by Joanne Fluke
Hannah was almost afraid to ask, but she had to know. “Can I get into Ross’s box?”
“Yes. Our bank has a self-service system for our safety deposit boxes. In other banks, a teller has to pull a signature card, check the customer’s identification to make sure he or she is the customer who signed the card, let the customer into a secure area, and use the bank key and the customer’s key to unlock the door that secures the box inside the vault. Once the box is removed from the vault, the teller carries it to a private room in the secured area and leaves. Then the customer lifts the lid on the box and either adds to, reviews, or removes the desired contents. When this is accomplished, the customer pushes a buzzer to summon the teller, the teller carries the box to the vault and replaces it, and the door is closed and relocked with both keys. No customer can get into his or her safe deposit box without the bank key, and no bank employee can get into the customer’s safety deposit box without the customer’s key. It’s a very secure system.”
“It certainly sounds like it,” Hannah agreed. “But you don’t have that system here?”
“No. We only have two full-time tellers and one part-time teller who comes in on busy bank days like Mondays, Fridays, and the first day and the last day of the month if those days don’t happen to fall on a Monday or a Friday. The system I just described to you is labor intensive, and we don’t have the personnel to do it. When I became bank president, we decided to remodel and use the self-service system.”
“Is that why Ross had two keys?” Hannah asked.
“Yes. The safe deposit area is in the annex we built. It’s in the back, right next to the employee break room. The customer uses one key to open the door, locks it behind him or her, and uses the other key to unlock the safe deposit box. There are two offices for our safe deposit box holders to use, again with locking doors. The customer uses one of them, completes whatever he or she came to do, carries the box back to the vault, and secures it behind the locked door.”
“Is the annex open at night?” Mike asked.
“No, it’s only available during banking hours and no one without a key can get in the door. The biggest advantage of the self-service system for a bank is that the bank is absolved of all responsibility for checking identification against signature cards, unlocking and relocking boxes with the bank key, and letting customers into the vault area.”
“That makes sense to me,” Mike said, giving a quick nod.
“It made sense to the board, too,” Doug told him.
Hannah began to frown. “But . . . that means anyone with both keys can get into the annex and remove a safe deposit box.”
Doug shook his head. “Not so, Hannah. The box number is not stamped on the keys and neither is the bank name. You’d have to know both of those things before you could go to the right bank and open the right box. It’s one of the reasons why we write the box number on the receipt for the rental, but nowhere else.”
“But there was a tag on Ross’s keys with the box number,” Hannah pointed out.
“The bank doesn’t put a tag on the keys, so Ross must have added that tag specifically for you before he put them in the envelope.”
Mike leaned forward and Hannah knew he had an important question to ask. “Does this solve the inheritance problem with safe deposit boxes and access for someone who’s not on the signature card?”
“Yes. If you have both keys and you know the bank and box number, you have access during banking hours. It’s that simple.”
Hannah started to smile. She knew precisely why Mike had asked that question. “Then I could take someone with me when I looked inside Ross’s box?”
Doug nodded. “Anyone of your choice, Hannah. It’s all up to you.”
“Mike?” Hannah turned to him. “Will you please look inside Ross’s box with me?”
“Of course,” Mike said, and he rose from his chair. “I was hoping you’d ask me that.”
* * *
Both Mike and Hannah were speechless as they stared down at Ross’s open safe deposit box. They gazed at each other in shock for what was probably only a brief moment but seemed like an eternity to Hannah.
“More money,” she said.
“Yeah. A lot of it.”
“How . . .” Hannah stopped to draw another shaky breath. “How much money do you think is there?”
“I’m not sure.” Mike gave a little humorless laugh. “I’ve never seen that much money in one place before.”
Hannah blinked and continued to stare down at the stacks of bills. “It’s got white tape on it. Does that mean somebody counted it?”
Mike leaned down to read the inscription on the white band that was wrapped around one of the stacks. When he straightened up again, he made a sound that was halfway between a gasp and a chuckle. “It says ten thousand dollars, Hannah.”
