Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Mary stood in the doorway of the safety-deposit vault and warily watched the young man inspect it. She’d had her suspicions a couple weeks ago that something was going on at the bank, but now she was sure of it.
This was the tenth young man who’d come in asking about renting one of the boxes in the last two and a half weeks. They had all dressed in suits and ties, but they couldn’t cover up all of their tattoos. They were on their necks and the backs of their hands. Some even had a few on their faces.
She hadn’t seen the two men who had tried to hold up the bank a month or so ago.
Last she knew, they were still in jail, pending a trial, but if she had to guess, she’d say that these men were in the same gang.
She’d once again brought it up to her boss, Jennifer, who’d said that she didn’t think it was anything to worry about, but she’d look into it.
Mary didn’t believe her, but what could she do?
This young man was a bit more obvious in asking questions about the security of the vault and the boxes than the others had been.
He also wanted to know who else had a key to the boxes and what would happen if he ever lost his key.
She explained there were two keys needed to open each box.
The bank had one and the owner of the box had the other.
They had to be inserted at the same time and left in the box as it was removed.
There were procedures in place if someone lost their key, but it took a couple days to make a new one.
It was impossible to open more than three boxes at once, because that was how many master keys the bank had on hand, but she didn’t tell the customer that though.
“What happens if there’s a fire?” the man asked. “Would my stuff be protected?”
“If you’re asking if the boxes are fireproof, they are,” Mary said as calmly as she could.
“Hmmm,” the man said. “And if me and my buddy wanted to get to our stuff at the same time, could we do that?”
“No. Only one patron is allowed in the vault at a time.”
“That’s stupid.”
Mary shrugged. “It’s company policy.”
“What if—”
“Mary!” Rebecca, one of the other tellers, yelled as she came down the hallway toward the vault.
She turned and saw the other woman was holding her cell phone. “Your phone’s been ringing off the hook. Jennifer is pissed, but I saw it was your friend, Rayne. I thought it might be important and— Oh…sorry, I didn’t realize you were still giving the tour.”
“We’re just about done here, I think.”
“I can finish for you, if you want,” Rebecca said tentatively.
Mary knew the other woman was just as uneasy about all the young men coming in and inquiring about the safety-deposit boxes, so she shook her head.
“Not necessary.” She turned back to the man.
“Mr. Smith,” she mentally rolled her eyes at the obviously fake name he’d given them, “you’ve got the application.
You can drop it off anytime between nine and four-thirty, Monday through Friday. ”
“Right. Thanks,” the man said, then walked out of the vault. He brushed against Mary as he passed. “Sorry,” he said belatedly—and with a suggestive smile on his face.
Mary bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from saying something she might regret. She walked Mr. Smith out to the lobby, and she and Rebecca watched as he sauntered out into the afternoon heat.
“Something is definitely up,” Rebecca said.
“Oh, yeah,” Mary agreed.
“Did you hear the latest rumor about the bank?” Rebecca asked.
“No, now what?”
“Corporate wants to get rid of the tellers and put automatic machines in the lobby. They think it will deter robberies like the one last month.”
“Shit. So we’ll all lose our jobs?”
Rebecca shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess most of us would.
They need to keep some of us to run the drive-through and to take care of things the machines don’t do…
like people ordering foreign money and things like that.
But they want to automate as much as possible, like deposits, withdrawals, and balance inquiries. ”
“Damn,” Mary said, then shrugged. “Guess it’s time to see what else we can find, huh?”
“But this is all I’ve ever done,” Rebecca said. “I mean, it’s not exactly my dream job, but after eight years, and a degree in general studies, I’m not sure what else I can get.”
Mary shared her fellow teller’s concerns, but tried to stay positive. “We’re organized and trustworthy. We’ll find something.”
Just then, the cell phone in her hand rang again, and Mary saw it was Rayne calling once more. “I’ll just be a second,” she told Rebecca.
The other woman nodded and headed for her position behind the counter.
“Hello?” Mary answered.
“Em’s at the hospital,” Rayne said, not bothering with a greeting. “She started bleeding this morning and Fletch called nine-one-one.”
“Oh no! Is she okay?” Mary asked.
“We don’t know yet.”
“Are you at the hospital?”
“Yeah. Can you get here?”
“I still have three hours left on my shift.”
“Tell your boss it’s an emergency.”
