CHAPTER ONE
I can’t believe my eyes. I stare at the screen for a few minutes and try my best to wrap my head around it all. My manager makes eye contact with me and walks over. “Are you all right, Samantha?” she asks. I nod but I’m not all right. I guess nodding to tell her I’m all right is the first lie I’m going to tell her.
The second lie follows. “I’m just trying to work out the exceptions list you gave me, Joanie.”
“Okay, well if you need my help, just let me know.”
“Will do,” I say. I feel a little guilty. Joanie is going out of her way to help me with my career. I’m only eighteen years old now but he thinks I’ll be an assistant branch manager by the time I’m twenty-one, as long as I get my associates degree by then.
I feel guilty because there are two lies involved. First, I am not all right. I’m not even close to all right. The second reason is that I’m not trying to work out the exceptions list. That list is just a list of accounts with things happening that are out of the ordinary. In almost every case, the list involves overdrafts. Someone writes a check or uses their debit card and there isn’t enough money to cover it. By the time I see the list, the debit cards are already resolved. They don’t make the list if they’re declined at the point of sale. We make decisions on a case-by-case basis with the checks depending on if they have overdraft protection, money in other accounts, or just a good enough history that the bank will assume the risk of a negative balance.
Sometimes, I need to call people to make sure nothing strange is going on. Like, maybe an account that never has big amounts hit suddenly has a five-thousand-dollar debit, that kind of thing. Sometimes, the problem is an account that has dropped below balances that have remained constant for a long time.
That’s the account in question now.
That’s what has me definitely not okay.
I look at the clock and say, “Joanie it’s time for my break. I’m done with the checks and only have one call to make.”
“Go ahead. You can make the call when you get back.”
“Thanks,” I say. I get up from my desk and stretch as though nothing is going on. Then, I walk around my desk, out through the back, and then out onto the street. I feel weak and confused as I dial.
Soon enough a familiar voice says, “Sammy. Hi. Didn’t expect to hear from you.”
“Is it a bad time?”
“Hang on,” he says, “Hey boss, can I take a second to talk to my stepdaughter?” He pauses and I smile in spite of myself. He says that same lame joke every time. “Oh wait!” he continues. “I forgot. I’m the boss!”
“I don’t know how to tell you this,” I say, “but at work today I found out something really horrible.”
“What’s wrong?” he says, “are you okay? Are those assholes firing you?”
“No,” I say. “It’s… a little more serious than that.”
His tone changes abruptly and there is deadly seriousness behind it when he says, “Are you hurt? Where are you, I’ll pick you up.”
“No, no,” I say quickly. “It’s nothing like that. It’s just…”
“Tell me, Sammy.”
I take a breath and say, “I was reviewing the exceptions and I came across your account.”
“I see,” he says and the relief in his voice only makes what I have to say harder. “What’s the problem, Sammy?”
“Well, you only have fourteen thousand dollars in the account.”
There is silence for a moment on the other end than a far less relieved, “I see. Do you have an idea what might have happened?”
I take another breath. “That’s the horrible part. Remember how you and Mom had that argument a while back where she wanted you to invest in her boss’s business and you refused because it was failing and you didn’t think her boss had the business sense to turn it around?”
“Yes,” he said, and his tone makes it clear he’s already figured out what happened. “That’s an oversimplification of my reasoning but yes. So, the money left my account and went to his?”
“Yes,” I say. “It looks like there have been one hundred eighty-two thousand dollars transferred directly to Mom’s boss’s account over the past two months. Mom’s the only one besides you who can authorize that transfer, so… I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” he said. “I’ve suspected your mother was having an affair with her boss for the past few years. Now I know for sure.”
“Why would she hurt you like that?” I blurt out. “You’ve been so good to her for so long!”