Lingerie and Lariats (Rough & Ready#7) (7 page)

“Eat your breakfast.” Jerry took her phone from her and pocketed it. “I’m almost finished with my business transaction which shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes. If you’re not done with eating when I return you’re just going to have to go hungry.”

He got up and headed back to the table where the two men were still sitting.

She stared at her plate. It wasn’t likely she could eat a bite. Instead she found herself sliding out of the booth and then she was walking toward the front entrance. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the men had their heads down and they were wrapped up in whatever business dealings they had.

Without looking back again, she pushed open the door to the café and ran.

Chapter 7

Renee hurried in the direction of the bank. She jogged down the sidewalk, dodging other pedestrians, glad she’d worn her running shoes. She had to get to the bank before Jerry noticed she was gone.

The day was already growing hot and perspiration soon coated her skin. Her heart beat faster. It was taking too long. She glanced over her shoulder. The café was far enough back that she couldn’t see it now, but Jerry could always get into the sedan and drive by.

She spotted a nice-looking man coming out of a corner pharmacy and hurried up to him. “Would you mind giving me a ride to the bank?” she asked as she came up to him.

He looked at her in surprise then shrugged. “Sure.” He unlocked a truck parked next to the curb. “Climb in.”

A jittery feeling made her tremble a little as she hurried to the passenger side and climbed in. She looked back and still didn’t see Jerry.

The guy pulled the truck onto the street that had little traffic. It was only a couple of minutes before he reached the bank and pulled into the parking lot. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” She smiled at him and climbed out.

“No problem.” He took off once she had closed the passenger door.

Again she looked around her before darting through the entrance and into the cool interior of the bank. Jerry would never think to look for her here. The only problem would be if he decided to come to the bank to make transactions of his own. Although why would he do banking business when he would be looking for her? But just how long would he look for her?

She signed in at the information desk to wait for a banker. The five minutes it took for someone to approach her seemed to drag on forever.

The woman greeted Renee. “Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m Anita Gonzales. What can I do for you?”

“I’m Renee Winfield. I have some accounts to close out and I’d like to open a new one.” Renee gave Anita a smile.

Anita gestured toward the back cubicle, past other bank representatives who were talking with customers. When she reached the woman’s desk, Renee sat in front of it, on the edge of the armed chair. They were out of sight of the front door, so Jerry wouldn’t be able to see her if he did come in.

She pulled out her passport and checkbook and explained to Anita that she wanted to roll all of her accounts into a new one.

Anita looked at the passport and pulled up all of Renee’s accounts by entering the one on the checkbook. Renee tried to maintain a calm, relaxed appearance even though she felt even more jittery inside.

The banker asked Renee a series of questions to confirm her identity and then they started the process of opening a new account in her name only. Since Jerry was only a signer on the open accounts, they wouldn’t need his signature for her to close them. Renee was the owner of both accounts.

When Anita gave Renee the account balances, the concern she’d felt about her money was validated. Over seventy-five thousand dollars was missing from the nearly half million that she’d had in the accounts. She went over the transactions with the banker and noted the dates of the withdrawals and the amounts. Jerry had been embezzling from her.

While she filled out the paperwork and the transactions were made, she wondered where Jerry was. Jerry would never know that her money was still with the bank because the bank wouldn’t give out that kind of information. The only thing he would know was that the accounts had been emptied.

Renee didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until everything was completed.

“Is there a phone I can use?” Renee asked.

“Sure.” Anita gestured to her phone.

“I need a directory,” Renee said. “I need to contact Zane Cameron.”

Anita smiled. “Mr. Cameron is one of my clients.”

Renee returned her smile. “Do you have his number?”

“I can’t give out customer information,” Anita said. “But I can call him and ask if he’d like to speak with you.”

“That would be great.” She relaxed as Anita looked up Zane’s number and dialed it from her desk phone. “Hi, Mr. Cameron,” Anita said. “This is Anita Gonzales. I have Renee Winfield here and she would like to speak with you. Is that all right?” A heartbeat later and Anita was handing the receiver to Renee.

“Zane?” she said as Anita got up and walked away.

