Rollover by Susan Slater

had a manicure. Wagon Mound wasn’t exactly a metrosexual metropolis and all this spit and polish sure seemed overkill or just demeaning for the insurance guy. Dan wished the sweater he was wearing didn’t have pilling around the cuffs.
    After introductions, Lawrence remained standing. “Well let’s get this tour started.” A smile finally—more grimace than positive emotion, however.
    â€œI’d like to see your check-in and out log for August. I assume those entering this area needed to sign in first?”
    â€œOf course. Even though everyone knows everyone in this town, we follow strict procedures. After sign-in the person’s box was retrieved by Stephanie there or myself,” Lawrence paused and nodded to a woman sitting to the right of what looked like the door to a vault…“she would seat the owner in this alcove,” a gesture to the left, “the property would then be delivered to the area. You may notice the recipient was always in line of sight.”
    Dan thought “goes with the hanky” but he followed suit and nodded at Stephanie who gave him an anemic smile. He made a mental note to question her…something along the line of helping him to profile Gertie—as tough and unfeeling as that sounded. He tried another smile but Stephanie quickly looked down. Dan glanced back at his host in time to catch a frown directed her way. Odd. Interaction with the investigator must be equivalent to goofing off.
    â€œWhen the box holder was finished, he or she would buzz Stephanie and she would buzz me. I would then return the safe deposit box and make certain the log was signed.”
    Seemed like a couple extra steps, Dan thought, and a lack of trust. Wonder why Stephanie wasn’t more involved? Micro manager came to mind.
    â€œAre the logs stored here on the premises?”
    â€œYes. Stephanie, would you get August’s sign-in log for Mr. Mahoney?”
    Stephanie leaned down and unlocked a file drawer in her desk and after a thumbing of files marked by month, she separated August and placed a bagged and time-stamped log on her desk.
    â€œMrs. Kennedy has reported that she removed the insured items on August tenth.”
    â€œYes, here’s her signature.” Stephanie had turned a few pages then scooted the log forward for him to see.
    â€œAccording to her calendar, there’s some confusion as to just when the items were returned—some problem with the vault’s door needing repair and access was denied due to this servicing.”
    â€œI remember now. She came to the bank with…” Stephanie looked up “…her property and we advised her to wait until we notified her. We anticipated a two-day delay. In fact,” Stephanie turned a page, “here’s her signature on the day she removed her property and here’s my notation when she returned and I informed her that the door needed to be fixed, August seventeenth.”
    Dan leaned forward and looked at the note.
    â€œAnd here’s the notation—time and date—of my call informing her that the vault door was repaired. Well, I didn’t do the calling; I was on vacation but my replacement Amber Medger did—on the eighteenth. The AM notation here? Those are her initials.”
    â€œAnd Mrs. Kennedy returned to replace her property that day?”
    â€œOh, this is so silly talking about ‘her property’…we’ve all seen the necklace and know the story of the Titanic and the mother, the father with the clubfoot—”
    â€œThat’s enough, Miss Walters.”
    Well, that was going to get Miss Stephanie Walters a stern reprimand once he was gone, Dan thought. But how interesting. It was easy to imagine Gertie showing off the prized possession…and easy to realize how it could be a target. He suddenly noticed that Stephanie was rifling through several pages of the log biting her lip and appearing increasingly