had an over-the-counter withdrawal this morning for three million, eight hundred thousand dollars.”

  Every ounce of breath escaped Nina’s body. It was as if time were standing still. “I haven’t been to the bank,” she croaked, finally finding her voice.

  “It appears the withdrawal was done by the joint owner of your account, Mr. Rick Henderson. It was a cash withdrawal. Mr. Henderson said you all were taking the money to another bank. I see here that we did try to give you a courtesy call at home.”

  “I’ve been out all day!” Nina said in a panic.

  “We are so sorry you weren’t happy with the Bank of Texas. In the fut—”

  Nina cut her off. “Please tell me you’re lying!”

  Amy sounded offended. “No, ma’am, here at the Bank of Texas, we don’t lie when it comes to our customers’ money.”

  “How could he possibly withdraw nearly four million dollars? Why would you all let him have that?”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am. Please don’t raise your voice at me,” Amy sternly said. “As an authorized signer, Mr. Henderson can withdraw anything he likes.”

  “Okay,” Nina said, trying to calm herself. This woman wasn’t at fault. Nina had been the idiot who put a man who wasn’t her husband on her account. “I’m sorry for yelling. There’s a reasonable explanation. I know there is.”

  “Wonderful. I hope you work it out. Is there anything else I can do for you, Ms. Lawson?”

  Nina didn’t respond as she slammed the phone shut and grabbed her purse.

  “What’s going on?” Michelle asked.

  “Let’s go,” Nina snapped, jumping up and heading toward the door. She had forgotten all about their food.

  “Will you please tell me what’s going on?” Michelle asked as they neared the car.

  Nina was so upset, she couldn’t even find her keys. “Rick took all my money,” she said, frantically searching for her keys.

  “What?”

  “He took it. All of it.” Nina struggled to breathe.

  “Oh, my God.” Michelle watched as Nina tried unsuccessfully to open her car door.

  “Here, let me drive you,” Michelle said, taking the keys. “You know Rick. He’s not a thief. There has to be a reasonable explanation,” Michelle said, once they were in the car.

  “What reasonable explanation could he have for taking nearly four million dollars out of the bank and not saying anything?”

  “I don’t know. But just calm down until you can find out.”

  Nina fought back the lump in her throat. “Just take me home, please.”

  Michelle didn’t say anything else as she sped toward Nina’s house. Nina barely gave the car time to stop before she was barreling out the door and up the sidewalk. “Rick!” she yelled as she approached the front door.

  She opened the door and ran inside. She didn’t see him but she continued to call his name. “Rick!” she said, going up the stairs two at a time.

  Michelle was right behind her. Nina got to the bedroom door and stopped in her tracks. Every drawer in the dresser was open. Rick’s side was empty. Only wire hangers hung on his side of the closet. His pile of shoes was gone. Rick had evidently left in a hurry.

  Nina had to steady herself against the wall. What was even more evident was a feeling in her gut telling her he was never coming back.

  41

  “All right, explain this to me again.”

  Michelle squeezed Nina’s hand as if she were trying to give her the strength to explain for the fourth time what happened. The potbellied police officer kept glancing at the clock on the drab station wall, like he couldn’t wait for his shift to end.

  “As I already told you. I came home to find his stuff gone. He wiped out my bank account. He packed his stuff and he’s gone.” Nina struggled to ward off her tears. She’d been crying for the past three hours. Thankfully, Michelle hadn’t left her side.

  “And this man, you’re not married to him?”

  “No.”

  “Yet he was a joint owner of your account?”

  The way he said it made her feel so stupid. Sure, in the beginning she had questioned whether it was wise to share an account, but Rick had never given her any reason to believe he was capable of something like this. In fact, he deposited his money in her account all the time, and she’d never had a problem. Until now.

  “Look, can she just file the report?” Michelle asked.

  “I can’t do it,” the officer said, shaking his head. “As far as the Houston Police Department is concerned, he didn’t do anything illegal. If you gave him full access to your accounts, he is within his rights to take anything in it.”

  Nina swallowed hard. She had expected him to say exactly that, but it still hurt like crazy.

  “You might try a civil suit. Other than that, I don’t know what to tell you,” he said flatly.

  Nina glared at the officer. “Thanks for nothing,” she said before stomping out of the station.

  “Nina, come stay with me for a couple of days,” Michelle said once they were back outside at the car.

