“Show me the working heat.”
Mercer’s jaw moved.
“As I said, I’d need to review the file.”
Rachel’s voice remained calm.
“We already reviewed it on the drive here.”
She placed another document on the table.
“There’s something else.”
Mercer looked at it and immediately stopped pretending to be relaxed.
Rachel continued.
“The monthly owner report lists rent for this property at eight hundred twenty-five dollars.
These receipts show the tenant was charged nine hundred fifty.
Some months include additional processing and maintenance fees that do not appear anywhere in our authorized schedule.”
Mercer shook his head quickly.
“That could be clerical.”
“For nearly two years?” Nathan asked.
“Different staff handle collections.”
“Your signature is on six of the receipts.”
Mercer looked down.
Emily suddenly understood why Nathan had sounded strange when she gave him the address.
He hadn’t recognized their house because he had been there before.
He had recognized it because numbers on reports had told him the house was fine.
And somebody had been lying.
The front door opened again.
“Emily?”
Sarah rushed inside, still wearing gray cleaning clothes beneath an old winter coat.
Her hair was pulled back messily, and fear covered her face.
Emily ran toward her.
“Mom.”
Sarah wrapped one arm around Emily and the other around Noah.
“I got your message.
What happened? Who are these people?”
Then she saw Mercer.
Her body went rigid.
“Why is he here?”
Nathan introduced himself and Rachel, then explained the wrong-number text as simply as he could.
Sarah’s expression moved from confusion to embarrassment.
“Emily texted you asking for money?”
“She was trying to contact her aunt,” Nathan said.
“And before you worry about anything else, your daughter did what she thought she had to do because her brother was hungry.”
Sarah looked toward the grocery bags.
Her eyes filled.
“I was supposed to get paid today,” she whispered.
“They changed payroll.
I thought there was enough formula left.”
Emily reached for her hand.
“It’s okay.”
Sarah shook her head as if she couldn’t accept those words from her twelve-year-old daughter.
Nathan gave her a moment before asking about the property.
Once Sarah started talking, the story came out slowly.
She had reported the leaking roof eight months earlier.
She had called about failing heat before winter.
She had sent photographs of damp walls.
She had been told repairs were scheduled, then delayed, then completed even though nobody came.
When she complained again, Mercer Property Services warned her that repeated service calls could result in additional fees.
She had paid anyway because moving required money she didn’t have.
Then Nathan asked about the rent.
