When he mentioned the fire escape, my blood ran cold. “I never thought about that. Couldn’t anybody just come right in? The locks on these windows are pitiful.”
He nodded. “Yeah, we thought so, too. That’s why we replaced them.” I saw George wince out of the corner of my eye. He was a money man, through and through, and I was sure his checkbook was weeping.
“Wow, you’re thorough,” I observed. Sure enough, the windows had brand-new locks. I ran my hands over them.
“There are motion sensors on the escape, too, and another one at the door. The alarm will go off before anybody has the chance to test the windows, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
I turned to face him. “What about my bedroom?”
“We like to leave our clients with as much privacy as possible, so there isn’t a camera in there.”
“That’s a relief.” I hated the thought of somebody watching me all the time. It was weird enough at work, knowing the cameras were picking up my every move and gesture. I always chalked it up to one of the inconveniences of working in a bank. But home was my refuge, the place where I could just be me. I could walk around naked if I felt like it, or eat Chinese takeout while sitting in the middle of the living room floor, or dance around with my eyes closed and my arms flailing around. Sometimes a girl just wanted to do her own thing. Instead, I’d have to be conscious of my every move for the foreseeable future. At least I’d have my bedroom.
A pretty blonde woman came through the front door and smiled at us. “You must be Lauren,” she said, coming to me with her hand extended. “I’m Christa. I’ll be staying here with you.”
At least she was a girl. I didn’t know what I’d do if I had to stay with a guy. “It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for doing this.”
“It’s my job.” She grinned at Pax—maybe a little longer than she had to. I knew then and there that she had a crush on him. Girls knew that kind of thing.
After a little more explanation of Christa’s role—she’d take me to and from work, camp out on the couch and basically be my shadow—Pax and the technician who’d been testing the cameras packed up to leave.
“I’m sorry. I don’t think we’ve met.” I extended a hand to shake. “I’m Lauren.”
“Marcus.” He pushed wire-framed glasses up on the bridge of his nose before shaking my hand. Something about that gesture was endearing.
“Thank you for setting up the cameras and stuff,” I said as I watched him pack up what looked like priceless gear into carrying cases.
“No problem.” He shot me a grin as he worked.
Pax interjected. “You’ll be seeing a lot of Marcus.”
“How’s that?” I asked.
“Marcus will be taking charge of bank security from now until the case is closed. He’s a wiz when it comes to surveillance.”
Hmm. I wondered how George felt about that, but his face was unreadable. I knew him well enough to know he was a very proud man, and hoped he wasn’t taking things personally. It wouldn’t do for the head of the bank to know he couldn’t keep things under control at our branch.
“I guess I’ll see you at work tomorrow, then,” I smiled.
“Tomorrow?” George asked. “Are you sure you want to come back so soon?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“You just went through a traumatic experience. You should take a few days off, at least.” His forehead creased with worry, and his eyebrows knitted together until they were almost one solid line.
“And leave you on your own? How would you be able to keep track of your appointments? By the way, do you know what tomorrow is?” I folded my arms.
His cheeks went a strange shade of pink—well, not strange to me. I had seen it many times. “It’s a day I should remember?”
“Possibly.”
“My anniversary?”
“Nope.”
“My wife’s birthday?” I touched a finger to the tip of my nose. “Well, now I know. I’ll pick her up something on the way home.”
“What’s Wednesday, then?” I asked with a grin. His face fell. “See? That’s why you need me around. And don’t think I’ll prompt you, either.”
He shrugged. “What else can I do? You’re hell bent on coming in, come in. Heaven forbid I care about your well-being.” He was still muttering to himself as he walked down the hall and got into the elevator.
Christa giggled. “What’s so special about Wednesday, anyway?”
I winked. “Nothing. But he doesn’t know that.”
Chapter Four – Marcus
“Well, well, well. Leaving the dungeon.” Jenna clasped her hands to her chest. “What will we do without you?”
“You’ll have Tricia here. You can talk about girl things and stuff.”
“Oh, great,” Danny groaned with a roll of his eyes. “Just what I need. To be outnumbered.”
“You’re just pissed because you won’t have Marcus here to take your side when you’re being a jackass,” Jenna laughed.
“Marcus doesn’t take my side,” he argued.
I shook my head. “No, I don’t. Just think of me as Switzerland. I’m completely neutral.” In reality, I had plenty of opinions but was smart enough to keep them to myself. I thought Jenna could be a real shrew when she felt like it, and Danny could be a pompous ass. How the two of them were still together after dating for two years and working together just about every day was beyond me. There were times when I was sure they would kill each other—or me. They were the reason I had started wearing headphones through my shifts. Self-preservation.
I packed up those headphones, plus a couple of books I kept in my drawers and liked to flip through when I was taking a break. I had a bad habit of reading more than one book at a time, and there were three I was currently working my way through.
“Just don’t forget about us while you’re gone,” Jenna warned.
“Like I could if I tried,” I shot back with a grin.
“Sometimes I don’t like the way you look at my woman,” Danny warned with a put-on grimace.