“Ross put ten thousand dollars in his safe deposit box?”
“No. Try ten times that, Hannah. There’s a hundred thousand dollars in this box.”
Both of them just stared at the contents for a moment longer, and then Hannah drew a deep, shuddering breath. “Do you think that Ross left all this money for me?”
“No question about it. Ross’s intentions were clear when he put his keys in that envelope and asked Doug to give it to you the next time you came to the bank. He even attached the tag with his safe deposit box number. He was alive and well when he did that, and that’s enough to prove that he wanted you to have it. It’s every bit as clear as if he’d taken the time to draw up a will.”
He was alive and well when he did that. The words echoed in Hannah’s mind and she could feel her head start to spin. Did Mike believe that Ross was no longer alive and well? She didn’t want to think about that, not now. It was too much to handle, too frightening to contemplate. Instead, she sat down in the chair in front of the desk holding the safe deposit box, and attempted to concentrate on the problem at hand.
“Are you okay, Hannah?” Mike asked her.
“Yes,” Hannah said firmly. And surprisingly, once the affirmation had left her lips, she was okay. “Ross gave Doug those signature cards for me to sign. Why didn’t he just open his safe deposit box and deposit this money in one of his accounts?”
Mike sighed, and it was clear that he didn’t want to answer her question. “I don’t know, Hannah. You’d have to ask him.”
“I can’t ask Ross if he’s not here and I don’t know how to contact him. You know that.” Hannah could feel herself getting irritated with Mike for avoiding the intent of her question. “Let me rephrase that,” she said, trying not to sound as frustrated as she felt. “What possible reasons could someone have for putting a hundred thousand dollars in cash in his safe deposit box when he could have deposited it in one of his bank accounts?”
Mike looked very uncomfortable. “Well . . . perhaps he couldn’t have deposited it in one of his accounts, at least not all of it at once. You heard Doug tell us that he was obligated to file a report if someone deposited over ten thousand dollars in cash.”
“I know what Doug said. But why didn’t Ross deposit five thousand dollars at a time?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think of a reason, Mike. You’re the detective.”
Mike reached out to put his hand on her shoulders. “Calm down, Hannah. I can tell you’re stressed to the max.”
“I am,” Hannah admitted and took a deep breath. “Let’s start again. What reason would someone have to put a hundred thousand dollars in bills in a safe deposit box?”
“Well . . . he could have wanted to hide it from someone.”
“Who?”
“There’s no way of knowing that, but some people use safe deposit boxes to hide assets from a spouse.”
“But I’m his spouse and Ross left me the keys. If he’d wanted to hide it from me, he wouldn’t have done that. Give me some other possible reasons.”
“Perhaps he didn’t want to deposit it for some reason.”
Hannah gav
e an exasperated sigh. “I know that, but why didn’t he want to deposit it?”
“Well . . . there’s the ten thousand dollar cash limit. The reason it’s there is to prevent drug dealers and criminals from banking the profits of their crimes.”
“I already thought of drug money, but what other crimes are you talking about?”
“There’s extortion. This money could be extorted from someone. Or it could be the ransom from a kidnapping or bank robbery and the perp doesn’t know if the bills are marked, or not. It could also be counterfeit and whoever put it in the safe deposit box wants to hide it and pass it off one bill by one to avoid detection.”
“So it could be dirty money, or counterfeit money. Is that right?”
“That’s right.”
Hannah was silent for a moment, thinking it over. “Can you tell if this money is counterfeit?”
“No. I can give you a guess, but that’s about it.”
“What’s your guess?”
“A couple of bills on the tops of the stacks look worn, and that makes me think that they, at least, are legitimate. But that’s just my gut feeling, Hannah. I really don’t know.”
“Who would know if they’re counterfeit?”
“I’m not sure, but I’ll find out. I have a friend in the treasury department and I’ll give him a call at home tonight. He’s a good guy, and he’ll put me in touch with someone who knows.”
