Chapter 102: 102 The Bank Manager

The bank was a madhouse.

Once the police and detective showed up, people started freaking out a little. When I told them again what was going on, with a lot of people listening in, now that they were paying attention with police present, they freaked out a lot. The bank had 'lost' a hundred million in gold coins and that was shocking.

Neither the police nor the detective believed me and thought I was running a scam. Not even the lost look on the bank manager's face had convinced them, no matter how much I tried to speak loudly for everyone to hear and everyone else believed me. It was just too outrageous of a claim to lie about.

“You know, cell phones are a wonderful thing.” I said and took mine out. “Did you know they can record video? It's really good quality, too.” I brought up the file and played it for them.

“What is this?” The detective asked as he watched it.

“It's me recording myself putting the coins, that are inside professional holders that I have the receipts for, into the safety deposit box.” I said and the bank manager groaned in defeat. “I needed proof to give to the accountant when I also gave him instructions about it.”

The detective nodded and listened.

“I didn't think a hundred million in coins would actually fit; but, there's the proof.” My voice said and showed the box stuffed to the top with coins. “It's a good thing I don't have to move it far and there's a nice cart here to help me.”

The video showed me close and lock it, struggle to slide it off the table and onto the cart, then struggle to get it into the proper slot to lock again.

“It's so nice to have reassurance that if anything happens to me, my sister and my family will never have to worry about money again.” My voice said and then it said the date, time, and gave instructions to my accountant about how to handle it if I went missing for any reason.

“Good lord.” The detective said. “You actually put that much gold into a safety deposit box.”

“I've had dealings with the US Mint to verify the coins and I was told that I wasn't allowed to put it into the federal reserve.” I said with a shrug and they looked at me. “I'm a private citizen and they only store gold for countries and for international corporations that are well known.”

The detective turned to the bank manager. “All right, now it's your turn.”

The bank manager didn't say anything.

“Not talking isn't going to work this time.” The detective said and took out his cell phone. “Send me that video.” He said to me and gave me mine back so I could. He nodded and then dialed. “Hello. Yes. I need a warrant for security footage and records for the Federal Bank on Pekoe. The address is...” He waved at the teller and she handed him a business card.

He told whoever it was on the phone the address and he gave the bank manager's name, the assistant manager's name, and my account manager's name. That reminded me about the bank breaking the loan contract and taking all of my money, too. I mentioned that and nearly everyone reacted in some way.

The teller was almost in tears, the bank manager was looking even more defeated, and the police and detective looked angry. The other people in the bank scrambled to get their money withdrawn or transferred as soon as possible, while also using their cell phones to call everyone they knew and post what happened on social media.

Needless to say, the bank became very crowded half an hour later as word spread across the city.

“I need to get back to work.” The teller said with a sad voice and left our little gathering to help all of the customers.

Another officer appeared soon after with the warrant the detective asked for and their own tech guy, then the true drudgery work began for them. The third officer stayed to assist and it still took them several hours to find what they were looking for. I stayed in contact with both Jenny and Crystal, to make sure they knew I was okay and what was going on.

To my surprise, the detective actually called in a contract lawyer to help sort out the mess. I offered to pay the fee, which surprised him and the officers in return.

“I think you've lost enough money during all of this, don't you?” The detective asked.

“What's another five or ten grand compared to everything else?” I asked with a shrug.

He gave me a disbelieving look for a second, smiled, and nodded. When the detective told the lawyer that he would actually be paid, he arrived barely ten minutes later. We could all tell that he had rushed to get to the bank and he started to work right away after barely saying hello. If I had to guess, he was one of those young and 'starving' lawyers that were just dying for a good case to get them attention, either to get him into a firm or noticed by the firm he worked for.

This was definitely a case that would get him noticed. He realized it himself when he read the initial loan agreement and the conditions while in a meeting with everyone in a conference room. I provided the other paperwork about not taking any tax breaks for either building or for the large multi-million dollar construction business that I had run.

I had wanted to ensure that I kept up my side of the agreement, even though it didn't necessarily apply to any follow-up things I did. When I explained having that initial money to give me a home to live in and it gave me the stability to excel, he nodded in understanding.

“You kept the spirit of the agreement, in essence extending it to everything you did, since the original agreement didn't state that the condition would end. The loan itself hasn't actually ended and is technically still in effect as well.”

I nodded back. “That was my interpretation of it.”

I explained how it all came about the first time and I had a lot of sympathetic looks when I was done. When I explained what happened this time with being kidnapped, my life and my sister's life ruined, and accused of money laundering a measly two million dollars, one of the officers had to turn away. I couldn't tell if he was silently cursing or crying, though.

The woman that handled that first loan cried silent tears and she wiped at them. I handed her a box of tissues from inventory and she thanked me as she took some. I left the box on the table for her.

“I've got the video queued up of when the box was first accessed and also when the coins were taken.” The tech guy said and played them for us.

Everyone was silent as they watched the bank manager checking each and every safety deposit box and writing out a list of the contents.

“I was doing it for insurance purposes.” The bank manager said, weakly. “There's been too many false claims about things being stolen.”

