Marine Returns From Okinawa to Find Her Bungalow Already Sold
“I remember when your mother opened this account for you, Maria,” she said, looking over her gold-rimmed spectacles. “You were twelve years old, saving up for a bicycle.”
“I still have the ledger book somewhere,” I said.
“She was a good woman,” Mrs. Gable said, her voice softening. “She would be proud of that uniform.”
“Thank you,” I said. “But I need some help with the account records today.”
She typed on her keyboard, her fingernails clicking against the plastic keys in a fast, uneven rhythm.
“The mortgage payoff was completed on September second,” she said, squinting at the screen. “A total of thirty-eight thousand four hundred dollars.”
“Show me the source of that transfer,” I said.
She clicked through three more screens, her charm bracelet jingling against the mahogany desk.
“It came from a commercial escrow account at Gulf Coast Title and Settlement,” she said.
“That is Gerald Benson’s firm,” I said.
“Yes,” she said. “The transaction was listed as an off-market cash settlement for sixty-four thousand dollars.”
“Who signed the authorization for the bank transfer?” I asked.