“Thanks, Mike.” Hannah’s mind was spinning with possibilities, and she latched on to one. “Would a bank robber be able to hide the money he stole in a safe deposit box?”
“Yes, under certain circumstances. If he had the proper identification, he could go to any bank and rent a safe deposit box. Then he could carry the money in, concealed in some kind of briefcase or travel bag, and put it in his box.”
“And no one would know?”
Mike shook his head. “Once you rent a safe deposit box, you’re given privacy to open it and put in anything that’ll fit. It’s just like when you used your keys to retrieve Ross’s box. No one from the bank can get in without you, and they leave you in privacy so that you’re alone when you have access to the box. It’s even easier with the kind of safe deposit boxes that Doug has here. No one even has to check your identification once you’ve rented the box.”
Hannah could feel her frustration beginning to grow again. “So what you’re telling me is that we really don’t know anything about this money.” She gestured to the stacks of bills. “It could have come from anywhere.”
“That’s right. Of course if this money is either counterfeit or from an illegal source, the person who tries to use it takes the risk of being apprehended.”
Hannah thought about that for a moment. “Yes. And I certainly want to find out if that’s the case.” She bent closer to look at the stacks of bills again and gave a little gasp as she spied something. “What’s that?”
“What’s what?”
“There’s something shiny under that third stack of bills.” She pointed to the shiny object she’d noticed. “It’s rounded on top and it looks like the edge of a coin.”
Mike moved closer and leaned down to look. “I see it. It’s something silver. Hold on a second and I’ll get it out so we can find out exactly what it is. Do you have a nail file or anything thin, flat, and pointed in your purse?”
“I’m not sure. Let me look.” Hannah set her saddlebag-size purse on the top of the desk and rummaged inside. Eleven pens, a paperback book she’d been meaning to read in her spare time, and a very old tin of breath mints later, she found something that met Mike’s parameters.
“How about this?” she asked, holding up a rattail comb she’d dropped in her purse for Andrea when her sister’s dress purse was too tiny to hold it.
“Perfect,” Mike said, taking the comb. “It should work.”
Hannah watched as Mike inserted the tip of the comb under the stack of bills and poked against the object until it emerged from the other side. He shoved it out into the open area of the box without ever touching the contents of the box with his fingers.
“It’s a key!” Hannah said, recognizing the shape immediately. She started to reach for it, but Mike grabbed her hand.
“Leave it there, Hannah,” he told her. “We’ll get it out without touching the inside of the box.”
“How?”
“Do you have tweezers in that big purse of yours? That would do. Or maybe a pair of scissors?”
Hannah turned back to her open purse and began to search. There were no tweezers and no scissors that she could locate, but there was a set of chopsticks. “How about this?” she asked, handing the paper-wrapped packet to Mike.
Mike drew the chopsticks out of the packet and began to smile. “I’m pretty good with chopsticks, so let me give it a whirl. It’ll be a tricky, but I think I can do it.”
Hannah watched in fascination as Mike used the wooden chopsticks to lift the key and deposit it on top of the desk. “Can we touch it now?” she asked him.
“Yes. It’s just the money that I didn’t want you to touch. Pick it up, Hannah. Let’s take a closer look at it.”
Hannah picked up the key and flipped it over in her hand. “There’s writing on this side,” she said. “It’s marked ‘Superior Storage,’ and there’s a number on the other side. It looks like three-twelve.”
“Let me see.” Mike held out his hand and Hannah gave him the key. He turned it over in his hand, examining both sides. “You’re right, Hannah. The two is a little worn, but it’s definitely three-twelve. This is a key to a storage unit.”
“Ross’s storage unit?”
“Maybe. Either that or he was keeping it for someone. Do you know if he wrote a monthly check to a storage company?”
“No. Ross paid his own bills, but Doug can give us a printout of all the checks he wrote.” Hannah felt a rush of excitement so intense, it almost made her dizzy. “If we can locate his storage unit, there could be a clue to where Ross went.”
