- Mort called the bank on Monday to check on the status of their investigation of the money bag that Mal discovered buried at the Indiana Dunes park. He was a bit surprised when he was soon connected to the president of the bank.
- "Mr. Maloney?" the bank president confimed.
- "Yes, sir. I'm calling because we haven't received word on the...er...package that was delivered to you from Indiana."
- "I understand. The reason we didn't call you is because, well...I don't know quite how to put this, but...it's ...the situation is not in exactly my hands. Can you come down here some time this week? I'd like to explain further."
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- Making Assumptions
- "Gone missing," Mort thought in disbelief. "Yes. I will come down whenever you like."
- Mort slowly put down the receiver after he and the bank president scheduled their meeting. Then he picked up the phone again and rang his wife's cell phone.
- "Ag, you're not going to believe this," Mort began, as he related this unexpected turn of events to Agnes.
- "Mort, something's fishy. Let's both go down and meet the bank president."
- Mort was hoping Agnes would say that. He was very uneasy about the whole episode and didn't want to be alone with the president for fear of blurting out "Thief!" or worse.
- They decided not to tell the twins just yet, but did confer with Mike.
- "That IS very odd," Mike agreed. "But stealing the money doesn't make any sense. I'm sure all the auction houses and currency collectors have already been quietly notified, so anyone trying to sell the bills either separately or intact would be arrested."
- "That's true," Agnes agreed. "But how could a major bank LOSE such a thing? Don't they have all sorts of security measures?"
- "I'm guessing they have excellent measures in place, particularly for electronic transactions and teller operations, but I'm not sure about physical property that's not part of their normal lock box and vault operations," Mike replied.
- "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until we hear what the bank president has to say," said Mort.
- The True Story
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- Mort and Agnes were ushered into a luxurious suite of offices for their appointment. The bank president greeted them and invited them into his private office.
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- "Let me get right down to business," said the bank president. "We didn't lose the money, but there is an usual situation here that I wanted to talk with you about. You probably thought we lost it, but I assure you that's not the case. It was too complicated to explain over the phone and I thought the best way was for you to come down here so we could talk directly," said the president.
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- He told Mort and Agnes about a very trusted employee who worked at the bank for nearly 50 years, following in his own father's footsteps who had retired from the bank many years before. Back in those days people didn't move from job to job, and usually retired from the company hat they started working for in their teens or twenties.
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- This employee was one of the few people entrusted with information about the return of the stolen money. He right away asked to talk to the president privately, and told him that he thought it was his own father who might have stolen the money. It was during very difficult financial times; his mother was severely ill and there often wasn't enough food to eat at home.
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- One day his father came home well after midnight. The next morning, he appeared almost happy, saying that in several months their family's money worries would be over.
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- But that didn't happen. His mother passed away several weeks later and his father died soon after. The employee felt that this could be the reason why the money bag was never retrieved. The employee didn't want the old investigations opened up, especially with new technologies for identifying suspects. He was afraid that his father's name would be forever damaged; and because he has a terminal illness, he didn't want any publicity either.
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- Mort and Agnes were at a loss for ideas. They agreed that they wound not want to be the cause of adding to the employee's mental and physical burden. Was it really necessary to announce the money's discovery? After all, they did ask the police sergeant not to reveal who had found the sack in order to protect their children from unnecessary and unwanted public exposure.
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- "The money has been gone for so many years, I don't suppose it would hurt to delay the announcement," the bank president suggested. "There hasn't been interest in the case for probably 80 years, so a few extra months or even years won't make a difference. No customers lost any money because of the robbery and there weren't any injuries associated with it. I propose that we wait until the employee passes away."
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- "As to the reward, would you agree to our putting a sum into a trust account for your children on the date of the announcement? I've spoken with the police sergeant and he feels that since he really didn't have anything to do with the discovery, it doesn't matter to him when the announcement is made."
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- "You are very compassionate. I'm sure that's why your employee entrusted you with his worries, " Agnes said. "As to a reward, that's very nice but not necessary. We'll leave that up to you. And yes, I think we'd prefer a trust fund in both the children's names. What do you think, Mort?"
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- Mort nodded in agreement. "We can talk about that further when the time comes. Poor man. It must have been quite a shock to him. Thank you for letting us know."
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 - LINKS: BOOK 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS
iNTRODUCTION TO BOOK 2
INTRODUCTION TO THE BIOFABLES SERIES
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