Page 13 of Burke (The Haven #2)

S hirley was outside the bank when it opened that next morning, and, as she walked in, she looked around, hating that same nervousness, wondering if her sister knew.

If Silvia already knew about Shirley’s money, an unpleasant surprise was coming Silvia’s way.

Shirley really hoped she had been fast enough, but Timber had started that feeling of not panic, but, well, maybe panic.

As she got to the teller, she checked her account balances and quickly asked for a money order to remove it all.

The teller stared at her. “We can give you a draft, and you can take it, but why would you want to? We’re looking after your money just fine, aren’t we?”

“Yes, but because of some issues involving fraud with somebody I know, someone who has had access to my account information, I’m just not comfortable leaving the money here.”

The teller continued to stare at her. “But they can’t get into your account.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m not willing to argue about this, and, for my own peace of mind, I want to move my money,” she stated firmly.

The teller made a strange sound, a shadow crossing her face, then replied, “I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I’ll have to talk to the manager about it.”

Shirley’s eyebrows shot up, and she stated, “It’s my money.”

“Yes, it is your money,” she began apologetically, “but the fact is, it’s more money than we’re used to dealing with at one time.”

“Then you need to deal with it now,” Shirley stated. This seemed to be working against her. “I don’t have time for this. I need to get to work too.”

“You can also come back another day.”

“Let me talk to the manager,” she declared.

The teller shrugged. “I’ll see if he’s available.”

As soon as she left, Shirley turned around, feeling some strange gazes on her, and yet the bank was basically empty of customers. Still, it just felt off. She sighed.

When the teller returned, she said, “He’ll see you now.”

Shirley nodded and was led into a small office.

The bank manager looked at her with a kindly smile and asked, “Now, what’s the problem?”

“The problem is, I want to move my money to another bank,” she declared.

“Why?”

To avoid a really long and unnecessary discussion about her decision regarding her own damn account, she stated, “I want to do this, and it’s my money, and you can’t talk me out of it.

” He frowned at her, and she shook her head.

“No, you’re not, and please do not give me any more trouble about this. ”

“You do have to give us a certain amount of time.”

“I’m not asking for cash,” she clarified. “I’m asking for a money order.” He frowned at that. “Don’t tell me that you can’t do that because obviously you can. You move money all the time.”

“Sure,” he replied. “We could move it, but that’s a dicier way of doing it.”

“In what way?” she asked.

“You don’t want to carry that cash around.”

“I didn’t say cash. I specifically said a money order .” Then she frowned at him. “Are you trying to stop me from doing this? Are you in cahoots with somebody over this?”

He looked at her and shook his head. “No,… no,… of course not.”

She frowned at him. “Yet you’re really working hard to try to stop me from moving my own money.”

“We never want to see money leave the bank,” he explained. “Surely that’s not hard to understand.”

“It might not be hard to understand,” she stated, “but I insist on this, and I don’t appreciate the pushback.”

“Fine,” he said.

It took another twenty minutes for them to get it settled. When Shirley finally walked out of there with a bank draft in her pocket, she felt even more unnerved and leery about carrying that money, and yet it was supposedly secure.

She had chosen another bank a little bit farther away, and she quickly got into her vehicle. As she drove away, she swore she saw her sister walking up to the bank, and, with that, she started to shake. As far as she knew, Silvia had never used the same bank as her.

But now that all the money was gone and her accounts closed, Shirley wanted to confirm that this wouldn’t be an issue. She drove quickly, wondering what bank to use, which one her sister would not expect, and which was the most secure. Then she found herself phoning Burke to ask him.

He quickly gave her the name of a bank that had branches across the country, with one of the best reputations. She looked it up on her GPS, found one close by. Feeling a sense of relief, she drove into the parking lot and, within minutes, had new accounts, new cards, and her money safely deposited.

The manager looked at her and noted, “You seem quite relieved over that.”

“I am,” she confirmed. “When you find out that family members have had access to your cards and are in bad financial straits and don’t have any morals, you worry about them going in and cleaning out your accounts.”

The other woman winced. “We don’t want that to ever happen.”

“Are there any extra checks or alerts you can put on my accounts to confirm nobody else can access this money?”

