The Paper Trail novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: Friday

The bank had a marble lobby and a brass rail and a line of customers waiting at a quarter to three.

Judson stood at the far end by the business desk with his lawyer, a thin man in a gray suit.

He wore the blue tie I had given him for our eighth anniversary.

He saw me come through the revolving door with Lars Rhodes at my shoulder and Dolores a step behind, and his smile dropped.

"This is a private matter," said the lawyer.

"It stopped being private on Wednesday," I said.

I did not stop walking.

I went to the desk where a woman in a pearl necklace sat with a nameplate that said Fraud Prevention.

I put the wire authorization down in front of her.

"My name is Ella Tennant," I said. "I'm here to report that this signature is not mine."

The woman looked at the page.

She looked at the open loop on the E, and at the card in the file I had signed at that same branch eight years ago.

I had opened my first account here with my father.

"I see," she said slowly.

"Mrs. Haskell," said the lawyer. "My client will explain this as a clerical misunderstanding."

"Your client signed under my name on a hundred and eighteen thousand dollars," I said. "Before nine people in line."

A man in a camel coat turned all the way around.

"I'd like the pending wire from Haskell Freight stopped," I said, "until someone checks the other signatures."

The fraud officer picked up her phone.

She spoke quietly into it for a moment.

When she hung up she said, to Judson and not to me, "Mr. Haskell, the account is on hold pending review."

"You can't do that," he said.

"I just did."

His face went white.

For one second he looked at me with pure hatred, and I thought: there you are.

"Ella," he said, in a voice for the whole lobby. "You are not going to put your husband in jail."

"I'm not putting anyone anywhere," I said. "The person who forged my name gets to decide who explains it."

Behind me, very quietly, Dolores said, "That's my girl."

I walked out of the bank with my pulse hammering.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Paper Trail from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.