“Hi, Renee,” he said. “It’s good to hear from you. If you don’t mind me asking, why are you calling from the bank?”

“It’s a long story, and I don’t have my phone.” She heard the urgency in her own voice as she spoke, but she kept her voice down. “I need help. Would someone be able to pick me up in Nogales and give me a ride? I know it’s a long way, so I hate to ask, but I’m stranded and I’m worried.”

“I’m just the other side of Patagonia. I’ll get there as fast as I can, about twenty minutes,” Zane said, sounding concerned. “What happened?”

She bit her lower lip before she spoke. “Now isn’t a good time to go into it.”

“All right,” Zane said. “You can tell me all about it when I pick you up.”

“Thank you.” She let out her second breath of relief. “I’m sorry to be an inconvenience.”

“As far as I’m concerned you’re my little sister,” he said. “You’ll never be an inconvenience.”

She thanked him again and hung up after he said he’d pick her up at the bank. Now all there was to do was wait and pray that Jerry didn’t find her.

Renee sat in one of the chairs in the waiting area near the bankers. She crossed her legs at her knees and her top leg bounced with agitation. Beside her on a small table was a collection of magazines and she picked one up and flipped through it without really seeing it.

Her skin crawled. She glanced up and looked out the floor-to-ceiling glass windows and her heart stuttered. Jerry was walking up to the bank doors.

She lifted the magazine and hid her face, hoping that he wouldn’t somehow recognize her. She peeked around one side of the magazine and saw him walking up to one of the tellers. She could see his side profile from where she was sitting. Nearly paralyzed with fear, she listened to him.

“I need to wire funds as well as make a withdrawal,” he told the teller. “Here are the account numbers and my ID.”

Renee watched as the woman looked at his ID then apparently brought up the accounts on her monitor. The teller frowned and the keys of her keyboard clacked as she typed while studying the monitor. She met Jerry’s gaze. “Those accounts are no longer open, Mr. Nelson.”

“What?” His voice started to rise and he sounded panicked. “What do you mean, no longer open?”

“They were closed out today,” the teller said.

Renee’s heart beat like crazy as she watched Jerry’s face start to turn red.

“That’s not possible.” His expression was one of fury. “Who closed out the accounts?” He bit the words out, every word harsh. “Where’s the money now?”

“I can’t give out any information,” the teller said. “All I can tell you is that the accounts have been closed.”

Jerry looked almost crazy as he fisted his hands at his sides. “I demand to know who closed out my accounts.”

“According to the records, you were not the account owner, you were a signer,” the teller looked like she was trying to be patient.

“Bullshit.” Jerry was almost shouting.

The teller appeared to be losing patience. “Sir, you’re going to have to calm down or I will need to ask you to leave.”

“I demand to speak to a manager,” he said.

“Just one moment, Mr. Nelson.” The teller turned and walked toward another woman.

Jerry’s face was almost purple now and he seemed to go still. The next moment he was looking directly at Renee.

“You bitch.” He walked away from the teller’s window and strode toward Renee. “You did it.”

She got to her feet, wondering if she could make the door before he reached her but knew there was no way.

“What did you do with the money?” He was shaking when he reached her and towered over her. “You will put the accounts back the way they were, you little whore.”

Renee tried not to shrink away from him and raised her chin. “It’s my money, Jerry.”

He was nearly shouting as he said, “Oh, you will put the money back and you’ll do it now.” He lowered his voice. “If you don’t, I’ll kill you.”

Shock made her skin prickle. Would Jerry follow through on his threat if she didn’t do what he told her to?

A woman approached them. “I’m Stella, the bank manager. I need to ask you to take this conversation outside.”

Stella frowned as Jerry grabbed Renee by her upper arm and forced her to go outside with him.

When they were in the parking lot, Jerry took her by her shoulders. “I’m going to hurt you real bad if you don’t get your ass back in the bank and fix what you’ve fucked up.”

Renee’s heart pounded hard. It would probably be another fifteen minutes before Zane arrived. She shook her head. “It’s my money,” she repeated.

