Read Breaking the Ties That Bind Online
Authors: Gwynne Forster
Breaking the Ties That Bind (14 page)
“Just a minute, Miss Richards. Let me check. We can get a card to you by mail tomorrow. What is your address?”
“I moved last week.” She gave her own address.
“What are the last digits of your social security number, Miss Richards?”
She’d just looked that up from Kendra’s college entrance papers. So far so good.
“And your mother’s maiden name?”
“Virginia Hunter.”
“Thank you, Miss Richards. I hate to ask all these questions, but we are only protecting your account. You have a security question here. Who is your favorite author?”
Just when she thought it was going so smoothly. “My favorite . . . My goodness, I have so many, I don’t remember which one I put down. Gosh, I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ve got to have that money. This is an emergency.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Richards. Maybe you wrote it down somewhere. When you remember, call us. In the meantime, because of this . . . uh . . . glitch, your account will be locked for twenty-four hours, but we can open it earlier if you remember the answer to the security question and call us back. Thanks for banking with Westwood.”
Ginny hung up, slammed the phone against the wall, and paced from one end of her bedroom to the other, back and forth, back and forth. Talking aloud to herself, she said, “Damn her. She does everything she can to make me suffer. But I’ll be damned if I’ll kill myself standing on my feet all day when she’s got a plumb of a job making good money. She’s just like her damned father. I’ll get it yet. A security question. I’ll bet she’s the only person in this city with a security question. What am I going to do when Asa gets here? He thinks I’m socially and financially well-placed. I’ve gotta get tickets to the Kennedy Center jazz series, and I need an evening dress. That means money.”
She made a second pot of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table to drink it. Maybe if she sued Bert for letting their house go into foreclosure, she’d get a chunk. It would be her word against his as to why they lost it. A smile floated over her face, but it quickly vanished when she recalled that he’d won the divorce on the grounds that she’d squandered the money he gave her monthly to pay the mortgage.
Anger began to boil up in her. Damn that Asa. He should be giving her money. Being able to out-screw the man who invented screwing didn’t make him worth more than Fort Knox. Besides, she wasn’t bad at it herself. And maybe she’d manage to change things.
Kendra was in the midst of dictating her mid-term paper on the recorder that Sam gave her when the telephone rang. Sam had already called her, so she was not in a hurry to interrupt her homework. When the ringing persisted, she lifted the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Is this Kendra Richards?”
“Yes. This is Kendra.”
“Ms. Richards, this is Westwood Bank calling. Have you phoned this bank today?”
Her antenna shot up. “No. I don’t think I have ever phoned your bank. And how do I know it’s the bank calling me or if you’re a scammer?”
“Hang up. Call your bank and ask for Ms. Marris.”
“I will.” She hung up, dialed the bank’s number and asked for Ms. Marris.
“Thank you for calling back, Ms. Richards, and for being careful. We suspect that someone has stolen your identity. The woman knew your social security number and your mother’s maiden name. I’m not sure about your address, because she said she moved a week ago. We tripped her when she didn’t know the answer to your security question.”
A chill seeped into Kendra’s body and she began to shiver. “Did you say
she?
What did she want?”
she?
What did she want?”
“She said she hadn’t received her debit card, and asked if we would mail her a new one. She spoke of an emergency.”
By now, Kendra was standing and breathing hard. “To what address did she want you to send the card?”
“The woman gave an address on Kalorama Road.”
“Thank God for that security question. She would have cleaned me out and thought nothing of it.”
Ms. Marris gasped. “You know who it is?”
“I sure do, and I’m going to decide what to do about this latest attempt to ruin me.”
“If you’ll tell me who she is, I’ll take care of that for you.”
“Thanks, but I’d better get some advice about this. I may call you back.”
“All right, but as soon as you can, stop by the bank and give us a second security question and answer because she knows what the question is, and she may wheedle the answer out of you.”
“Thank you. I’ll be by as soon as this snow clears. She won’t learn the answer, though I suspect she’ll ask everybody who knows me. At any rate, she doesn’t know the PIN. Thanks again.”
