“Do you think he believed me?” I whispered.
“I don’t know,” Whit murmured. “Though it was a great performance.”
“I used to act in plays with my father,” I said.
“The practice paid off.” He paused. “What made you choose Fincastle?”
I licked my dry lips. “It occurred to me that if my mother used her maiden name, my uncle could have easily located her. Asked around after that name in the nice hotels and expensive restaurants. But since he didn’t know who her lover was, I assumed Fincastle was a safe guess.”
“Brilliant,” he said.
A flush spread across my chest, making my heart skip. “Are we going to be arrested?”
Before Whit could answer, the door opened and Romero walkedthrough, carrying a slim leather case. He returned to the seat at his desk. “What address would you like to leave with us, Mrs. Fincastle?”
“Well,” I said, letting out another embarrassed laugh. “That’s part of the problem, actually. I’m so silly! You see, I have various properties, and I’m afraid I don’t recall which one I used when I opened this account. If you could remind me, I can confirm if I need to update the file. It’s possible you have the correct one. I just want to ensure there are no mistakes—that’s all.”
“I see,” Romero said, a faint frown line appearing between his dark brows. “Why don’t you give me the address you’d like, and I’ll cross-reference it here?” He tapped the leather case, smiling faintly. “I think it will be easier.”
“No,” I said, bristling, “I thinkmyway would be easier. Please just share the address with me—”
Whit made a small noise at the back of his throat. I hadn’t realized that I’d raised my voice.
“Well,” Romero said, his smile fading, the frown line becoming more pronounced. “I disagree. The address?” He produced a pen from his jacket pocket.
I fanned myself, thinking hard. “I believe I might have used the one by the coast?”
Romero’s eyes flicked downward. The corners of his lips twitched. “That’s not the one. Since you seem to be having trouble, why don’t you return with your husband? I can’t make any updates to your file without him, in any case. But again, if you leave the new address with me, I’ll happily correspond with him to make sure nothing is untoward.”
Damn it.“Why would anything be untoward?”
“Why, I don’t know, Mrs. Fincastle,” Romero said mildly. “I’m only letting you know that we have certain systems in place to guard against fraud—of any kind. And as we are a foreign bank, foreign rules apply, and the fact of the matter is that one of them applies to your husband being present for any account changes. Even simple ones like an address. If you’d like, I could bring in my manager to discuss the issue you’re having.”
“I’m not having any issues,” I said through gritted teeth.
Romero stood, clutching the file. “All the same, I’d feel more comfortablehaving him present as I don’t want to cause any unnecessary stress or confusion.”
Those were the last words he spoke. Whit cleared the couch and tackled Romero. They landed with a heavy thud onto the plush antique rug decorating the floor, Romero letting out a muffled yell before Whit struck his cheek. The banker’s face slackened as he went unconscious. The leather case fell onto the floor as Whit arranged Romero onto the couch, making him look as if he were sleeping.
“Hurry up and look for the address,” Whit hissed.
I scooped up the file and opened it.
The pages were blank.
WHIT
Inez flipped the file around so I could see. Every single page was empty of any writing. She walked toward me and peered down at the fallen bank employee.
“The devil damn me,” I said.
“Now what?” Inez asked. “The other employees are bound to notice Romero’s unconscious state.”
“He looks like he’s sleeping.”
She pointed to Romero’s face. “There’s blood coming out of the corner of his mouth. It’s dripping onto the floor.”
I squinted. So there was. Using the hem of his shirt, I cleaned up his face. Now he looked like he was sleeping. We only had a few minutes to think of a new plan.