“I made commitments to people for investing your money.” His voice was rough with his fury. “I’ll be in trouble if I don’t get them the cash.” He squeezed her arms hard. “So help me, I will make you pay if you don’t get me the money now.”

He jerked her back toward the bank doors and her skin prickled as they walked back into the bank.

When they were at the teller again, Jerry said, “Ms. Winfield is going to put everything back the way it was. Now.”

“My manager, Stella, just stepped out,” the teller said. “I won’t do anything until she returns.”

“You’ll do it now,” Jerry shouted.

“You need to leave,” the teller said in a firm voice.

“Get your manager back here.” Jerry’s whole body was shaking.

Renee winced as Jerry squeezed her arm so tightly that she knew he was bruising it. She looked from Jerry to the teller.

“Just one moment.” The teller picked up a phone and dialed a number. “I have a customer who is causing a disturbance. Yes. Thank you.”

The teller hung up the phone and gave Jerry a calm look. “Please take a seat and you’ll be taken care of shortly. I need to help the next customer.”

Renee glanced over her shoulder and saw that there was a line of four people behind them now. She tried to pull her arm away from Jerry, but he only seemed to grip her tighter.

He gave the teller a glare, then, still holding onto Renee, marched her over to the waiting area but didn’t sit. “You’re going to fix what you’ve done with the accounts and then you’re coming with me.”

She felt sick to her stomach and prayed that Zane would be there soon.

 “What do you think you’re doing?” Jerry was loud enough the other customers continued to look around at the two of them by the chairs.

Jerry’s eyes were full of terror. She had seen him upset but never like this. He was furious but terrified, too.

“Are you trying to run away?” His hands were clenched into fists and she was afraid he was going to hit her. “You don’t do this to me. Do you understand? You don’t do this to me. You won’t get away with running away from me. You signed a contract to have me handle your affairs and you can’t just take that away.”

He was in her face and the back of her knees hit a chair as she tried to step away. “It’s that fucking sheriff, isn’t it?” he continued. “We never should have come. You’ll sign the account back and we’ll head home to Philly.”

A woman in her mid fifties with graying hair walked up and Jerry faced her as she came to him. “Until the manager arrives, I need to you ask you to take this outside. You’re disturbing the customers. I’ll call you when she arrives.”

“This is our bank,” Jerry said in a harsh voice. “I’m staying right here. Your customers won’t be disturbed”.

Two police officers stepped through the front entrance into the bank. Jerry tensed, his grip tighter on Renee. The teller gestured toward Jerry and Renee and the officers started toward them.

“That fucking bitch,” Jerry said in a low voice. “She didn’t call the manager. She called the cops.”

Relief made Renee’s knees weak.

“I’m Officer Martin and this is Officer Leonard,” the female police officer said. “Step outside, please.”

“What’s this about?” Jerry still had anger in his voice.

“Step outside,” Officer Martin said in a firm tone.

Jerry still wouldn’t let go of Renee. It was like his hand was glued to her arm. “What the hell is this about?” he repeated.

“Step outside now or I will arrest you for public disturbance and harassment.” Officer Martin’s voice had a hard edge to it.

Jerry dragged Renee to the front entrance and out into the parking lot.

“Give me your names,” Officer Leonard said.

“Jerry Nelson and Renee Winfield,” Jerry said. “Although it’s none of your fucking business.”

“Release Ms. Winfield.” Officer Martin gave him a hard look.

“This bitch took my money.” Jerry shook her and she tried to pull away again. “I’m not letting her go anywhere until she fixes it.”

“Release her or I will arrest you,” Officer Martin said.

“She owes me money!” Jerry shouted, his face livid.

Officer Leonard grabbed Jerry’s hands from behind, forcing him to let Renee go. Jerry tried to fight off the officer, his expression wild as he struggled to get free.

Renee stared, her eyes wide, unable to believe that Jerry was resisting arrest.

The officer slammed Jerry facedown on the asphalt and cuffed his hands behind his back. Officer Leonard dragged Jerry to his feet and bent him over, with his chest and face on the patrol car’s trunk. The officer emptied his pockets which included her cell phone.