“Yeah, well, sometimes I don’t like the way you look, period. But I deal with it.” They were both laughing as I jogged up the steps and into the reception area. Lydia wasn’t in yet—it wasn’t even six in the morning—but the light in Pax’s office was burning. I stopped by to let him know I was leaving for the bank.
He leaned back in his chair with a smile. “Enjoy the change in scenery,” he said.
“You’re sure this is okay? I mean, you won’t feel short-handed?”
“Nah. Tricia’s happy to step up and take your usual shift. Don’t worry about that. Just do good work.”
“When do I not?”
“Never that I can remember.”
“Does Ricardo have any more information about the robbery?”
“Not that I know of, but you can bet he’ll stop by this morning. You can ask him then—he’ll be up your ass for a while.”
“Lucky me,” I grimaced, and I gave the boss a quick salute before leaving.
It was cold outside, bone-chillingly cold. I was never the kind of person who liked cold weather—some people loved it, which was a total mystery to me. Just another mystery, really, since there were a lot of things I didn’t understand about my fellow human beings. There was a reason I liked sitting in a basement all day long, staring at computer screens and monitoring our security systems. If anything, Jenna and Danny and their constant flirting/fighting/flirting was a blessing. It gave me the excuse to shut out the rest of the world and listen to my music all day. I could handle that.
The ride out to the bank didn’t take long, mainly because traffic was light at that time of morning. I liked the city best just before dawn, when it was waking up. Bakeries and coffee shops were already going at full steam and there were always joggers and cyclists out on the streets, but otherwise life was just about as quiet as it would ever get in New York. I liked quiet, too.
The late model Lincoln parked in front of
the bank was a familiar sight. Ricardo beat me there. The other car, a BMW, wasn’t as familiar. I figured it had to be the manager’s. I was sure Ricardo would be keeping an eye on him just the way he was keeping an eye on everybody else. Nobody was above suspicion at a time like that, even though he was shelling out the cash to pay for our services. If anything, that could be a ploy to throw us off-track.
Listen to me, I thought. Using the word “us.” I wasn’t investigating anything. Sometimes I didn’t even feel like part of the agency. The guys working in the field, the ones taking the risks to keep our clients safe, they were the ones who did all the work and got all the glory. Basement dwellers like me, on the other hand, weren’t sexy. I would hardly set a woman’s heart racing if I told her what I did for a living.
I knocked at the bank’s brand-new glass door—somebody had worked fast—and hunched over with my arms wrapped around myself as the wind blew icy cold. The bank manager saw me out there and hurried to let me in. “Sorry about that,” he said. “Wow, it’s nasty out there!”
“Tell me about it. I would much rather be on a beach somewhere.”
“Who wouldn’t?” Ricardo asked. “Here. I picked up some for you.”
“Hey, thanks.” I took it gratefully and swallowed half of it down before starting to feel warm again, and as I drank, I walked around and examined the cameras posted around the perimeter of the room. It was a large floor, with eight teller windows and several desks behind them, separated from the rest of the room by old-fashioned iron grating. It was a beautiful old building, and the detail was incredible.
Beyond that was the vault. I could see it through an open doorway leading to a sort of antechamber. The big dial sat on the wall like a challenge. Somebody had agreed to take that challenge and had damn near emptied the place out.
“Looks pretty standard,” I said, turning my attention back to the cameras. “This model came out around seven years ago, if I remember correctly.”
“That’s right,” George said. “We had the entire system overhauled at that time.”
“And it was a good overhaul—back then.” I glanced over in time to see him wince. “Sorry,” I said. “I get a little cocky sometimes when I’m not thinking.”
“Unfortunately, all such decisions come from the main branch.” I could tell he was a little insulted regardless.
“I’m sure. They should think about updating their equipment throughout the organization. These babies are wide open to hackers.”
“You can’t be serious,” he said. His face went white.
“I’m afraid so. I mean, could Joe Schmoe off the street do it? No way. There are multiple access points to override. However, the right hacker with the right amount of know-how could unravel the whole thing in less than an hour.”
He gripped the nearest table to steady himself. “I had no idea.”
“Maybe you should bring that up to the President or whoever—you might get yourself a big raise.” I shrugged. “I’d be happy to advise on an alternative.” I looked around and pointed to an open doorway beyond the teller windows. “Is that the room I’ll be in?”
He gulped. “Yes, yes, that’s it.” I had really knocked him out. Ricardo was struggling, and failing to keep from smirking as the bank manager led us to the security center. As we walked, George asked, “Do you think that could be how the cameras were tampered with prior to the robbery?”
“It could be, but if that’s the case, you’re looking at an employee with ties to hackers. So that would mean more than one person responsible. Or they could’ve done it the old-fashioned way and just shut the system down.”
“I suppose so.” The poor guy sounded like he was ready to wet his pants. We stepped into the room, and a familiar sight greeted me. I could handle a wall full of monitors.
“You’ll be in here most of the time—I’m sorry it’s so, well, dark.”
I shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’m used to it.”
