High Plains Hearts (39 page)

Mr. Palmer suddenly looked wary, and he drew his pad of paper closer to him. “What do you mean?”

“We didn’t use State Federal. That was way across town. In our building there was a smaller branch of, let me see, what was it called? First Security, that’s it. First Security. We used that for the voucher disbursements. And another one, it was about two blocks away—oh, Illinois National. We used that for donated funds that were nonspecified. And the checks to the mothers in educational programs came from Lake Center.”

She was aware that both Ric and Mr. Palmer were watching her closely. And it began to dawn on her what was going on.

“Which bank was your paycheck drawn on?” Mr. Palmer asked.

“You know, that I’m not sure. I used direct—oh no!” The impact of it was overwhelming. She had to remind herself to breathe. “I used direct deposit, so he could have manipulated all kinds of functions in my bank account, couldn’t he?”

“You had two bank accounts, I believe,” Mr. Palmer said, leafing through the papers in the file. “And both were at—”

“State Federal,” she finished for him. “I had one account. I never had two.”

He showed her the notations on the investigator’s report. “See? Two accounts.”

“I am telling you the truth. I did not have two accounts. I had one account, a checking account that had nothing more interesting than checks that were made out to the grocery store, the utility company, and the apartment manager.”

Ric spoke for the first time. “How hard is it to track bank activity? Is there anything she can do to prove that the account is not hers?”

Mr. Palmer considered the question. “It’s amazing what can be done, especially when the federal authorities are involved.”

“Federal authorities?” Lily squeaked.

He turned his luminous eyes toward her, and Lily hoped that what she saw there was sympathy. “If you are telling me the truth, the best thing for you at this stage is to bring in the federal authorities. They may very well hound everyone to tears, but they have the ability to ferret out the most elusive of information.”

“I’m telling you the truth,” she assured him.

“Then may I ask you to sign the permission to begin investigating your banking activities?” Mr. Palmer asked her.

Lily nodded and, after reading it, signed the form Mr. Palmer gave her.

“This has been a very interesting conversation,” he said, standing up and offering them each his hand. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Whew!” Lily breathed a sigh of relief as they left the office. “I think it went okay, but I don’t know. What do you think?”

“You did a super job in there. I was really proud of you.”

“I’m so glad you were with me,” Lily said. “It meant so much to me.”

“I didn’t say much.” Ric grinned. “I was too busy praying for you!”

“And it worked.” She paused as she noted Rick patting his pockets, a concerned look on his face. “What’s the matter?”

“I think I forgot my keys.” A thought dawned on his face. “Oh wait. I think they’re on Mr. Palmer’s desk. Better go get them.”

They returned to the office. As she raised her hand to knock on the door, she heard Mr. Palmer’s voice: “Yes, Newton. Douglas Newton. Did you get the names of the banks? Good. It looks like this money taken from the nonprofit is piddly stuff compared to what’s sitting on my desk now. Are you ready for this? I think this young lady has just stumbled across a money-laundering setup.”

Lily and Ric’s eyes met in shock.

What had they gotten into?

“Are you going to knock?” Lily asked in a hushed voice.

“No.” Ric couldn’t imagine interrupting the conversation they’d just overheard.

“Then how are you going to get the keys?” She clutched at his elbow.

“I’m not. I’d rather buy a new car to drive home than break into
that
discussion.”

“That’d be pricey.” Lily’s eyes danced with laughter.

“But worth it. Unless, of course,
you
want to pop in and snag the keys.”

“Uh-uh. So what kind of car are we buying?”

They finally told one of the secretaries farther down the hall that they’d left the keys in Mr. Palmer’s office, and she was able to retrieve them.

“Wow,” Lily breathed when they were outside. “That’s bizarre. Money laundering!”

“And beyond that, it’s going to get even weirder. They don’t launder money just because it’s smudged. It’s drug money or gambling profits or something illegal. This is big-league stuff.”

“Ric, before we go pick up Todd, can we go somewhere and have a cup of coffee or something so my heart can start beating normally again? I don’t want him to see me like this.”

Within minutes, they were in the real-world environment of a brightly lit coffee shop.

“I’m still overwhelmed by it all,” she said. “And I’ve got to admit, I’m getting worried. Do you think they’ll do anything to us? I’m worried about Todd.”

“I think Newton is probably more at risk than you are. I know practically nothing about crime, but I imagine he’s not the big cheese of the operation. He probably has to answer to others higher up. And I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes in the next couple of months.”

His heart was still pounding away wildly. The closest he’d ever gotten to this kind of criminal activity was late at night on his couch, a safe distance from the cops show on television.

Lily sipped her coffee. “I can’t stand it,” she burst out. “I know I said I didn’t want Todd to see me until I’d calmed down, but at this rate, I won’t see him for years. Can we go get him now?”

“Sure,” Ric said easily. “Let’s go.”

Twenty-four minutes later, a tiny rocket named Todd propelled himself into Lily’s arms while her mother beamed at Ric and asked him: “What’s your address?”

R
ic grinned as he caught Lily’s attention over her mother’s shoulder. “Do you think I can trust her?” he asked Lily.

She shook her head. “I wouldn’t count on it. You know, she’s had offers to buy her mailing list from those junk mail distributors. But she does send out nice Christmas cards.”

“Lily Marie Chamberlain!” her mother said. “You tell him the truth right now.”

The sheer normalness of this conversation, this loving bicker between mother and daughter settled on her soul like the balm of Gilead.