“False claims?” The assistant manager asked. “Are you serious? When have false claims been filed?”

The bank manager didn't respond. When the next video played, I wasn't surprised to see the two secret service agents be led to my box by the bank manager, which meant they had just asked him about it or they got the information from my dead accountant. They removed the coins and put them into several unmarked sacks and carried them out.

The detective barely asked the bank manager what he was thinking and he started blubbering that he was obsessed with checking everything. As soon as the agents asked for the coins, he knew exactly where they were and handed them over without so much as a comment of protest. He never asked for a warrant of seizure and they didn't offer one. He was just glad to have that much illegal gold out of his bank.

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“It's not illegal.” I said and produced the certification from the US Mint that they were genuine gold coins and approved for sale. “Either they lied to you or you just assumed no one could have that much gold stored inside a normal safety deposit box.”

The man looked shocked for a second, then he sighed. “It was both.”

“They also delivered the court order to freeze his accounts.” The detective said and he nodded. “This just gets better and better.”

“Welcome to what's left of my life.” I said. “Thanks to this bank, I've got almost nothing left, might still lose both buildings, and I've got no capital to leverage to start anything up again and my emergency safety net for my family was stolen.”

Everyone looked uncomfortable and didn't say anything.

“I'm pretty sure I'm not getting any of it back, either.” I said and looked at the contract lawyer. “What's your take on all of this?”

“If I was a normal lawyer, I'd say the most you can recover is some of the value of your safety net and a token payoff from the bank for defrauding you of the initial loan.”

“But you're a contract lawyer.” I said with a knowing smile.

“Exactly. I can easily argue that all dealings with the bank were understood to be in the same vein and understanding of the initial loan, which is still in effect, and they broke the terms and conditions of said loan.” He said and smiled back. “If we get a good judge, you'll own this bank by the end of the month.”

“What if we only get an okay judge?” I asked.

“You'll have a huge payoff that won't mean anything because they can't pay it, which will probably bankrupt the bank. That's assuming they have any clients left using it when the trial is over.”

“Aren't there like board members and things? Stocks? Investors?” I asked.

“They are all going to resign and pull out as soon as they get wind of this.” The lawyer said. “The stock's going to drop to almost nothing afterwards, too.”

“Insurance?” I asked. I was pretty much grasping for straws by this point.

“It can't cover a breach of policy like this. The magnitude alone would wipe out the company.” The assistant manager said. “Not to mention everyone else that uses that insurance company would lose their coverage as well.”

I thought about it for a minute. “What do you suggest I do?” I asked the contract lawyer.

“If it was me, I'd go all out and hope for a good judge.” The lawyer said. “If we luck out and get a great judge, and there's a few of them in this state, we might not need more than a hearing and the bank will settle out of court.”

There was a knock on the door and it opened. It was the teller from earlier and she looked at the assistant manager of the bank and not the actual bank manager.

“Sir, we're running low on ready cash.” The teller said.

“How in... no, I suppose I don't need to ask why.” He said and stood. “I'll have the bank's lawyer here in an hour to discuss terms of a settlement.”

“You CAN'T!” The bank manager yelled.

“You're going to jail and don't have a say in this.” The assistant manager said. “I'll call the board myself after I get more cash delivered.” He looked at me. “I don't want to take the chance that you somehow get a fantastic judge that would make an example of us and won't accept a settlement once things get rolling.”

I had to nod in respect to him and he left with the teller. A copy of everything was given to the man that was now my contract lawyer, whom I paid on the spot. He wasn't shocked by that at all and wrote out a receipt for me. I got a copy of everything for my own records, a copy was given to the police and one was left for the bank's use.

The bank manager was handcuffed and arrested. He didn't protest or even put up any resistance, verbally or otherwise, and was led out of the bank.

“We'll do our best to track down the two men that took your gold.” The detective said. “Secret service agents or not, they broke the law.”

“Are you going to contact their boss?” I asked.

“I doubt I'll be able to talk to the president.” The detective said with a chuckle. “The most I'll get is a supervisor and they'll give me some excuse about 'looking into it' and hang up on me.”

I had to agree with that and nodded, because the agent had said that he had complete deniability. The detective shook my hand and promised to keep me updated, then left with the police and their prisoner. The woman that had arranged that first loan was still teary-eyed and apologized herself.

“It wasn't your fault that you were handed a horrible mistake like this by the bank manager to handle.” I said as I took her hand and held it tenderly. “He had you do it because he didn't have the balls to call himself.”

She barked a laugh and dabbed at her eyes with more tissue. “I'm glad that you can joke about this mess.” She said. “I think... I think I would be devastated.”

“I am.” I said and she gave me wide eyes. “This whole thing cost me my sister, a woman I love very much, because she was the only one in my life that I thought I could depend on. She turned me in as soon as I came back, because she was so starved for money.”

“But... but, you...”

“Don't worry about me.” I said with a smile. “I'm not done getting my revenge yet. Now that the bank is going to be handled, I have a few other things to take care of.”

I let her hand go and ignored her puzzled and worried expression as I left the very crowded bank.

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