Raspberry Danish Murder (Hannah Swensen #22)(48)

“Is the annex open at night?” Mike asked.

“No, it’s only available during banking hours and no one without a key can get in the door. The biggest advantage of the self-service system for a bank is that the bank is absolved of all responsibility for checking identification against signature cards, unlocking and relocking boxes with the bank key, and letting customers into the vault area.”

“That makes sense to me,” Mike said, giving a quick nod.

“It made sense to the board, too,” Doug told him.

Hannah began to frown. “But . . . that means anyone with both keys can get into the annex and remove a safe deposit box.”

Doug shook his head. “Not so, Hannah. The box number is not stamped on the keys and neither is the bank name. You’d have to know both of those things before you could go to the right bank and open the right box. It’s one of the reasons why we write the box number on the receipt for the rental, but nowhere else.”

“But there was a tag on Ross’s keys with the box number,” Hannah pointed out.

“The bank doesn’t put a tag on the keys, so Ross must have added that tag specifically for you before he put them in the envelope.”

Mike leaned forward and Hannah knew he had an important question to ask. “Does this solve the inheritance problem with safe deposit boxes and access for someone who’s not on the signature card?”

“Yes. If you have both keys and you know the bank and box number, you have access during banking hours. It’s that simple.”

Hannah started to smile. She knew precisely why Mike had asked that question. “Then I could take someone with me when I looked inside Ross’s box?”

Doug nodded. “Anyone of your choice, Hannah. It’s all up to you.”

“Mike?” Hannah turned to him. “Will you please look inside Ross’s box with me?”

“Of course,” Mike said, and he rose from his chair. “I was hoping you’d ask me that.”

*

Both Mike and Hannah were speechless as they stared down at Ross’s open safe deposit box. They gazed at each other in shock for what was probably only a brief moment but seemed like an eternity to Hannah.

“More money,” she said.

“Yeah. A lot of it.”

“How . . .” Hannah stopped to draw another shaky breath. “How much money do you think is there?”

“I’m not sure.” Mike gave a little humorless laugh. “I’ve never seen that much money in one place before.”

Hannah blinked and continued to stare down at the stacks of bills. “It’s got white tape on it. Does that mean somebody counted it?”

Mike leaned down to read the inscription on the white band that was wrapped around one of the stacks. When he straightened up again, he made a sound that was halfway between a gasp and a chuckle. “It says ten thousand dollars, Hannah.”

“Ross put ten thousand dollars in his safe deposit box?”

“No. Try ten times that, Hannah. There’s a hundred thousand dollars in this box.”

Both of them just stared at the contents for a moment longer, and then Hannah drew a deep, shuddering breath. “Do you think that Ross left all this money for me?”

“No question about it. Ross’s intentions were clear when he put his keys in that envelope and asked Doug to give it to you the next time you came to the bank. He even attached the tag with his safe deposit box number. He was alive and well when he did that, and that’s enough to prove that he wanted you to have it. It’s every bit as clear as if he’d taken the time to draw up a will.”

He was alive and well when he did that. The words echoed in Hannah’s mind and she could feel her head start to spin. Did Mike believe that Ross was no longer alive and well? She didn’t want to think about that, not now. It was too much to handle, too frightening to contemplate. Instead, she sat down in the chair in front of the desk holding the safe deposit box, and attempted to concentrate on the problem at hand.

“Are you okay, Hannah?” Mike asked her.

“Yes,” Hannah said firmly. And surprisingly, once the affirmation had left her lips, she was okay. “Ross gave Doug those signature cards for me to sign. Why didn’t he just open his safe deposit box and deposit this money in one of his accounts?”

Mike sighed, and it was clear that he didn’t want to answer her question. “I don’t know, Hannah. You’d have to ask him.”

“I can’t ask Ross if he’s not here and I don’t know how to contact him. You know that.” Hannah could feel herself getting irritated with Mike for avoiding the intent of her question. “Let me rephrase that,” she said, trying not to sound as frustrated as she felt. “What possible reasons could someone have for putting a hundred thousand dollars in cash in his safe deposit box when he could have deposited it in one of his bank accounts?”

Mike looked very uncomfortable. “Well . . . perhaps he couldn’t have deposited it in one of his accounts, at least not all of it at once. You heard Doug tell us that he was obligated to file a report if someone deposited over ten thousand dollars in cash.”

“I know what Doug said. But why didn’t Ross deposit five thousand dollars at a time?”

“I don’t know.”

“Think of a reason, Mike. You’re the detective.”