Innocent as Sin

54

Chandler Mall

Sunday

Rand hung up his cell phone and crowded Kayla into a little alcove behind a towering potted plant.

“Grace can’t believe that you just realized you have Bertone by the short and curlies,” he said against her ear. “I’m having a tough time myself.”

“That’s because you’re not an honest banker.”

“Isn’t that an oxymoron?” He oofed softly when her elbow met his belly.

“I was an honest banker. That means I never thought of my client’s money as, well, accessible to me. Their money was just numbers in a column.”

“So when did the lightbulb come on?”

“When I realized I hadn’t given the password on Bertone’s new account to anyone. You can add money without a password, but you can’t subtract it from the account, even as a transfer to another of the client’s accounts. I was going to tell Bertone at the party, but I forgot.”

“Before or after the handcuffs?”

“About the time Bertone was telling me how he required special service from his bankers.”

“Yeah, that’d be downright distracting. But was the rest of what you told Foley the truth?” Rand asked.

“Which part?”

“The one about not being able to move money from a remote access portal.”

“I think it’s true.” She shrugged and nibbled along Rand’s chin. “But true or not, Foley won’t be able to. When it comes to computers, he doesn’t know his butt from butter. He won’t be able to do anything until Monday morning.”

Rand kissed her hard, then straightened. “I hope that’s enough time.”

“For what?”

“Grace to get that restraining order on the account.”

“Is there a problem?” Kayla asked.

“With bureaucrats, there’s always a problem.”