That’s right. He’s not competent to stand trial. The officer that arrested him while he was in the yard got socked in the face when George started screaming. The officer wouldn’t allow Harland to go to his brother, and that caused a ruckus. When the doctor at the hospital was treating his wounds—the other officers took him to the ground, and he was cut—and started talking to him about what had happened, the doc said he could barely comprehend anything that was going on around him. Even his last name was something he wasn’t able to think of. Jude asked her if Hanna had been talked to, to see if she had any mental instabilities. Not that I’m aware of. But then, she was in a jail cell when the other two were arrested. I would guess they should test her, don’t you think?
I think it’s a given that she’s nuts. Mercy laughed. The thing is, I’ve been through her mind. She’s all right with being arrested. In fact, she’s thinking of it as a kind of vacation.
Along with the trip in her mind, I have found out where her money is. And she’s amassed a fortune, too. I have an idea it should be used for the burial of these children. Barring that, perhaps a fun set up for children that have been adopted out in the last few days. All of them have been, did you hear?
I did. I think finding anyone who would know about the dead will be next to impossible. They are finding records with each body, but very little information. I don’t know that I mentioned it to you or not. To me, it looks like she went to a great deal of trouble, making sure she didn’t get caught with the files on the children after they were dead. Jude asked if she could see what sort of paperwork it was. Nothing much, it looks like. A name if she had it. The ones she didn’t, it looks as if she put a number on them. Like the number the hospital would have assigned the infant when it was born.
There wasn’t any other way to look at this but to call it like it was. Murder. Jude had no idea how the children had been killed—she wasn’t even sure she wanted to know. But they were bringing them out to be identified if they could. Otherwise, Jude knew Hanna would just be blamed for the death of Jane or John Doe, with a number after their names.
Heading to Castle Dante, the name they’d given their home, she thought about all the things she had going right now. None of it was earthshattering. It was just things she’d been putting off for too long, and now she had to hit them dead on. Damn it, she wished she had more time in the day.
Knowing more time wasn’t in her future, Jude decided to enlist the help of some of the villagers of New Town. Most of them, if not all, knew more about what was needed to improve the place where they all lived. All she knew for sure was the town needed a new bank. The one there now was part of a bank system that was closing some of its branches, including the one they had in town.
Jude had spoken to the bank president, the one in charge of such matters, and he told her they were closing the branch because it was much too far for people to travel to work when the bank needed extra help. Jude had asked him when was the last time anyone had to be called in to work.
“Never. But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.” Jude asked him how long this particular branch had been in operation. “One hundred and sixty-seven years. We’re immensely proud of that here at home office. Not a single robbery, either.”
“In all that time, you’ve never had to have extra help, and now you’re closing the place up because it still might happen? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. You have to see how much this bank is needed. You’re the only one for a hundred miles.” He told her that was precisely it. “What is? That you’re the only business in a hundred miles?”
“Yes. Now you can see that it’ll be much too much of a hardship for anyone to go out and fill in should they need it. My decision is made. The people there can continue to make their payments on outstanding loans via postal service. And we’ll take deposits in the same way. It’s not like we’re abandoning them completely, Ms. Castle. They’ll still be able to reach us by Internet and the phone. It’s been a profitable venture in having our bank there all this time.”
So the very next day, after speaking to the man, she gathered everyone up who had any business with the closing bank. Then she lent them the money to pay off their existing loans. After that, it was easy to have them close all their savings accounts as well as any other reason they might need the bank. She’d gotten a frantic call from the same bank president just this morning.
“The bank there, it has no business. Everyone in town is telling them they’re going to a different bank. What have you done?” She told him what she had done, not leaving anything out. “Do you know you’ve cost my company a great deal of money, Ms. Castle?
