the obvious.'
Edwina felt disappointed. Illogically, she supposed, she had expected some kind of miracle solution. Instead, Lewis had delivered a hoary old bromide.
She glanced at her watch. It was almost eight o'clock. 'Thank you,' she said. 'I must go.'
'Oh, by the way, I'm leaving for Europe tonight,' he informed her. 'I'll be back Wednesday.'
'Have a good trip.' Edwina kissed him as she left. The sudden announcement did not surprise her. Lewis had offices in Zurich and London, and his comings and goings were casual.
She went down in the private elevator which connected their penthouse with an indoor parking garage.
As she drove to the bank, and despite her dismissal of Lewis's advice, the words mistrust the obvious stayed annoyingly, persistently in her mind.
A discussion at midmorning with the two FBI agents was brief and inconclusive.
The meeting took place in the conference room at the rear of the bank where, over the preceding two days, the FBI men had interviewed members of the staff. Edwina was present. So was Nolan Wainwright.
The senior of the two agents, whose name was Innes and who spoke with a New England twang, told Edwina and the bank's security chief, 'We've gone as far as we can with our investigation here. The case will stay open and we'll be in touch if new facts come to light. Of course, if anything more develops here you'll inform the Bureau at once.' 'Of course,' Edwina said.
'Oh, there is an item of negative news.' The FBI man consulted a notebook. 'The Nunez girl's husband Carlos. One of your people thought they saw him in the bank the day the money was missing''
Wainwright said, 'Miles Eastin. He reported it to me. I passed the information on.'
'Yes, we questioned Eastin about that; he admitted he could have been mistaken. Well, we've traced Carlos Nunez. He's in Phoenix, Arizona; has a job there as a motor mechanic. Our Bureau agents in Phoenix have interviewed him. They're satisfied he was at work on Wednesday, in fact every day this week, which rules him out as an accomplice.'
Nolan Wainwright escorted the FBI agents out. Edwina returned to her desk on the platform. She had reported the cash loss as she was required to do to her immediate superior in Headquarters Administration and word, it seemed, had filtered upward to Alex Vandervoort. Late yesterday, Alex had telephoned, sympathetic, and asking if there was anything he could do to help. She had thanked him, but said no, realizing that she was responsible anal must do whatever had to be done herself. This morning, nothing had changed.
Shortly before noon Edwina instructed Tottenhoe to advise the payroll department that Juanita Nunez's employment would be terminated at the end of the day, and to have her severance paycheck sent down to the branch. The check, delivered by messenger, was on Edwina's desk when she returned from lunch.
Uneasy, hesitating, Edwina turned the check over in her hand.
At this moment Juanita Nunez was still working. Edwina's decision about that yesterday had brought grouchy objections from Tottenhoe who protested, 'The sooner we're rid of her, the surer we'll be of no repetition.' Even Miles Eastin, back at his regular operations assistant's desk, had raised his eyebrows, but Edwina overruled them both. - She wondered why on earth she was worrying so much, when obviously the time had come to end the incident and put it out of mind.
Obviously out of mind. The obvious solution. Again Lewis's phrase occurred to her mistrust the obvious. But how? In what way?
Edwina told herself: Think just once more. Go back to the beginning.
What were the obvious facets of the incident as they occurred? The first obvious thing was that money was missing. No room for dispute there. The second obvious thing was that the amount was six thousand dollars. That had been agreed by four people: Juanita Nunez herself, Tottenhoe, Miles Eastin, and, eventually, the vault teller. No argument. The third obvious feature concerned the Nunez girl's
after almost five hours of busy transactions at the counter, and before she had balanced out her cash. All others in the branch who knew about the loss, including Edwina, agreed that was obviously impossible; from the start, the knowledge had been a cornerstone of their joint belief that Juanita Nunez was a thief.
Knowledge… obvious knowledge. .. obviously impossible.
And yet was it impossible?… An idea occurred to Edwina
A wall clock showed 2:10 P.M. She noted that the operations officer was at his desk nearby, Edwina got up. 'Mr. Tottenhoe, will you come with me, please?'
With Tottenhoe glumly trailing, she crossed the floor, briefly greeting several customers en route. The branch was crowded and busy, as usual in the closing hours of business before a weekend. Juanita Nunez was accepting a deposit.
Edwina said quietly, 'Mrs. Nunez, when you've dealt with this customer, please put up your position closed sign and lock your cash box.'
Juanita Nunez made no response, nor did she speak when she had completed the transaction, or while transferring a small metal plaque to the counter as instructed. When she turned to close the cash box, Edwina saw why. The girl was crying silently, tears coursing down her cheeks.
The reason was not hard to guess. She had expected to be fired today and Edwina's sudden appearance confirmed that belief.
Edwina ignored the tears. 'Mr. Tottenhoe,' she said, 'I believe Mrs. Nunez has been working on cash since we opened this morning. Is that correct?' He acknowledged, 'Yes.'
The time period was roughly the same as on Wednesday, Edwina thought, though the branch had been busier today.
She pointed to the cash box. 'Mrs. Nunez, you've been insisting that you always know the amount of cash you have. Do you know how much is in there now?'
The young woman hesitated. Then she nodded, still unable to speak through tears.
Edwina took a slip of paper from the counter and held it out. 'Write down The amount.'
Again, visible hesitation. Then Juanita Nunez took a pencil and scribbled 123,765.
Edwina passed the slip to Tottenhoe. 'Please go with Mrs. Nunez and stay with her while she balances out today's cash. Check the result. Compare it with this figure.'
Tottenhoe looked at the paper skeptically. 'I'm busy, and if I stayed with every teller…'
'Stay with this one,' Edwina said. Recrossing the bank floor, she returned to her desk. Three quarters of an hour later Tottenhoe reappeared.
He looked nervous. Edwina saw his hand was shaking. He had the slip of paper and put it on her desk. The figure which Juanita Nunez had written had a single penciled tick beside it.
'If I hadn't seen it myself,' the operations officer said, I might not have believed.' For once his gloom was gone, surprise replacing it. 'The figure was right?' 'Exactly right.'
Edwina sat tensely, marshaling her thoughts. Abruptly and dramatically, she knew, almost everything concerning the investigation had changed. Until this moment, all assumptions had been based upon the Nunez girl's inanity to do what she had now demonstrated conclusively that she could.
'I remembered something while I was walking over just now,' Tottenhoe said. 'I did know somebody once; it was in a little country branch upstate must be twenty years or more ago who had that knack of keeping track of cash. And I remember, then, hearing there are other people like that. It's as if they had a calculating machine right inside their heads.'
Edwina snapped, 'I wish your memory had been working better on Wednesday.'
As Tottenhoe returned to his own desk, she drew a notepad toward her and scribbled summations of her thoughts.
Nunez not yet cleared, but more believable. Possibly innocent victim? If not Nunez, who?
Someone who knows procedures, could somehow watch for opportunity. Staff? Inside job? But how? 'How' later. Find motive first, then person. Motive? Someone who needs money badly?
She repeated in capitals, NEEDS MONEY. And added: Examine personal checking/savings accounts, all branch personnel TONIGHT!
Eldwina began looking quickly through an FMA Headquarters phone book, looking for 'Chief of Audit Service.'
13
On Friday afternoons all branches of First Mercantile American Bank stayed open an extra three hours.
