The Blackstone Chronicles - By John Saul Page 0,45

to bear being watched a moment longer, Jules Hartwick left his desk once more.

Ten seconds later, having failed for the first time in his life to respond to every employee who spoke to him, he was on his way home.

Once again his right hand was buried deep in his pocket, clutching the locket.

Chapter 4

Ed Becker knew something had gone wrong the moment he walked into the bank that morning. Though there was only one customer at the tellers’ windows, there were whispered conversations going on everywhere, nearly all of which quickly died away as people became aware of his presence. At first he assumed that something had happened with regard to the audit, but when he glanced into the glass-fronted conference room in which the audit was taking place, the man and two women from the Fed were hard at work, each of them poring over a thick stack of computer printouts, just as they’d been doing for weeks. He was about to head for Jules Hartwick’s office when Melissa Holloway beckoned him to her desk.

“Was Mr. Hartwick all right last night?” she asked.

Ed Becker felt eyes watching him from every direction. “He was fine,” he assured the executive vice-president. “But I assume from the question that he isn’t this morning. Is he in his office?”

Melissa Holloway shook her head. “He was here for about ten minutes,” she told him. “First, he almost bit Ellen Golding’s head off and then he called me and ordered—”

“Ordered?” Ed Becker echoed. In all the years he’d known Jules, he’d never heard the banker utter any instruction in terms that could be construed as an “order.” Countless times he had heard Jules request that things he needed be done, but Ed had never witnessed even a hint of the kind of authoritarian behavior implied by the word Melissa Holloway had used.

Melissa shrugged helplessly. “I know. It’s not like Mr. Hartwick at all. But he ordered me to turn off the security cameras in his office—immediately—and have them completely removed by noon.”

Had it not been for the pallor of Melissa’s complexion and the worry in her expression, Ed Becker would have suspected she was pulling his leg. Obviously, though, she wasn’t. “And then he left?”

Melissa nodded. “Without speaking to anyone. And he didn’t speak to anyone when he came in either. Ed, he always speaks to everyone. It might not be more than a word or two, but he always has at least a ‘good morning.’ But not today. It was like—” She hesitated, floundering, then shook her head. “I don’t know what it was like. It was crazy!”

“What about the auditors?” Ed asked, lowering his voice so it would carry no farther than Melissa’s ears. “Could they have found something that might have upset him?”

“It’s the first thing I thought of, but none of them even said hello to him. I was hoping maybe you might know what’s going on.”

Before Ed could say anything else, Andrew Sterling came over, his face red, a vein throbbing in his forehead. “Do you have any idea what the hell is going on with Jules?” he demanded, his voice harsh.

Ed Becker braced himself. “What did he say to you?”

“Nothing. But I just got a call from Celeste. For some reason her father seems to think that—” He fell silent for a moment, and it was apparent to both Ed Becker and Melissa Holloway that he had to force himself to continue. “He seems to have gotten the idea in his head that Celeste’s mother is having an affair.”

“Madeline?” Ed Becker gasped. “Come on, Andrew. You’ve got to be kidding!”

“I wish I were. But it gets worse. It seems he thinks I’m the person she’s—” Again he went silent. This time, it was apparent Andrew wasn’t going to be able to finish the sentence at all.

“Jules actually said that?” Ed asked. When Andrew made no answer, Ed took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “I guess I’d better go up there and see what’s going on.”

The gate at the foot of the Hartwicks’ driveway stood open. Madeline’s car was gone, so Ed pulled his Buick under the porte cochere and strode up the steps. Ringing the bell, he shivered in the cold as he waited for Jules Hartwick to open the door. When the banker hadn’t appeared after a full minute went by, he rang the bell again. When there was still no response, Ed went back to the Buick, pulled his winter coat out of the