“I don’t think she’s gonna care,” Mary said almost hysterically. “Where’s Annie?”
“She’s here, and she’s freaking out.”
The thought of Em being in the hospital with complications was heartbreaking, but knowing Annie was stressed was beyond anything Mary could handle. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes or less,” Mary told Rayne.
“What about your boss?” Rayne asked.
“As you said, this is an emergency. I’ll think of something.”
“Don’t do anything drastic,” Rayne ordered.
“Who, me?” Mary quipped.
“Yes. I know you.”
“Whatever. Are the guys there?”
“Beatle is. The others were in a meeting and couldn’t get out of it. They’ll be here as soon as they can.”
“And Truck?”
“I haven’t called him yet.”
“I’ll call him,” Mary told Rayne. She and Truck had been spending a lot of time together in the last two and a half weeks.
They were officially dating, and it felt good and weird at the same time.
She’d never dated Truck. They’d gone from picking on each other in the way two kids in elementary school would, to him forcing her to move in when he found out how sick she was, to them getting married.
But over the last couple weeks, they’d gone out to eat, watched movies at each other’s apartments, taken walks, and had even gone on a weekend trip to Enchanted Rock in nearby Fredericksburg.
It was fascinating getting to know Truck without her sickness being a factor.
She already knew he was funny, protective, and bossy, but she’d also found out other little things about him.
Like the armadillo was his favorite animal of all time, and that he was ticklish, and she’d heard countless stories about his sister, Macie, and how close they were growing up.
Mary had fallen even harder for the man, if that was possible.
They’d made out a couple of times, but she’d stopped things before they went too far, scared he’d feel her fake boobs and ask questions. Mary knew she needed to talk to him before someone else blabbed about her cancer, but she hadn’t been able to find a good time to do so.
Besides, she was enjoying being “Mary” and not “Mary who has cancer” for once.
“Cool. The girls will also get here as soon as they can, other than Kassie, who isn’t comfortable bringing Kate to the hospital with all the germs yet,” Rayne told her. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye,” Mary said and clicked off the phone. She thought fast. What could she do to get Jennifer to let her leave work early? She didn’t have a lot of sick time saved up after coming back to work, but she had to have at least three hours she could use.
Sighing, she decided to just suck it up and talk to Jennifer. It wasn’t as if she loved this job anyway. If she got fired for having an emergency and needing to leave, so be it.
Taking a deep breath, Mary went to Jennifer’s office and knocked.
Her boss looked up and impatiently asked, “Yes?”
Mary quickly outlined what was happening and waited to see what her boss’s decision would be.
“You’ve already missed a lot of work, Mary.”
“I know, but I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t really important.”
“Between this and harassing our customers, you’re pushing your luck,” Jennifer said.
Mary swallowed the harsh retort on the tip of her tongue. She wasn’t harassing customers. She’d brought her safety concerns to her boss—like she was supposed to do. Biting the inside of her cheek, she kept silent.
Finally, Jennifer sighed. “Fine. But no more. I mean it.”
Mary nodded quickly, extremely relieved. “Thank you,” she said and turned to leave.
Jennifer stopped her. “Mary?”
Mary spun back around to face her boss. “Yeah?”
“I appreciate you asking, and not making up some lame excuse or resorting to theatrics to get your way.”
Mary simply nodded and left, not telling the other woman how close she’d come to doing just that.
As she headed quickly for her car, Mary couldn’t help but think about what her friend was going through. Driving like a bat out of hell toward the hospital, she called Truck.
“Hey, Mare,” Truck said as he answered.
“Hi. Emily’s at the hospital. She started bleeding this morning and Fletch called an ambulance.”
“Shit. Where are you?”
“I’m on my way.”
“Slow down.”
Mary blinked in surprise. “How do you know I’m speeding?”
“Because I know you. Just take a deep breath and try to relax. You getting there three minutes faster isn’t going to change anything. I’d rather you slowed down and got there safely.”
Now Mary was blinking back the tears that had formed in her eyes. How like Truck to be more worried about her than Emily. Sure, Rayne and the others cared about her and wanted her to be careful, but Truck’s caring was different. “Okay. Are you coming?”
“Of course I’m coming,” Truck said, sounding exasperated now. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I just…all the women are going to be there. And Annie’s already there. I know it’s all still kinda weird for you, and I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable being around everyone at the same time.”