Page 22 of Christmas Ransom

“When’s the best time to rob a bank?” Agent Grover asked.

The question was so out of the blue that she stared at him. “I beg your pardon?”

“Isn’t there more money in the vault at Christmastime than any other time because a lot of businesses like to give cash bonuses?”

“I don’t know where you heard that,” she said, but she could see that he already knew the answer. It was true. As one of the top financial officers, she knew there had been more money in the vault than usual. Had the robbers hit the bank any other day, it wouldn’t have been the case. Was that why he thought someone employed by the bank had given the robbers this information, making it an inside job?

“But it’s true, isn’t it,” he said, eyeing her. “The day those men walked armed into your bank was the perfect time to rob a bank that hasn’t been robbed in more than a hundred years.”

She pushed back her chair and rose.

“We aren’t finished here,” Grover snapped. “Let’s stop playing games, Ms. Richmond. You know exactly who robbed the bank. Isn’t that what you were doing in the bank on your day off? Isn’t that why you were the only one who ended up in the hospital? Make it look good. Isn’t that what you told him? You saw the perfect way to—”

“You couldn’t be more wrong. I’m going to say this one more time. I had nothing to do with the robbery. From now on, I won’t be talking to you unless my lawyer is present.” She had her hand in her pocket, gripping her phone, and she pushed the button as the agent started to argue the point. Davy’s phone rang in the other room and an instant later he came through the door.

Davy looked at her face and turned to Grover. “I think we’re done here.”

Grover rose slowly, his gaze locked on her. Deeds got to his feet. He gave her a “what did you expect” look before they started out of the room. “I wouldn’t leave town if I was you, Ms. Richmond,” Grover said over his shoulder. “I suggest you get yourself a lawyer, because we’ll be back.”

“ITHOUGHTYOUsaid we didn’t have to worry about the Colt brothers,” Jesse demanded the moment Jud picked up the call later that night after she’d gone to work.

He could tell from the background noise that she was standing outside on the back steps at the hospital and that she was smoking and not even trying to hide it from him. “What’s going on?”

“The administrator’s assistant told me that James Colt asked for the names of all the hospital employees. Why would he want those unless she talked?”

“He’s just fishing. He’s looking for someone whose name begins withJ.” He laughed, relieved that’s all it was. “So there’s no problem. They aren’t looking for Debra Watney.”

She lowered her voice. “But if the feds get involved, they could find out that I’m not who I say I am.” Jesse had used her twin sister’s name and nurse’s aide experience to get the job at the hospital.

Jud had questioned her at the time, asking, “What happens if your sister shows up or applies for a job somewhere else?”

“We don’t have to worry about Deb,” Jesse had said. “It’s all good.”

Now he thought about what Cora Brooks had said. Was Debra the missing sister?

“The last thing I need is the feds snooping around here,” Jesse was saying.

He told himself that the fear he heard in Jesse’s voice had nothing to do with a missing sister. Cora Brooks didn’t know what she was talking about. “You’re not going to be working there much longer anyway.”

Did he have to remind her that they had a ton of money in a cave? Or that she was the one who’d insisted they continue working at their jobs as if nothing had happened? She’d made a good argument, even though he couldn’t wait to blow this town, this county, this state, maybe even this country.

But she was right. If she quit now, she’d look guilty and the hospital might dig deeper. Same with his boring job. He hadn’t been completely truthful on his application either.

“Did you drive by her house?” Jesse asked.

They’d discussed this and she’d warned him to stay clear of Carla Richmond and her house. “You told me not to.” He’d driven past earlier. The sidewalk hadn’t been shoveled since the latest snowstorm. There was a fresh set of tracks where someone had driven in, gotten out and gone inside the house. Large prints, like a man’s boot size. The tracks had gone in and come back out.

“Well, if you did drive by there, you’d realize that she isn’t there,” Jesse said as if knowing he’d lied. “She’s staying with the Colts for the holidays above that office of theirs.” He wondered how she knew this. “So there is no getting to her until she returns home.”

“I think it’s a sign that we shouldn’t wait,” he said. “We should get the money and leave. She told the feds everything she knows and nothing has really happened. We’re in the clear. Why press our luck?”

He waited for her to agree or put up an argument. All he got was a cold, dead silence. “Jesse?” He thought maybe she’d already disconnected, before he heard her let out an angry sigh.

“I’ve got to go.” This time she did disconnect.

Jud swore under his breath. He knew that sigh. Jesse was in this now up to her neck. He’d told himself the Colt brothers weren’t going to be a problem and now they were. In the meantime, he needed to find out just how hot the bank money might be. If he’d given marked bills to the loan shark, he should hear about it soon. This day just kept getting better.

Before work, he’d spent some time on the computer at the town library. He’d quickly learned what a fool he was. Marked bills, he’d discovered, were often not really “marked.” Instead, banks kept bills with sequential serial numbers—in the tills of the tellers. Once those bills were mixed with those from the main vault, there was no telling which bills were marked and which weren’t. Apparently a countrywide bulletin was issued to all retailers to watch out for those serial numbers.

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