Mike smiled at her. “Yes. It’s the first lead I’ve gotten in my search for him. Let me keep this key, Hannah, and I’ll research it on the department computer.”
Hannah was about to agree when she thought better of it. “No. I’ll keep it. You’ve got the name of the storage facility and the number of the unit. I’ll keep the key.”
“Why?”
“Because Ross is my husband and he left that key for me. I want to be there if you locate it. I need to unlock it myself.”
“But . . . okay,” Mike agreed. “If I find the unit, you can come along to open it.”
“Thanks,” Hannah said, dropping the key in her pocket. It might have been silly, but she felt as if she’d just won the lottery. She turned to look over at the safe deposit box again and frowned slightly. “I have one more question for you, Mike.”
“What is it?”
“What do you think I should do with this money right now?”
“You should put it back in the vault. But before you do that, I think we should call Doug in to witness what’s inside Ross’s box. You haven’t touched anything inside, have you, Hannah?”
“No. I just touched the outside of the lid when I opened it.”
“Good. I want Doug to watch while I pick up one of the bundles and read off some of the serial numbers so you can copy them down for me. Then I’ll put the bills back and he can substantiate that.”
‘Why?”
“Because I’ll have to take money from the box to get the serial numbers. With Doug as a reliable witness, he can swear that I put the bills back if there’s ever any question about that.”
“That makes sense. And once you get the serial numbers, you’ll call your friend to see if he can find out anything for us?”
“Yes. That’s my plan.”
“Okay. That all sounds reasonable to me. Do you want me to go and ask Doug to come in here?”
“No. I’ll call him on my cell phone. I don’t think that either one of us should leave the
other in here alone.”
“And that’s just in case the money is counterfeit or illegal in some other way?”
“Right. And then, when we’re finished, I want Doug to watch while you put the box back and lock it up.” Mike moved closer and gave her a little hug. “It can’t hurt to err on the side of caution, especially since we really don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”
Chapter Sixteen
Hannah gave a little wave as Mike pulled away in his cruiser. Then she walked to the back door and stood there, wondering if she should go in. She had one more stop to make and she didn’t want to take Michelle with her. It could be difficult for Michelle to be objective, hearing Hannah ask questions of P.K.’s coworkers.
She turned and took a few steps toward her cookie truck, but then she reconsidered. It was always easier getting people to talk if she brought some sweet treat with her to break the ice. She needed cookies to serve in the television station’s break room. Anything chocolate would be good. Chocolate seemed to calm people down and make them more willing to be candid with her.
Hannah turned on her heel and reversed direction, walking quickly to the back door of The Cookie Jar. If luck was with her, everyone would be in the coffee shop handling the noon rush.
Cautiously, Hannah opened the door and peeked in. The kitchen was deserted. She rushed in, closing the door silently behind her, and went straight to the bakers rack where eight pans of Chocolate Cashew Bar Cookies were stacked, each on its own shelf. She hurried to cut a pan into brownie-sized pieces and place them on a platter. No more than two or three minutes later, she was stashing her platter in the back of the cookie truck and climbing behind the wheel.
It started to snow as she pulled out of the alley and Hannah sent up a little prayer that the snowflakes would remain light and sparse. She was really looking forward to dinner tonight at the Lake Eden Inn. Sally always had wonderful entrees, and breads, and sides, and desserts. Come to think of it, everything that Sally served was wonderful.
There weren’t many cars on the road and Hannah made good time driving to KCOW Television’s headquarters. The bar cookies she’d cut smelled enticing and her stomach gave a hungry growl as she pulled into the multi-level parking structure. She had spent a busy morning baking and she hadn’t taken time for lunch. That meant she hadn’t eaten anything since the breakfast that Michelle had made almost eight hours ago, not counting the cookies she’d tasted with Norman. She parked in a spot marked for visitors, retrieved her platter of bar cookies, and got out of the truck to walk across the concrete floor to the back entrance.
