Chapter 7: The Account

I called the bank from the yard in my socks, at midnight, and held for a long time.

The woman who finally answered told me the transfer could be frozen if a signatory reported it.

"I'm a signatory," I said. "Freeze it."

"It will be held for forty-eight hours."

"That's enough."

I didn't sleep.

At six, Ottavio found me on the cottage step with a cold cup of coffee.

He looked at my face and went back inside the house.

When he returned he had keys in his hand.

"My truck's in the barn. I have a delivery in Healdsburg, so I'm going that way. Get in."

I got in.

He didn't ask what had happened. He turned the radio off and drove with one hand on the wheel.

I watched his scarred palm on the wheel.

I thought about how warm it had been, and then I made myself stop.

At headquarters I walked past the lobby and up to the second floor.

The finance office was behind a glass door with a keypad. My card opened it.

Six desks. Five people.

They all looked up at the same moment.

A thin young man near the window stood and put himself between me and the filing cabinets.

"Ms. Bellandi, I'm sorry. We were told not to release anything until Mr. Paoli authorizes it."

"Mr. Paoli was removed as chief of finance yesterday by a vote of the board."

"I haven't received a notice."

"You've received me."

I pulled a chair up to the desk at the end of the room and sat.

Keep reading free with an account. Start They Gave Me a Monthly Allowance, So I Took Back My Building from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.