“Yeah. No wonder her son feels so bitter: all her mementos are about her dogs. She didn’t even keep his kinder-garten picture. I didn’t know she used to train dogs for show, though.”
“Oh my, yes.” She sat back on her heels and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “I guess that’s why they didn’t bother me as much as some of the other folks around here. I can remember when that yard was spick-and-span and she had seven or eight Labs out there, all perfectly behaved. It’s only been the last few years that she stopped being able to manage them like she used to. Maia Tertz could tell you about it. She used to buy dogs from Hattie, for her family. All her kids have Labs, descended from some of Hattie’s old Labs, my goodness, yes, and I suppose her grandchildren too. I don’t expect young folks like Chrissie to appreciate that.”
“Chrissie seems to like to help people in other ways,” I ventured. “I hear she has quite a lot of financial expertise.”
“Maybe, honey, maybe, but Mr. Hellstrom and I, we prefer to make our own investment decisions. We don’t have that much to lose, so we can’t afford to listen to sales pitches.”
“I took one of the pictures of her dogs. I thought maybe it would perk her up to have it next to her bed.”
“Now, why didn’t I think of that? That’s a wonderful idea. Just wonderful. And I always figured you for such a snob—sorry, honey, that just slipped out.” She smiled in embarrassment and got back on her hands and knees to continue plucking invisible weeds from around her rosebushes.
As I walked up Racine to Belmont I felt as though I had a big red X on my bag indicating the location of the bonds. I kept a nervous lookout for anyone who seemed to be dogging me too close. A bus was arriving just as I got to the corner. I climbed on to ride the half mile to the Bank of Lake View, just to be on the safe side.
Back in its cool, musty recesses I rented a safe-deposit box. Alma let me use her Xerox machine to copy the bonds and the title. I made two sets of copies. One I folded and tucked in the inside of my jacket; the other I placed in an envelope in my handbag. After putting the originals in the safe-deposit box I went back to Alma’s desk. She finished a phone call and looked at me inquiringly. Her warm smile-seemed to be wearing a bit thin where I was concerned.
“You know how Lake View brags about being a full-service bank? I wonder if you’d keep this for me.” I held out the key to the box.
She shook her head, not even bothering with a smile. “I can’t do that, Vic. It’s completely against bank policy.”
I tapped my teeth with a knuckle, trying to think. “Could you mail it to me?”
She made a face. “I suppose. If you address the envelope and seal it yourself.”
She pulled an envelope from a drawer. I helped myself to a handful of scented tissues from the corner of her desk and wrapped the key in them. I addressed the envelope to myself in care of the owner of a bar I frequent downtown, the Golden Glow, and handed it to her.
“Now you have to admit that we are a full-service bank. Tell all your friends.” She laughed merrily and put the envelope in a tray marked for outgoing mail.
“Will do, Alma; you got my vote.”
I’d seen a pay phone next to the ladies’ room in the basement this morning on my earlier visit. I went downstairs to call Dorothy Fletcher, a broker I know.
“What can you tell me about Diamond Head bonds?” I asked after we’d exchanged pleasantries.
“Nothing. Want me to look them up and give you a call?”
“I’m not real reachable today. Could I hold while you check?”
She warned me I might have a long wait, but agreed to do it. I ended up watching the walls for nearly a quarter of an hour. Sylvia Wolfe came down to the ladies’ room and we exchanged waves. Nothing else disturbed the basement’s sepulchral air. As the minutes stretched by I regretted not carrying a book with me. Even a chair would have been welcome.
Dorothy came back on the line as I was counting the number of burned-out-bulbs in the basement chandelier. “I hope you’re not thinking of buying these, Vic. They’re trading at nineteen—off a face value of a hundred, of course. That may sound like a bargain, but they didn’t meet their April interest payment and no one here believes they’ll be able to do it in October, either. On top of that they’re unsecured.”
“I see. Thanks, Dorothy—I’ll resist the impulse.”