Short Straw

'Morning, Ed. I expect you're calling about the wire transfer.'

'Yes, I am. Has it gone?'

'I've just been handed the authorization. We liquidated your accounts yesterday, as per your fax. The wire will be gone in five minutes.'

'Hold everything,' Eagle said.

'What?'

'Do not wire those funds.'

'All right; what do you want me to do with all this cash? It's just over four million dollars.'

'Is it too late to cancel the sale of all those stocks?'

'Well, yes; it was done yesterday. I know you wanted the funds wired before two p.m., but we couldn't release that large a sum until we had confirmations.'

'Jim, listen to me very carefully: the fax you got was not sent by me and did not reflect my wishes. Do you understand?'

'It was signed by Barbara, Ed.'

'I'm going to send you a letter confirming that the instructions were unauthorized, and I want you to call someone at the IRS immediately and inform them of that fact. Follow up with a letter, because otherwise, I'll be faced with a hell of a tax bill for the capital gains on those sales.'

'Of course, I will, Ed, and I want to apologize, but I thought… '

'Don't worry about it, Jim; we caught it in time, and I'm not going to hold your firm responsible for anything but the notification of the IRS. I'll talk to you later. Oh, by the way, send me the paperwork immediately for removing Barbara's name from all my accounts.'

Eagle hung up and turned to Betty. 'Call the credit card companies and cancel all Barbara's credit cards, with immediate effect. I'll talk to them, if necessary. Also, have them fax copies of all the charges in the last and current billing cycle.'

'Got it,' Betty said and left the office.

Eagle got up and went into the shiny new bathroom off his shiny new office and vomited what was left of last night's dinner into the shiny new toilet. He drank a glass of water, then went back to his desk and called Russell Norris. Norris was a retired top IRS agent who now worked as a consultant. He was very good at dealing with foreign banks. He explained the situation to Norris, who promised to get back to him quickly.

Eagle took a deep breath and called the president of his bank. 'Fred?'

'Yes, Ed. I was just about to leave for your shindig.'

'Great. Before you do, I received a fax from you this morning, addressed to Barbara, confirming a transaction. I expect you are familiar with that.'

'Of course, Ed, I handled it myself, yesterday.'

'Listen to me carefully, Fred: I did not authorize the transaction; the instructions are fraudulent.'

There was a silence at the other end of the phone, and when the man spoke again, his voice was shaky. 'Ed, tell me this is a joke.'

'It is not a joke. The instructions were not mine, and the signature on the fax is not mine.'

'I tried to call you to confirm it, but neither your old office or your new one answered. All I got was a message saying you were closed for moving.'

'Fred, you need to report this to your board immediately.'

'Of course.'

'And I want those funds back in my account before the close of business today.'

'Ed, I don't know about that; I'll have to talk to my board. Why did Barbara do this?'

'I don't know yet; I'm just beginning my investigation. I will follow up with written notification of the fraud, and I will expect you and your board to do the right thing. Come to think of it, you can hold your board meeting right here, since all the members are coming to our opening.'

'Yes, I suppose we could, Ed. I'll talk to you later.'

'Good-bye, Fred.'

Betty came into the office with several sheets of paper. 'Looks like Barbara has been shopping for a lot of new clothes,' she said, laying them on the desk. 'About thirty thousand dollars' worth, and some new luggage, too. Oh, and there's a little item on her American Express card for twenty-two thousand dollars for the charter of a jet from a company in Albuquerque. I called them: they picked up a Mrs. Eagle at seven a.m. this morning at the Santa Fe airport and flew her to Mexico City. She landed an hour ago.'

'Good God,' Eagle said.

'There's no extradition from Mexico, is there?'

'Not even for murder,' Eagle replied.

'How much did she get away with?'

'One million, one hundred thousand dollars,' Eagle replied. 'Of the bank's money.'

'The bank's money?'

'That's my story and I'm sticking to it,' Eagle said.

'Sounds good to me,' Betty said. 'Now, you'd better get on your feet and slap a smile on your face, because the governor just arrived, and the place is filling up fast.'

Ed stood up. 'When the party's over, send somebody out to the airport to pick up Barbara's Range Rover.' He unclipped the key from his ring and handed it to her. 'Can you think of anything else I should do?'

'Sure. Call the FBI.'

'Good idea,' he said. 'Remind me when all these people have gone.' He straightened his tie and, trying not to look pale, walked out of his office and onto the terrace, where his guests were gathering.

Three

EAGLE HEADED STRAIGHT FOR THE GOVERNOR AND received him warmly. Since Eagle had been a steady contributor to the man's campaigns' first for congress, then for governor, the warmth was returned.

When that duty had been accomplished, he worked the crowd, shaking every hand, accepting compliments on his new quarters, charming everyone wherever he went. The crowd drank, ate, then thinned, and after he had pumped the last hand, he returned to his office, where the bank president and the chairman of his board awaited on his sofa.

'Fred, Arthur,' he said, sitting down opposite them.

'I'll come right to the point, Ed,' Fred said. 'Arthur and I have canvassed every member of the board, we've talked to our attorneys, and we've consulted the state banking board. It's like this: Barbara was a signator on both accounts, though not an owner of the accounts.'

'I know that, Fred.'

'Therefore, the bank is not liable for her actions. We received a lawful instruction from her, and we complied. Barbara has stolen not from the bank, but from you. You're a lawyer; you should know that.'

'I had forgotten Barbara was a signator on the firm account,' Eagle said. 'A year and a half ago, she reorganized our billing and payables, and we put her signature on the account at that time. We never removed it.'

'I'm sorry we can't be of more help,' Fred said. 'I know this puts you in a temporary bind. We can do a short- term loan to help your cash flow situation. How's half a million?'

Eagle did some quick calculations. He had to finish paying for the work on the offices, nearly half a million; the party had cost fifty grand, and he had other payables, too. Also, he had to repurchase stocks to avoid taxes. 'I'll need a million and a half, Fred,' he said.

Fred and Arthur exchanged a glance. 'That's above my lending limit, Ed; Arthur's, too. We'll have to go to committee.'

'How long?'

'We meet every Wednesday. I can do the half-million immediately, if that helps.'

Eagle nodded. He hated borrowing money. 'Send me the note this afternoon.' He stood up. 'Thanks for your