“Sure,” she replied, “we can add some extra features.” And, with that, they settled on a couple that would give Shirley a little bit more security. “You’re really worried, aren’t you?”

“I am,” she confirmed, “and I know it may be foolish—”

“No, it’s not foolish. Sometimes, as much as we don’t want to, it’s the only answer, and, if it’s family, you are stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“We don’t always want everybody to know how much money we have, particularly when we work, and they don’t,” Shirley explained.

“Oh, that’s even worse,” the nice teller muttered. “I don’t understand that sense of entitlement, where they just feel as if, because you have what they want, they can just reach out and take it.”

Shirley sighed and nodded. “And that’s the attitude exactly, with absolutely no sense of right or wrong, of their having what they shouldn’t have, with no care for others. If they had any idea I had this money, I am convinced they would do everything they could to take it.”

“Did you just clean out an account somewhere?”

“I did,” she confessed. “My sister has been in my home, has seen my mail, my purse, my cards, so who knows what information she might have been collecting. As of yesterday, she was reported and will be getting into big trouble, and it was suggested that I move my accounts.”

“That was a very wise thing to do. And now I’ve put an alert on this one, in case anybody even tries to access it that isn’t you,” she shared. “As usual, you’ll have to watch the activity on your cards, and, should you see any odd transactions, you need to let us know.”

“Will do, and the credit card company as well.”

“Right, now they will call you if there’s a certain number of transactions that look odd to them, but that doesn’t mean they’ll catch them all.”

“Of course not, and thank you.” Shirley headed out and went to work. As she walked into her job and sat at her desk, she found a phone call message from her sister on her cell phone.

She stared down at her phone, but her boss walked up. “I know you told me that you would be an hour late,” he began, “but it’s been an hour and a half already.”

She winced. “I’m so sorry. I’ll work hard to get through the line-ups.”

“Well”—he shrugged—“please stay and make up for the lost time. We’re really short-staffed right now, so pitch in.”

And, with that, she put down her own phone and got to work.

The last thing she needed was to lose her job.

So far, she had been very good about making sure that absolutely nothing could be held against her as a black mark, and the one thing she did not need right now was her sister causing trouble too.

And considering Shirley may have seen Silvia going into the bank this morning, it was possible Silvia was calling about that, and Shirley definitely didn’t want to talk to her.

When her lunchtime came around, instead of taking it, she worked right through, noting the approval on her manager’s face, even though she wouldn’t get paid for it.

It was a small price to pay for keeping her job, which, whether she needed it or not at this point, she didn’t know.

But it was one more issue she didn’t want to deal with.

She already needed to move and didn’t know where to go, but to maintain this job with her sister knowing where she worked meant that her sister would be coming here to find her—especially if Shirley moved—and that was the last thing Shirley wanted.

Speaking of Silvia showing up at Shirley’s job, it was even a possibility here and now.

If her sister did that and made a scene, it would be the end of Shirley’s job.

Just the thought was enough to make Shirley cringe.

When her day was finally done, and she’d worked the extra hours that she needed to make up for her appointment this morning, she stood with a heavy sigh.

The manager walked over and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Sure,” she replied. “It was just a longer day than I had planned.”

“Of course, but we appreciate the fact that you made up for the lost time.”

She nodded. “I’m so sorry for being later than I expected this morning.”

He accepted the apology and added, “Let’s just hope it doesn’t happen again.”

“I hope not.”

“Also… somebody was stopped outside today, asking if you were at work.”

“What?” she asked in horror. “Who?”

“You’ve been a great employee, and we really don’t want to lose you. But, if any personal problem ends up coming to the office, you do realize,” he explained somewhat apologetically, “that would result in an instant dismissal.”

She stared at him and asked, “But it hasn’t happened though, right?”

“No, it hasn’t, but, if this person becomes a problem, you need to stop them from coming back and causing trouble…”

“Did they cause trouble today?” she asked.

“No, just a minor disturbance. Again… I’m just being cautious.”

It seemed as if he was being more than cautious, yet he didn’t have any reason for that criticism and made her feel almost targeted. “Thank you for letting me know,” she replied.

And, with that, she walked out, feeling as if everything in her world was about to collapse, and she didn’t have a clue how to stop it, or if she even could.