Charlotte A Carter Ms. Carter took money for services she failed to provide. Enumclaw Washington

Our agency provides legal services.  We contracted with Ms. Carter as an independent contractor to perform work for us on May 29th & June 5th.  She cashed the payment checks on May 27th, however, she texted me 20 minutes before the May 29th services were to begin to report that she was too ill to work.  Because our agency's reputation is based in part on our reliability of services, we had no choice but to terminate future services with her.  This was the second time Ms. Carter failed to show up for contracted work - this time however, she kept the money she was paid to work and refuses to repay it.

After threatening to call the police on Ms. Carter for fraud, she sent a money order with "Paid in Full" hand-written on it.  The money order was for $101. Ms. Carter owes us $357.  Maybe she thought I wouldn't catch it, I don't know.  She told me in writing that the checks are in the mail, however, after several requests for proof of payment (to which she ignored) she wrote that she would stop payment on the checks (that never arrived) and would send payment by Thursday, June 16th.  The payment that arrived on June 16th was the money order for $101.  

It would take too much of our time to take her to Small Claims Court and an attorney is too expensive.  Ms. Carter signed an agreement with our agency, agreeing that she was not to be paid if she failed to work - she then cashed the payment checks in advance, kept the money and then failed to work.  

She recently sent me a text in which she wrote, "I am appalled you would think that I'd not pay what I owe!"  Yet, to date, she has done exactly that.