“You’re sure?” Nancy exclaimed.
“Not a hundred percent sure,” he admitted. “There might be a second layer of tricks. Call it eighty percent.”
“Good enough!” Nancy started for the door, then paused to look over her shoulder. “Thanks, Victor,” she added. “You’ve been super.”
“You’re welcome. And don’t forget that hot fudge sundae.”
Ms. Arletti’s office was almost back to normal, except for the lingering smell of burnt and wet wood. She looked up from some work on her desk as Nancy came in. “Ms. Hathaway?” she replied to Nancy’s question. “Oh, what a shame, she just walked out this second. She had an urgent phone call a few minutes ago and told me she had to leave. You can probably catch her in the parking lot if you hurry.”
“Thanks,” Nancy called, jogging out the door.
Nancy’s car was in the visitors’ parking lot because she hadn’t been assigned a permanent teacher space yet. She climbed in, wincing as her hands touched the wheel, and drove around the back of the building, where faculty members parked. A red sedan that looked like Phyllis’s was just pulling out into the street. Nancy waited a few seconds, then followed.
The car turned right at the next corner, then left a couple of blocks later. Nancy followed, far enough back to stay unnoticed, she hoped. She was beginning to think she knew where Phyllis was going.
A few minutes later her hunch was confirmed. As Phyllis’s car approached Archer Street, the right turn signal started to blink. Sure enough, Phyllis’s car slowed as she reached the bank branch, about halfway down the street. Nancy slowed, too, then pulled in behind a van parked on the street. Its bulk would help hide her car from anyone in the bank.
Nancy watched as Phyllis parked in the lot and headed for the bank. While she observed her, Nancy’s attention was drawn to a dusty blue car that she knew was Dana MacCauley’s. Nancy ducked down in her seat until it, too, pulled into the bank lot, then slid over to the passenger seat and removed a small pair of binoculars from the glove compartment. From there she could just see around the bulk of the van.
Dana was pulling into a spot near Phyllis’s car. It was obvious that they had a prearranged meeting. Dana’s must have been the urgent phone call Ms. Arletti had referred to.
Dana called to Phyllis, who was waiting for her at the entrance. Together they continued toward the bank. Dana put her bank card in the door slot and the two women entered the twenty-four-hour lobby. Nancy longed to get out of her car and move closer. But she didn’t dare. The glass walls of the lobby made it too easy for the women to notice her.
Nancy picked up her binoculars and peered into the window. With a happy, almost triumphant look on her face, Phyllis handed Dana something.
It was a wad of cash!
Chapter Fourteen
Nancy held her breath and adjusted the focus on the binoculars. That money had come from Phyllis’s purse, not the machine. She couldn’t tell the denomination of the bills, but even if they were twenties, the amount would be large. Dana studied the wad a moment, then smiled and shook Phyllis’s hand. Dana wrote out a deposit slip, put the cash and the slip in an envelope, and deposited the envelope in the automated teller machine.
Nancy watched the women a while longer. They seemed happy when they left the bank, got into their respective cars, and drove off. Nancy’s mind was racing. Normally two people didn’t meet at a bank just to make a deposit. Obviously they were up to something. Was Phyllis giving Dana her cut of the illegal money?
When both cars were out of sight, Nancy got out of her car and went to a phone booth near the bank.
Luckily she was able to reach Harrison Lane in his office. After Nancy explained what she wanted to know, he took the number of the telephone she was calling from and promised to call her right back. In fact, it was almost ten minutes before the telephone rang.