Jan Burke - Goodnight, Irene

“Department got a tip he was holed up in a little hotel down on Fifty-sixth. When they checked it out, he was dead. I don’t have any details yet. We might need for you to come in later and identify him as the guy you saw leaving the Tannehill place, Irene. But mainly, I just wanted you to know. Figured you’d be a little relieved.”

“A little.” In truth, I was wondering who was so thoroughly cleaning up after himself. “Thanks for telling me, Pete. I guess I’ll feel better when we know who’s really behind all of this.” I looked at him, standing there with his thermos and sandwiches. I never saw anyone look so out of place. “Aren’t you off duty?”

“Officially, yes. But I told Frank I’d keep an eye on you, and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

“I’m fine. Why don’t you go home and relax?”

“You’ll find out I can be just as hardheaded as you are. Go on and enjoy your party. Thanks for the sandwiches, Mrs. Hollingsworth. Sorry to disturb you.”

“Not at all, Mr. Baird. Good evening.”

He walked off across the gravel parking area. Elinor and I watched him in silence.

“What an amusing man,” she said after a moment. “I don’t think he came up here to tell you about this Hawkeyes fellow at all. I believe he was simply concerned about your safety.”

“I doubt that he worried I was in any danger in this crowd. He may have been checking up on me for other reasons-it’s a long story. Anyway, I suppose we should rejoin the others? Guy is probably wondering what happened to me, and I’m sure you want to spend some time with your other guests.”

“Yes,” she sighed, “I suppose so. But I’ve enjoyed myself. You must come out here sometime when there isn’t such a crowd.”

“I’d like that.”

We went back to the veranda. The others were just starting to move toward the hall, where dinner was about to be served. Elinor walked me over to Guy, who was talking with a local businessman.

“Thank you for loaning Miss Kelly to me, Guy, I’ve enjoyed her company.”

“I won’t say I haven’t missed her, but I’m sure the two of you got along famously.”

She left to go to her husband’s side and we moved to our table, which was shared by four other couples, all of them business leaders in Las Piernas. As I half-listened to their chatter about the effects of redevelopment on our downtown business district, I wondered at the net worth of the table (a fantastic sum, I’m sure), about what drew these people to these events (in a nutshell, power and influence) and if they really enjoyed them (highly doubtful).

Guy and I chatted amiably through dinner. I told him of my tour through the house. He remarked that Elinor showed very few people more than this modernized area, and that such a tour was a sign that she’d taken a great liking to me. One of the guests at our table said, “You’re Kenny O’Connor’s sister-in-law, aren’t you? I thought he mentioned his sister-in-law worked with his dad on the paper.”

Rather than going through the business about ex-sister-in-law and on-and-off reporter, I simply said yes, I was.

“Kind of surprised he’s not here tonight,” the man said. “He’s a regular booster of Hollingsworth.”

“He’s had an accident, I’m afraid. He may be out of commission for a while.”

Coos of sympathy all around while I tried to count how many lies I had just told. I hadn’t figured Kenny for having any political interest. He had a construction business, so maybe he needed to grease some wheels at City Hall. But I couldn’t figure out what a district attorney could do for him.

Dessert and coffee were served, then Andrew Hollingsworth rose and made a brief speech of thanks to his guests. As he spoke, I thought of how easy it must be for him to win over a jury. He had a way of mixing enthusiasm and forceful persuasion that made you feel as if he must be right about whatever he had to say. Perhaps only later would you realize that, unlike the warning on cereal boxes, the package had been sold by volume, not by weight.

The party gradually wound down. We took our leave, and I thanked Elinor again for the special treatment. Her husband and the mayor broke off a tкte-а-tкte when we approached to say our good-byes, and seemed quite happy that we didn’t linger.

As we walked out to Guy’s car he said, “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I tried calling Ann Marchenko. I’m not sure what’s happened to her. Her phone is disconnected and she seems to have gone out of town. I’m afraid it may be quite difficult to get in touch with her anytime soon.”

“Nuts,” I said. “She knows something, and now I may never find out what it is.”

“Yes, it’s all very strange, isn’t it?” he said. He paused as we got into the car. He started the engine and we drove out of the parking area and past the guardhouse. Pete had turned his car around and was waiting for us. I looked in the rearview mirror; sure enough, he was following us.

“I see we still have our shadow, eh?” said Guy. “Anyway, as I was saying, I thought there was something very strange about what had happened with Mrs. Marchenko. As I’m sure you know, bank employees who quit suddenly and then disappear from view raise our suspicions, so I did a little investigating of my own.”

I looked toward him. He had a grin of self-satisfaction.

“And?” I said.

“And I am convinced that she herself is not guilty of embezzlement or anything of that nature. But I think she saw something. As you know, she worked in our safe-deposit area. Do you know much about safe-deposit boxes?”

“I’ve never had much of anything worth keeping in one.”

“Then I’ll tell you something about how it works. The bank has one key; the customer has another. The customer must sign in, and the signature is compared to a signature card. The customer and a bank official walk into the vault, and the customer hands over his or her key to the bank official only long enough to open the small door behind which the box is kept. The two keys are inserted, and the box removed and handed to the customer; the customer’s key is returned. Usually, the customer is shown to a private viewing area. Under no circumstances are we allowed to see what the customer has in the deposit box, or to watch as he or she opens it.”

“That doesn’t sound so great when you stop and think about it. The bank has no idea what people are storing in its vault?”

“That is the policy of every bank I have ever worked for. They do not want to have liability for what is in the boxes. There are certain laws, though, which make us pay attention to patterns of use of safe-deposit boxes-laws which concern money laundering.”

I perked up, remembering the computer notes. LDY?$VS$. “Maybe that was what O’Connor had been referring to in his notes-something about money laundering.”

“Really? That’s very interesting.” He was quiet for a moment, as if thinking over what I had told him, then he went on. “Let me try to explain how a safe-deposit box might be used for money laundering. Drug dealing and other illegal activities often produce large amounts of cash. There are federal reporting laws which require us to have a customer fill out a form whenever more than ten thousand dollars in cash is deposited.”

“What if they just launder it in slightly smaller amounts?”

“The law also requires that the bank report what are known as ‘suspicious transactions.’ Say someone always deposits $9999, staying just under the limit-the bank is required to report these transactions to the IRS. We must file a Currency Transaction Report.

“And so anyone who has some reason to hide cash or movements of cash must find ways to do it without attracting the bank’s attention.”