Cut and Run (Lucy Kincaid #16) - Allison Brennan Page 0,77
into the bank. She had on large sunglasses, her hair was down and partly shielding her face, and there was no clear shot of her without the sunglasses. Based on photos they had of Denise, the woman may have been her, but the photo was so grainy that they couldn’t even tell the woman’s hair color. The only thing they could be sure of was that she was Caucasian and approximately five feet six inches based on the lines on the door where the image was captured. Denise Albright’s medical records indicated she was a half-inch taller than five foot six but certainly within the range.
“You sent this picture in when asked for surveillance film that morning. You indicated in your statement that the bank only had a camera on the door. But you didn’t provide the entire video, only this image. You can see why my boss is skeptical that this is Denise.” Lucy watched as Pollero stared at the picture.
“Yes, the quality isn’t the best, we’ve since upgraded our system. But that’s Denise.”
Nate said, “Do you know that it is a felony to lie to federal agents?”
“Of course!” he said, his voice rising. “I gave your office everything I had, and I’m sorry I didn’t think anything was wrong, but at the time nothing seemed unusual. I went over all this with the sheriff’s department, and again with the FBI, and I don’t see why you’re coming back now.”
“Because we don’t believe that this is Denise Albright,” Nate said bluntly.
“I would never have authorized the change if it wasn’t her.”
“Denise Albright may already have been dead when she allegedly came into the bank.”
His face drained. “I— That can’t be. The police told me that she and her husband crossed the border that night. That’s what they said. They had a picture to prove it.”
Lucy said, “The correct answer, Mr. Pollero, is that she couldn’t have been dead because you spoke to her at ten fifteen that morning.”
He stared at her, blinked, seemed confused, then said, “Yes, of course. That’s the right answer.”
The way he said it had Lucy backtracking. Something about his demeanor … he had been coached. And her prompt seemed to calm him down, as if she were telling him what to say.
“Thank you for your time,” Lucy said as she stood. Nate clearly didn’t want to leave, but he rose with her, and she was grateful he didn’t argue. They needed to regroup and look at this case in a different way.
“Um, yes, and if you need anything else, let me know,” he said.
Lucy opened the door and Nate followed her out. They got all the way to the car before Nate said, “He was lying and you let him!”
“He was coached. Someone told him exactly what to say to the FBI three years ago to make us go away. He gave Laura what she asked for, nothing more or less. He has never been in trouble, so there was no reason to investigate him. Now there is. We need a warrant for all the records, because I think he’s the one who falsified the banking records that enabled the embezzlement. Bankers are under intense scrutiny, but they also are knowledgeable about how the system works and he could have made it look like Denise authorized the change to the account. He gave us that grainy photo plus his statement that she didn’t appear to be under distress—he did his part. Exactly what he was told to do.”
“Then where’s the money?”
“I think he was paid or blackmailed. I lean blackmail because he’s not living above his means and I don’t think he would have done it just for money.”
“That’s a quick moral assessment after a fifteen-minute conversation.”
Lucy was a bit hurt that Nate didn’t trust her psychological profile, but she probably should have given him more to go on.
“Yes, it is, and I shouldn’t have just walked out without discussing it with you. I want to watch him. Investigate him. If Max is right and Stanley Grant was threatened into confessing to Victoria’s murder, maybe Pollero was threatened into falsifying the financial authorization. Or blackmailed—because while Grant had been a gambler, Pollero could still be a gambler. And no one would want a banker to be a gambler … too great a risk to borrow money that doesn’t belong to you.”
Nate wasn’t completely appeased, but he no longer looked angry. “Maybe. But he might have talked if we pushed harder. He lied to us. I