  “No, with the twins you don’t need me in the way. I’ll be fine.” She didn’t really believe that, and she was sure Michelle didn’t either, but Michelle left it a
lone.

  Nina wasn’t in much of a mood to talk the rest of the way home. She kept replaying in her mind any signs that she should have seen to indicate that Rick could do something like this. Had he taken her money and run off with that Dior woman? Why hadn’t she followed her gut and investigated that situation further? Was she that naive and stupid? Why in the world would she put his name on her account? The questions just kept coming, pounding at her over and over.

  After Michelle parked the car at her place, Nina made her go home. She wanted to be alone. She had just fixed herself some hot tea when someone began banging on the front door. She contemplated ignoring it, but judging by the way the person was pounding, they weren’t going away. It definitely wasn’t Michelle, because the person on the other side was banging like they’d lost their mind.

  “Who is it?” Nina yelled.

  “Open the door!”

  Nina took a deep breath, then opened the door. “Yvonne, what do you want?”

  Yvonne came barreling inside. “I signed the lease!” she screamed.

  Nina slowly shut the door. “What is it, Yvonne?”

  “I signed the lease on my new business. I’m an entrepreneur!” Yvonne shouted as she excitedly waved a piece of paper in front of her sister. “Let’s go celebrate.”

  Nina nearly groaned. “Yvonne, you know what, now is really not the time.”

  Yvonne finally noticed her sister’s bleak mood. “Nina, what’s going on?”

  Nina couldn’t help it. The tears once again came rushing forward. “It’s Rick!” she sobbed as she collapsed on the couch.

  Yvonne eased down next to her sister. “Whoa, what’s wrong, Nina? What about Rick?”

  “H-he stole all of my money,” Nina cried.

  “What?”

  “He stole my money,” Nina said. “I called the bank and it was gone.”

  “Gone?” Yvonne’s mouth dropped wide open. “As in no more?”

  Nina nodded.

  “How did he get it out of the bank?”

  Nina debated whether to make up something to tell her sister, but she simply didn’t have the energy to think up a lie. “He was a joint owner of my account.”

  Yvonne looked at her like she was stone-cold crazy.

  “Tell me that you did not have this man on your account.”

  “Yvonne, we were about to be married.” Nina dabbed her eyes.

  “How many times do I have to tell you, about to be ain’t the same as already are. You know I believe you need to have separate accounts when you’re married, but you dang sure need them separate before you even say ‘I do.’”

  Nina cast her eyes down in shame. Yvonne wasn’t saying anything she hadn’t said to herself countless times over the last few hours.

  “Did you call the cops?” Yvonne finally asked.

  “Yes. There’s nothing they can do. He’s an authorized owner of the account.”

  “You didn’t at least have a withdrawal limit?” Yvonne asked.

  “What is that?”

  Yvonne shook her head in disbelief. “It’s where the other signer can only withdraw so much on an account.”

  “No, how was I supposed to know that?” Nina said, surprised that her ghetto-fabulous sister knew something so important.

  “Because you had four million dollars!” Yvonne said. “And they say you’re the smart one.”

  “Please, Yvonne.”

  Yvonne held up her hands. “Okay, I know you’re beating yourself up enough. So what does all this mean?”

  “It means I’m broke. He took my money, even what I had before I won the lottery.” Nina couldn’t help it, another loud sob escaped from her throat. She half expected Yvonne to continue going off, but she was pleasantly surprised when her sister wrapped her arms around her and stroked her hair.

  “Don’t cry, Nina. It’s gonna be okay.”

  “You think so?” Nina sniffed. She couldn’t remember the last time she and her sister hugged.

  “Not really,” Yvonne replied. “But it seemed like what I was supposed to say.”

  Nina smiled through her tears.

  “So what are you going to do?” Yvonne asked.

  Nina shrugged as she tried to pull herself together. “Try to find him. Hope this is all just a big misunderstanding.”

  “Do you think there’s a chance that it might be?”

  “Nope,” Nina replied matter-of-factly. “I think it’s just wishful thinking on my part. Something tells me Rick is long gone.”

  Nina fell back against her sofa. Her nightmare had gone from bad to worse, and she simply didn’t see how it could get any better.

  42

  If life was supposed to be so good, why did he feel so bad? That’s what Todd asked himself as he sat in the living room of his new condo overlooking the Galleria. This was the type of place he’d dreamed of living in, but he’d never felt more alone. Money was no fun if you had no one to spend it with. Pam was definitely out of the question. She didn’t know about the new place, which he’d found and bought in a week, and he wanted to keep it that way.

