Sherryl Woods - Courting the Enemy

It was only after hours of tossing and turning that he understood the second part of what his grandfather had been trying to tell him. In effect, his grandfather had given his blessing to a relationship between Grady and Karen. But what was that nonsense about bringing things full circle?

Another riddle, he concluded with a sigh. His grandfather was a master of them. Unfortunately, Grady seldom had the patience to unravel them, not with the very real mystery of the sabotage to the Hanson herd standing between him and his goal.

Grady walked into the First National Bank of Winding River promptly at nine o’clock and headed straight for the president’s office. Ignoring the secretary’s indignant protests, he strolled into Nathaniel Grogan’s office.

“Shall I call security, sir?” Miss Ames asked, casting a look of alarm in Grady’s direction.

Grogan waved her off. “I can handle the gentleman.”

“Could be you’re being overly optimistic,” Grady observed when the door had closed behind the indignant secretary.

“What’s on your mind, Grady?”

Grady nodded at the acknowledgment of his identity. He’d known Nate for years, so it seemed highly unlikely that the man would have mistaken an impostor for him, which meant that face-to-face meeting he’d claimed had been a blatant lie.

“I’m sure you can figure that out,” Grady told him.

“The mortgage on the Hanson land.”

Grady gave him an exaggerated look of approval. “Bingo.”

“What about it?”

“Apparently you told Caleb Hanson that I tried to buy up that mortgage. You told the same thing to Jarrod Wilcox. Yes or no?”

“I told them that, yes.”

“Even though you know it’s a blatant lie.”

“I don’t know that.” Grogan reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a file. “Here’s the paperwork, all filled out nice and proper. That’s your signature at the bottom.”

Grady’s gaze narrowed as he studied the paper. “It’s a damn fine forgery,” he said at last.

“Are you telling me that’s not your handwriting?” the man asked, clearly taken aback.

“That’s what I’m telling you. I never filled out that paperwork. And whoever witnessed it and said I did is lying.”

The old man seemed shaken by his vehemence. “Let me get Miss Ames in here. That’s her notary seal on this.”

He buzzed for his secretary. “In here now, Miss Ames.”

The door opened at once, but the woman was slow to enter. “Yes, Mr. Grogan?”

“I want you to take a look at something.”

She edged around Grady, then took the papers her boss held out.

“Is that your stamp on there?” Grogan asked.

She looked it over carefully, then nodded.

“And is this the man you saw sign those papers?” he demanded.

Another flicker of alarm flashed in her eyes as she glanced Grady’s way. Her response was inaudible.

“What was that?” Grogan snapped. “Speak up, Miss Ames.”

“I said no, sir. I’ve never met this gentleman.”

“This is Grady Blackhawk,” Nate told her. “Now my next question is, who in hell signed the papers?”

Miss Ames seemed to shrink inside her smart business suit. “I don’t actually know,” she said, then burst into tears.

Both men stared at her incredulously, but Grady was the first to speak. “Aren’t you supposed to witness something before using your seal?”

Her head bobbed as the tears continued to fall. “Yes, but these were on my desk one morning with a note to put the seal on them and leave the file for Mr. Grogan. That’s what I did. I thought it must be really urgent.” She regarded her new boss with dismay. “I thought it was what you wanted, that it wouldn’t matter if I broke the rules since you were the one telling me to do it.”

The bank president simply stared at her. “I know you’ve only been here a short time, but have I ever asked you to do anything dishonest?”

“No, sir. That’s why I thought it must be very important.”

“And you have no idea who put the papers there?”

“None. They were there when I arrived for work. You were in your office, so I was sure you’d left them, just like the note said.”

“I don’t suppose you kept the note,” Nate said.

She shook her head. “No, sir.”

Grogan sighed heavily. “You may go, Miss Ames.”

“You’re…you’re not firing me?”

“Not at this time,” he said. “Not until we get all of this sorted out, at any rate. But if I find you know more than you’ve told us just now, you will be out of here. Am I making myself perfectly clear?”

Her head bobbed. She left the room looking so terrified that Grady almost felt sorry for her.

“I apologize,” Grogan said. “I don’t know what she could have been thinking.”

“That she was doing you a favor, I’m sure,” Grady told him wryly. “Obviously she’s very loyal to you.”

“Or to someone else,” Grogan said wearily. “I’ll straighten this out. I promise you that. And I will call Mrs. Hanson and explain things to her.”

Grady nodded. “I wish you would. And one more thing. Were you the one who warned Caleb Hanson about this so-called attempt on my part to buy up his mortgage?”

“Yes. I saw to it that the application was denied and then told him what was going on. He and his family have banked here for years. I thought he had a right to know.”

“Who else could have left those papers on your secretary’s desk, especially before she arrived in the morning?”

“Anyone who works here. The other employees arrive here around eight. Miss Ames drops her son off at school. She doesn’t arrive until closer to eight-thirty. It wouldn’t take a minute to drop off the file. People leave papers on Miss Ames’s desk all day long. No one would think a thing about it.”

“But it couldn’t have been an outsider, correct? It had to be someone working here?”

“So it seems.” He looked Grady in the eye. “I’ll get to the bottom of it. You have my word on that.”

Grady nodded. He didn’t doubt that Nathaniel Grogan’s intentions were honorable, but as Jarrod Wilcox had already pointed out, this incident, like the others, had taken place long ago. Finding answers wasn’t going to be simple. People’s memories faded. Except, of course, for the person who’d done it. He or she wouldn’t have forgotten. But could the wrongdoer be persuaded to tell the truth?

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said as Nate walked with him onto the main floor of the bank.

Just as they stepped into the marble-floored lobby, Karen walked through the front door, took one look at the two of them and turned pale. Then bright patches of color flared in her cheeks right before she turned and fled.

“Dammit,” Grady muttered, and took off after her. He knew what she was thinking, knew she was adding up two and two and coming up with a hundred and ten or whatever number would be most damning.

He caught up with her halfway down the block and fell into step beside her. She didn’t even glance over at him.

“Good morning,” he said, being deliberately upbeat.

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“That’s fine, because I have quite a lot to say to you,” he said, steering her into Stella’s before she could protest. He knew her well enough to understand that she wouldn’t make a scene, not here in front of her friend Cassie, who was staring at them, clearly ready to intercede.

“This looks like a nice quiet place to talk,” Grady said tightly as he aimed for the booth in the back.

He stood there until she sank onto the seat with a resigned sigh, then he slid in next to her just to be sure she couldn’t bolt before they had this out.

“Everything okay?” Cassie asked, her worried gaze on Karen.