She hugged her mother. “You are a wonderful, wonderful woman. I absolutely adore you.”

“What’s all this about?” her mother asked, but as Lily noticed the pleased smile that played across her face, she mentally resolved to tell her more frequently how much she loved her.

“Well, did you have a good time with Gran?” she asked Todd, who was buzzing around the group of adults like an excited bee.

“The best! We went to a couple of movies, and we ate lots and lots of ice cream, and we made cookies. I meant to save some for you, but I ate them on a accident.”

“You ate them ‘on a accident’?” she asked. “Is that compared to eating them ‘on a purpose’?”

“I guess so. I was just standing there, and the cookies were on this plate, and we were waiting for you, and the next thing I knew, the cookies weren’t on the plate, but they were in my tummy.” He made an exaggerated expression of regret as he looked at his mother.

“That’s okay, tiger. I can live without the cookies.” She turned to Ric. “I suppose we should go now.”

“Oh no, not so soon!” her mother objected. “Can’t you stay tonight, too?”

Lily knew her mother had enjoyed having Todd stay with her, but she could see the exhaustion in her face. This time with Todd had been short, but it had been just on the edge of too much for her. She knew that as soon as they left, her mother would go in and take a nap.

“We’ll be back next month, maybe during Labor Day. How does that sound?” she suggested when she saw her mother’s tiredness battling with the urge to spend time with her daughter and grandson. “That’s only a couple of weeks away.”

Her mother nodded. “I’ll be counting the days.” Then she turned to Ric. “You’re invited, too.”

Lily started to say something, but Ric smoothly intercepted her remark with, “I’d be delighted to see you again.”

When they were in the car and on their way back to Wildwood with Todd in the backseat happily playing with his new toys, courtesy of his indulgent grandmother, she mentioned it.

He looked at her, his blue eyes soft. “I was serious. If you don’t mind, I’d kind of enjoy going with you and Todd. I like your mom.”

“I like her, too,” Todd piped up from the backseat. “She’s really neat, and she knows how to play ‘Chopsticks’ on the piano, and she taught me how to play it, too. When we get back, I’ll play it for you. And you know what else, when we were at the museum, we—”

The sun was warm, she was with Ric, and Todd was safely with her again. For just a while, she was able to push the worries of her life into the back of her mind and bring those things that had been in the back to the front. The switch was relaxing, and she felt herself smiling drowsily.

Ric broke into her reverie. “Thinking deep thoughts, Lily?”

“I’m not thinking. I’m simply enjoying being here with you and Todd and reveling in having spent some time with my kooky mother and pretending there is nothing, absolutely nothing else in the world.”

“Sounds wonderful,” he commented briefly. “I wasn’t kidding about liking your mother. She’s terrific. And I felt like I wasn’t a stranger.”

“You weren’t,” Todd contributed from behind them. “She already knew about you.”

“Yes, Todd,” Lily said. “We’re all friends through God, right?”

“Not just that.” He paused to put the wheel back on one of his toy cars. “I told her all about you, Ric. She liked to hear me talk about you, so I told her lots and lots and lots.”

Ric looked at the boy in the rearview mirror. “And what did you tell your grandmother?” he asked, his voice casual.

“I told her that I liked you a lot, and that you were a good guy, and that Mommy liked you a lot, and that we were going to live in a brick house with a fireplace and a place to grow carrots.”

“You told her about the house you and I are looking at?” Lily asked.

He nodded. “And I told her we were going to live there and maybe we would buy it if the basement wasn’t cracked in half.”

“And who all did you say was going to live there?” she asked warily.

“Four of us.”

“Four?”

“You, me, Ric, and Snap.”

Her concerns about having Ric included in the group evaporated upon the unexpected appearance of Snap in the group.

“Who,” she asked cautiously, “is Snap?”

“I am me, you are you, Ric is Ric,” Todd explained carefully, “and Snap is my dog.”

For the remainder of the trip back to Wildwood, Todd entertained them with the adventures of his invisible dog, Snap, whom he had apparently found in a park in Mandan. More than ever, Lily promised herself, she would do all she could to settle them into a house where he could have a dog named Snap.

From the day care came the sounds of singing.

“Listen,” Pastor Mike said. He stood at Ric’s elbow, amusement in his voice as they listened to the children. “You know Corie, the little girl who Todd befriended? It turns out the girl has quite a voice, even if she doesn’t always get the lyrics quite right.”

“Jesus loves me, thistle snow!” Corie caroled out. “Forty Bibles tell me so!”

“Well, I’m not sure about the thistle snow, but she’s got the forty Bibles right,” the senior minister said. “Actually, I like her version even better. The more Bibles, the better!”

“Todd’s really brought her out of her shell. He’s quite a kid. I’ll tell you, I missed him fiercely when he was visiting his grandmother. This place was entirely too quiet.” Ric grinned as Corie took on more words to the song: “Little buds to Him be song. They wear wink, but He spells strong.”

“Again,” Pastor Mike noted, “I can’t argue with the girl.”

They walked down the hall toward the office. “We’re still waiting for word about the day care situation, aren’t we?” the older man asked.

“Yes, but there is hope breaking on the horizon. Let’s go into your study, and I’ll fill you in,” Ric suggested.

Nearly an hour later, Ric leaned back in one of the green, overstuffed chairs in the minister’s office, nearly spent after filling in Pastor Mike on the events in Bismarck. “So I think it’ll all take care of itself eventually.”