“You’re welcome, and thank you for banking with Westwood.”
Kendra knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on her mid-term paper, so she put away her notes and called her father. Ginny needed psychiatric counseling, and if she didn’t get it and soon, she would eventually get a stiff jail sentence.
“Hello, Kendra. Couldn’t you get to school this morning?”
“Classes were cancelled, Papa, so I was catching up on my homework. Then the bank called me. Guess what Mama’s done now?”
“I’m not sure I want to hear it.”
She related to him the details of her conversation with the bank’s officer. “Papa, if I let them, they’ll probably indict her.”
“Of course they will. She attempted to commit a felony.”
“What should I do?”
He was silent for a while. “You’ll do nothing. I’ll call Ginny and let her know that we know what she tried to do and that if we identify her, the bank will indict her for an attempted felony. I’m also going to tell Ed, because she’ll run to him for help. Add a second security question to your account, but forget about the rest. One of these days, she’s going to meet fate face to face, and fate will not back off. What time will you leave home for work?”
“Considering what’s on the streets, I’d better leave no later than three o’clock.”
“I have a buddy with a tow truck. We’ll be at your place at three this afternoon, and we’ll pick you up tonight.”
“You sure he won’t be busy?”
“He doesn’t do snow removal. Besides, he’s got lots of those trucks. He’s my chess-playing buddy, and I know I can count on him. I meant to tell you that I like Sam, and I like him for
you.
He’s a man who knows where he’s going and how to get there, and he cares a lot for you. I mean,
a lot.
”
you.
He’s a man who knows where he’s going and how to get there, and he cares a lot for you. I mean,
a lot.
”
Her father didn’t go overboard for people, and his praise for them was almost never effusive. When he said he liked Sam, she had to listen. “Why do you say that?”
“I watched him as closely as he watched me. He couldn’t keep his eyes away from you, and when he thought I wasn’t looking, he managed to touch you. But the way that he looked at you, with his heart in his eyes, told me all I wanted to know. Sam Hayes knows exactly who he is, and he’s full of self-pride. He’s got good manners and a great sense of humor.
“I’ll tell you this: You’d better not get on his wrong side, because he’s straight, and he demands that of anyone close to him. That man is not single at his age because he hasn’t been able to find a woman. If I was a betting man, I’d put a lot on his having ditched a faithless woman or lost a good one in a tragedy. He can have his pick.”
She tried to remember another time when her father had spoken that long on any subject, but she couldn’t.
“Papa, you discerned all that after being with him for four hours?”
“It took me less time than that. I know people, and unless you do something foolish, I’m expecting him to be the father of my grandchildren.”
She wished that he could have seen her reaction to that, for her eyes felt as if they had doubled in size. “Papa! For goodness’ sake! Is that why you insinuated that he was going to marry me? I could have sunk through the sod in that park. I was so embarrassed.”
“You were also mad as the devil. But did you hear him object? I didn’t. If it wasn’t a possibility, he’d have straightened me out. A man isn’t anxious to meet a girl’s father, unless he feels a lot for her and wants to know what he’s getting into. And he can learn a lot about her from what he sees of her parents.”
She had yet to win an argument with him. “You must be busy, Papa, so I’ll—”
“Busy with a foot of snow on the ground? I’m getting a chance to catch up on orders and accounts. I’ll see you at three. Meanwhile, I’ll get Ginny straightened out. Love you, girl.”
“I love you, too, Papa.”
She hung up, went to her living-room window, and looked down at the snow. She didn’t see five people and not a single automobile. The scene reminded her of stories she’d read as a child, and she decided she would put a birdhouse and a birdbath on her balcony in the hope of attracting the little creatures. The snow made fancy patterns on the tree limbs, designs that might have originated on an artist’s palette.
She had an urge to walk in the woods among the snowburdened trees. On an impulse, she telephoned Sam, who was also at home because his university’s classes had also been cancelled.