“Marcus works in the basement at the agency,” Ricardo added with another smirk. “Like a modern-day troll.”
I shot him a look. “Anyway, this is just fine. Where can I find the old footage?”
“Here.” George indicated a stack of tapes. “This is everything we have for the past several months. I can call up the storage facility and have them bring over tapes from further back, if you require them.”
They were still working with physical tapes. I tried not to roll my eyes. Talk about a Mickey Mouse operation—no wonder they were so easy to knock over. “This should do for now.”
“What are you looking for?” he asked. I looked at Ricardo, since that question was much more up his alley than mine.
He cleared his throat. “For starters, we’re interested in seeing whether any of your employees has changed their routine at any point in the last several months. There are several tell-tale signs of guilt, too. You wouldn’t believe how many would-be robbers look up at the camera over and over. They do everything they can to look casual, but they give themselves away every time. If that’s the case and your robber came from inside this branch, that activity would likely have picked up in the last several weeks leading up to the robbery.”
“I see.” He shrugged. “Well, you know much more about this than I do, apparently. It’s a terrible thing, knowing this was going on right under my nose without my knowledge.”
“You took all the precautions you knew to take,” Ricardo reminded him. He was much nicer than me. I wanted to ask how he didn’t see it. If I had a guy working for me who wanted to rob me blind, I would know about it. Or maybe I was just better at observing people than he was. It was sort of my job, after all.
“Our employees report at seven o’clock,” George said. He checked his watch. “They should be here any time. Lauren is usually the first one in.”
“Your favorite employee, is that it?” Ricardo asked.
The older man smiled. “I know you don’t completely believe her yet, but trust me—if I had a daughter, I would want someone like Lauren. She’s the most conscientious, sweet-natured girl in the world, and she’s devoted to the bank. You don’t find employees like her every day, especially not people her age.” He glanced at me. “No offense.”
“None taken.”
He went on. “Most people would see a job like hers as a pit stop, you know. Something to do until something else comes along. But Lauren is different. I wouldn’t be surprised if she took over my position one day, and probably much younger than I was when I first stepped in. She could work for corporate after that. Smart, sharp, just an all-around great kid.”
“I’ll take all of that into consideration, believe me.” Ricardo looked like he believed the same thing I did. The old guy had the hots for her and couldn’t see straight. Well, I couldn’t blame him for that. She was a really beautiful girl, like something off a magazine cover. Thick, long, dark brown hair and emerald eyes, and a body that said she took care of herself.
Then I remembered the way she shook my hand at her apartment. She was a straight shooter, frank, with a firm handshake. Dad always told me a person’s handshake was their signature. She had a good one. I wondered if maybe George was right about her, after all.
Chapter Five – Lauren
“Now remember.” Christa pulled the SUV into an empty spot just in front of the bank. “You’re completely safe there. You have me, and Marcus is watching, too. If he sees anything that looks wonky on the monitors, he’ll call me up and tell me so. Okay?”
“Okay.” I wasn’t scared, not really. Just a little freaked out at being back inside. Even though I still couldn’t remember what happened on Saturday night, I remembered waking up. The cold, clear terror. I had known without really knowing that something bad happened, hadn’t I? Not just because I woke up on the floor, either. I had known deep down inside that there was something wrong. Somewhere in my subconscious, I remembered what I saw. I just had to pull that memory up.
It was a bitter cold morning, and we hurried to t
he front door. I swiped my key card over the pad mounted to the outer wall, and the system buzzed. We dashed inside, shivering.
George welcomed me with open arms—literally. “I still don’t think this is a good idea, but it’s good to see you here.” He smiled at Christa. “How was your first night?”
“Great. Like a slumber party, minus the pillow fight.” We had spent a lot of time talking, getting to know each other. I felt more comfortable that way—if she was going to be living with me and acting as my shadow, I wanted to know a little something about her. As it turned out, I was right about her and Pax. She hadn’t told me anything concrete, but somehow the conversation kept turning back to how great he was.
“Yeah, we have the pillow fight scheduled for tonight.” I showed Christa my desk. There was an empty one just beside me where she would sit and act like a bank employee so any random visitors wouldn’t have to wonder why a woman with a gun was standing by my side. She opened her laptop and booted it up, then I showed her the kitchen and all the other little things she’d need to know. It was fun, actually, having a new friend to work alongside.
No, she’s not your friend. I kept having to remind myself of that. Maybe I was a needy person, I wasn’t sure, but I had a tendency to attach myself to people too easily. Once the case was closed, Christa would go back to her life and I would go back to mine. I would be able to walk around the apartment naked again and all would be well.
The presence of an unfamiliar face in the kitchen startled me, but I remembered after a split second’s thought who he was. “Marcus. Good morning.”
He nodded. “Good morning.” He looked Christa up and down. “Wow. You look nice in corporate wear.”
“Shut it.” I guessed her coworkers weren’t used to seeing her in a turtleneck and skirt, but rather the jeans and t-shirts that seemed to be the uniform for the agency. I’d seen all three of them—those two and Pax—wearing similar outfits.
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