At 8:17 on a Thursday evening, Lauren Bennett was midway through folding laundry when her mother called to ask why the payment for Ashley’s birthday party still hadn’t gone through.Lauren stared at her phone, convinced she must have misheard Diane. Ashley’s thirtieth birthday dinner was scheduled for the following night at The Pier House in Asbury Park. Fifty guests had been invited. There was meant to be a private room, a seafood buffet, a custom cake, and a bar tab big enough to make Lauren’s stomach tighten just imagining it.