“Hi, Kendra,” he said in a voice that reflected his surprise. “How nice to get a call from you.”
“I was looking down at the snow. It’s so beautiful that I had an urge to walk in the woods. I can’t do that, but I could at least tell you how breathtaking the scenery is from my balcony.”
“You’re right. This isn’t a good day for strolling among the trees, but it means a lot to me that when you wanted to take that walk, you wanted to do it in my company.”
She wouldn’t have phrased it that way, but it was an apt description of her thoughts. “It would be nice. Papa told me that he enjoyed being with you.”
“I’m glad I met him. I understand you better, but he’s a paradox, at least he seems that way. He’s a first-class butcher, plays the classical guitar like a pro, he’s educated, youthful, handsome, and vigorous. He’s alone, yet he loves company. Have you figured him out?”
“It isn’t difficult. He married my mother when he was twenty-two, right out of the university. She did a number on him, and it took him almost thirty years to recover fully from it financially. Because of her, he lost our home, and everything we owned. She ruined his credit, and if you can’t get credit, you can’t have a house, car, business, or anything else that costs more than a few dollars. You can imagine how badly he wants to remarry or even to develop close ties with a significant other. He had intended to be a classical guitarist, but she couldn’t stand to hear him practice. She said it gave her a headache.
“He worked his way through school as a delivery boy for a butcher, from whom he learned about meat and other foods. Later, when Mama’s antics indirectly cost him his job and we were almost penniless, the butcher took him on and taught him the trade.”
“What a pity. I’m sorry. Does your mother do these things deliberately?”
“Occasionally she does, but mostly not. She thinks only of herself and never of the consequences.”
“I didn’t mean to pry, but I . . . well, I like your dad.”
“I don’t mind, and neither would he. If you play chess, he’ll tell you all about it. That’s one way to get him to talk.”
“I’ll give him a call, and maybe we can have a game of chess. Are you going to try and get to work?”
“Yes. Papa has a friend with a tow truck. They’ll take me to work and bring me home. I’m sure Mr. Howell won’t appreciate it if I don’t go in. The show must go on.”
“So I heard.”
“I’d better get back to studying. Call in or fax a request.”
“Great idea. Listen for me around nine. Bye for now, sweetheart.”
“Bye.”
“Now who can that be?” Ginny asked aloud as she rushed to the phone, hoping that someone at Westwood Bank had found a way to send her that debit card, and praying that Asa was not the caller.
“Hello,” she said, annoyed that the number didn’t show in the caller-ID screen.
“Ginny, this is Bert. Westwood Bank called Kendra. To shorten a story that you know well, they want the name that goes with the address you gave them, so that you can be prosecuted for an attempted felony.”
Perspiration beaded her forehead and dampened her bra and her thighs. “What are you talking about?”
“Try that or any other trick aimed to get into Kendra’s bank account again, and I’ll see that you spend a good long time in jail. If you had succeeded, you would have committed a felony. If Kendra won’t expose you, I will, and it won’t cost me a drop of sweat. You’ve got it coming.”
“I never heard of such nonsense.”
“Go ahead. You’re like lemmings headed for a cliff and for self-destruction. If your shenanigans didn’t affect my child, I wouldn’t give a damn. As it is, I don’t care what you do, but if you hurt Kendra, you’ll deal with me. And I will be merciless.”
He hung up before she could tell him what she thought of him. Damn Kendra. She had to go and tell him, and who knows what she told the bank. Washington was such a small place. She couldn’t afford to get into anymore trouble with the law, and she definitely couldn’t expect anything from that bank. Damn everybody!
Other books
Oracle by Kyra Dune
3 Vampireville by Ellen Schreiber
Fifty Shades Freed by E. L. James
Caress by Cole, Grayson
Seeing Light (The Seraphina Parrish Trilogy) by Warren, Michelle
Bollywood Nightmare by Victoria Blisse
The Promise by Dee Davis
An Inconvenient Friend by Rhonda McKnight
Naïve Super by Loe, Erlend
The Mark of the Assassin by Daniel Silva