Chapter 21: The Folder

Clara's POV

The bank lobby smelled of carpet cleaner and stale coffee.

I stood behind a marble pillar near the pen stand with Simon beside me and the detective at the far window, reading a pamphlet about savings.

Two uniformed officers sat in the waiting chairs with their hats on their knees.

The loan officer sat at her desk with the check ready in a folder.

She had gone gray when the detective explained, and she had not stopped being gray since.

At nine o'clock the glass door opened, and Kyle walked in.

He wore the Mass suit again.

He carried a leather folder under his arm and a smile he must have practiced in the truck.

"Morning," he said to the room, warm and easy. "I'm here for the Dunning Flooring release."

"Of course, Mr. Dunning," the loan officer said, and her voice only wobbled a little. "Have a seat."

He sat.

She opened the file and turned it toward him.

"Your wife's guarantee came in on Saturday," she said. "We just need the disbursement acknowledgment, signed by the borrower and the guarantor."

"My wife couldn't make it," Kyle said. "Family emergency. She asked me to sign for her."

"We can't accept that."

"It's fine, she gave me power of attorney." He patted the folder. "Right here."

He had no such paper.

I could see that from across the lobby, in the way he did not open the folder.

He took the pen.

He signed his own name on the first line, in his round, easy hand.

Then he bent over the second line and wrote slowly, with his tongue between his teeth.

He had practiced it.

Keep reading free with an account. Start His Cousin Was His Real Wife, So I Took My Father's Name Back from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.