  Todd looked around the drab living room area and didn’t even know where to start. Hopefully, his cousin Shari could help this place feel more like a home.

  “Okay, I checked out the bedroom and picked out some colors, so I’ll bring back some swatches for you to tell me what you think,” Shari said, walking out of his bedroom.

  “Whatever you come up with is fine,” Todd replied.

  Shari looked up from her design samples and stared at her cousin. “Okay,” she said, mystified, “help me understand how you can be a millionaire in this fabulous condo, sitting around here like you lost your best friend?” Her eyes grew wide. “It’s not your grandmother, is it?”

  Todd shook his head. “No, so far so good. The heart appears to be taking and there are no complications. Of course, she still has to go through recovery, but overall, it seems like the surgery was a success.”

  She had known all that, so she was still puzzled. “Good. Then what’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. Just the drama with Pam, I guess.”

  Shari shook her head. “I told you that girl was a psycho. Did you get a restraining order?”

  Todd nodded. Pam had made his life a living hell over the past two weeks. She’d stuffed a Snickers bar into his gas tank, posted fliers all over his old workplace that said he had herpes, and called him all day, every day, until he finally changed his number. He’d even gone so far as to offer her twenty-five thousand dollars just so she wouldn’t be totally shafted. She’d balked at the offer, reminding him that she was the reason he had anything. She let him know that if she couldn’t enjoy life as a millionaire, neither would he.

  “I got a restraining order, but it’s not like a piece of paper will stop Pam. I’m just hoping she gets tired of harassing me and goes on about her business.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that.” Shari closed her design book. “Between you and Nina, I swear. If you had just stayed with each other, you wouldn’t have these problems.”

  Todd perked up at the mention of Nina’s name. She’d been dominating his thoughts since their embrace at the hospital. She’d called to check on Grams a couple of times, but she was always short and quickly ended their conversations.

  “So, let me ask you, is her fiancé a good guy?” he asked.

  Shari’s mouth dropped open. “You haven’t heard?”

  “Haven’t heard what?” He instantly jumped to the best scenario he could imagine. “Did Nina and Rick break up, too?”

  Shari sat down across from him like she had to get comfortable to share some good gossip. “Nina and Rick broke up, all right,” she said, lowering her voice, even though it was just the two of them in the condo. “Nina is my girl, but you’re fam, so I’m gonna tell you, but you know I don’t like gossiping.”

  “Would you just tell me already?”

  Shari spoke slowly. “Rick ran off with her money.”

  “What?
”

  She nodded. “Every dime. Cleaned her out and bounced.”

  Todd was on the edge of his seat now. “No way.”

  “Yes, way. She didn’t see it coming. Just looked up and Rick and all her money was gone.”

  “All the lottery winnings?”

  “Every dime. Good thing she gave her family cashier’s checks because she would’ve had checks bouncing all over the place.”

  Todd sat back, stunned. “H-how is she doing?”

  “Better than I would be,” Shari said with an attitude. “Because I would straight be hunting him down. I wouldn’t rest until I had my money back and he was six feet under.”

  “Wow.”

  Shari stood. “‘Wow’ is right. I called to check on her this morning, but she really didn’t feel like talking. She’s been kinda distant since all this lotto mess.”

  “I’m sorry, Shari.”

  She didn’t blame him. “It is what it is. I ain’t mad at her. If it was me, I’d be hot with you and anybody related to you, too.” She smiled as she headed to the door. “I’m going shopping tomorrow. What’s my budget again?”

  “Just don’t go overboard.”

  She hugged him. “Yes, that’s what I’m talking about. I love clients like you.” She opened the door, but then stopped before walking out. “Oh, and Todd, don’t even think about calling Nina and letting her know you know about the money.”

  He stared blankly at his cousin as she winked and closed the door. Shari knew him very well because that was exactly what he was planning to do—call Nina.

  43

  Nina didn’t know what her grandmother could possibly want. She’d tried to get out of going over because she was still in a funk. In the week and a half since Rick stole her money, she’d been unable to face the world. Nina didn’t feel like talking to anyone. Her grandmother wasn’t hearing it, though, and had insisted she come.

  As soon as she pulled up, Nina saw several cars parked outside her grandmother’s. That’s all she needed: a family get-together.