“Purple Rain?”
“No…”
“Metallica?”
“No.” He looked amused.
“The War on Drugs?”
“Who?”
“I’m about to change your life.”
When we pulled into the back alley behind the bakery, I parked but left the engine running. “I’ll be quick.”
He nodded.
I trekked inside, and a few minutes later, I had the printed proof of the loan repayment on the building in my purse with a confirmation number.
I went back outside and hopped into the car, ready to head to the bank.
“You can roll down the windows and cut the engine,” Duke said after I parked in the bank parking lot.
“You sure? I don’t know how long I’ll be.”
“Leave the keys. If it gets hot, I’ll turn on the air.”
Luckily, the bank wasn’t busy and there was no line.
“Hello,” the teller greeted with a warm smile as I walked up to the counter. “How may I help you today?”
“Hello. I need to speak with Mr. Thornton.”
“Mr. Thornton is unavailable.”
I frowned. “I spoke with him late yesterday afternoon and he told me to see him this morning. There’s an issue with my account.”
“One moment, please.” She stepped away and headed into the back, off the floor. A woman in a gray suit jacket and black trousers came to meet me.
“Hello, I’m Diane Huddleston. I’m the assistant manager of this branch.”
I took her offered hand and shook it. “Hello.”
“I understand you wanted to speak to Mr. Thornton, but he’s currently unavailable. Would you like to step into my office and you can tell me how I can help you?”
I followed her to the corner office and took a seat in front of the desk. She sat in her swivel chair and folded her hands together and placed them on the tabletop.
“Thank you for your time,” I began. “I spoke with Paul Thornton yesterday afternoon, and he asked me to come in person to speak to him. He said there was a problem with my last payment—as in, the bank doesn’t have record that I made it—which is incorrect.” I pulled the piece of paper out of my purse that had the screenshot of the payment confirmation number along with theThank you for your payment.
Diane took the paper from me and quickly scanned it. Frowning, she set it down on the desk and turned her body toward her desktop computer. She clicked a few times with the mouse, typed on her keyboard and then sighed.
“This is very strange,” she said, turning the computer screen toward me. “We have no record on our end, but clearly you made a payment. I need some time to dig into this. Can I get back to you in a few days?”
“Absolutely.” I stood up. “Thank you for your help resolving this.”
“My pleasure.”
Chapter26