The Cat Dancers

11

The bank manager turned out to be a stunning redhead in her thirties. She did not look like any bank manager Cam had ever seen. Even Kenny, the professional pussy hound, was momentarily speechless.

“How can I help you, Officers?” she asked, slipping behind her desk and treating Kenny in particular to a dazzling display of legs.

They had called in advance, and now Cam produced the search warrant, which she actually read. Kenny had a barely disguised grin on his face as he studied her, and Cam could see that she was fully aware of Kenny.

“Okay,” she said, “I brought up his records.” She tapped a computer keyboard on her desk. “Savings account, checking account, some CDs, and just over a quarter of a million in a retirement account. Twenty and change in savings, and his Duke Energy pension is direct-deposited in his checking account on the fifth of every month.”

“We’re trying to locate Mr. Marlor,” Cam said. “We’ve talked to his sister and the lady who’s taking care of his house. What we get is that he just left for parts unknown. Can the checking account help us out?”

“What period of time?” she asked.

“He’s been gone for about eight weeks. That far back.”

She clicked some more and then studied the screen. “I don’t think so. He’s got the recurring bills on electronic bill payer. There’s no mortgage. I see some checks signed by Mr. Marlor and then endorsed by Mrs. Watkins-a neighbor, whose name is on the joint account-and there’re a few checks made out to other people. We autotransfer all but seven hundred from checking over to savings at the end of each month.”

“Anything signed by him in that time frame?”

She scrolled through images of the checks. “Nope,” she said. “He executed the new signature cards for the account almost… You’re right-it was eight weeks ago.”

“Where do his statements go?” Kenny asked.

She finally looked directly at him, and Cam saw Kenny give her his most winning smile. She blinked once before answering. Kenny had that effect on some women-okay, on most women-although this one was wearing both a wedding and an engagement ring. “The statements are generated but not mailed,” she said, clearing her throat. “Our customers can arrange it that way if they want.”

“Can they be accessed via the Net?” Kenny asked.

“That, too, has to be prearranged, but, yes, our customers can do anything they need to do electronically except for the signature cards.”

“Okay, so has there been any electronic action on any of his accounts?”

She tore her eyes away from Kenny and went back to the computer. Kenny gave Cam a sly wink, which made him feel even more superfluous. “No,” she said. “The last electronic transaction was five years ago, when he ordered up fifty thousand for a wire transfer.”

Kenny stopped flirting. “Wired to whom?”

“A bank up in Surry County.”

“Could someone there tell us who cashed it?” Cam asked.

“Good luck with that. It’s a privately held bank-on the edge of the mountain country. People up there really value their privacy, if you know what I mean.”

She gave them the bank’s name and address, and Cam thanked her for her help. He and Kenny went out to the car, where Cam dialed the number for Tony Martinelli’s cell phone. Tony reported that K-Dog hadn’t been seen at his regular hangouts for a week to ten days. They were on their way to an old girlfriend’s trailer. “Don’t get any on you,” Cam said, and switched off.

“Marlor’s gone, and K-Dog’s not to be found,” Kenny mused. “So two and two make…”

“We’ve got a ways to go before we jump to any conclusions,” Cam said, even though he, too, had already jumped to that very conclusion. “K-Dog may hole up once word gets out on Punk Street that the cops are really asking around. He’s going to think that we’re coming back about the minimart. Plus, I want to know what that fifty K was for. I’m thinking a cabin or mountain property.”

Cam’s cell phone rang. It was the bank manager.

“I just saw something you might want to know,” she said.

“Okay?”

“Mr. Marlor withdrew thirty-five thousand dollars in cash a few days before he set up the new signature cards. I would have noticed it earlier, except that you were asking about electronic transactions. This was done in person, at the counter.”

“Thirty-five thousand cash-that’s fairly unusual.”

“He had it to withdraw, so it wasn’t as if we could say no.”

“Thanks very much,” Cam said. He hung up and told Kenny.

“Walking-around money?” Kenny said.

“More like off-the-grid money,” Cam said.