The Lovely Chocolate Mob - By Richard J. Bennett Page 0,57
telling. “Why? Don’t you want to know how I did it?”
“I suspect you had access to all the bank account numbers and made the switch online, but how you did it is beyond me. What I’m saying is the less I know the better it would be for you and me.”
A puzzled look continued to cover Walter’s face, who was still trying to drive, and then he became enlightened. “I get it! You’re saying if you’re the one who gets caught and the cops try to sweat the truth out of you, you won’t be able to tell them anything!”
“That’s it, precisely.”
“You’re covering for me. Gee, thanks, Randall. You’re a pal. But it sure takes the fun out of giving you all the details.”
“Just one question, Walter.”
“What’s that?”
“Why did you do it? And why didn’t you include me?”
“That’s two questions.”
“Okay, it’s two questions. Now why and why?”
“Fair enough,” he said. “I didn’t include you because there wasn’t time; the money was going to be changing hands today, and I only found out about it last night. I had to move fast. I didn’t have time for amateurs. No offense, Randall.”
“No offense taken.”
Walter smiled at this. He was reassured that our friendship was still in tact.
“And as for the first ‘why’…” he continued. “I figured that if Susan Lovely were broke, she might not be such the totally desirable woman that Dr. Frank Burke thought she was, and then he’d stay with his wife, the mother of his four kids.”
We rode in silence for a minute. I pondered this over.
“That’s logical thinking on your part, Walter. I can see your point.”
“Thanks!”
After a few more moments of silence, I said, “But this brings up a problem.”
A quizzical look covered Walter’s face. “Problem? What kind of problem?”
“The money. What do you plan to do with the money?”
After a bit of silence, Walter said, “I haven’t got that far yet. And that doesn’t seem to be a problem to me.”
“I mean, after all, what you’ve done is taken money from some poor girl to whom it rightfully belongs…”
Walter burst in with “Some poor girl! She’s been a successful bikini model; she’s not hurting…!”
“Let me explain,” I continued. “When I said ‘some poor girl,’ I didn’t mean to say that she was broke. I meant to say, in the arena of finances, she has done no wrong. The money is legally and rightfully hers. It was left to her by her grandfather, who built a chocolate empire and earned it fair and square.”
“She’s dating a married man!”
“Yes, she’s seeing Franklin Burke, but that doesn’t mean she has no right to her family fortune. It’s what Old Man Lovely wanted, and he hasn’t done anybody any wrong. Quite the contrary, he’s created jobs and employed thousands!”
Walter hunched over the steering wheel. “I’m listening,” he said. To him this was all new.
“Plus, what are your intentions with those billions? To keep it for yourself?”
“I thought about that. I thought about keeping it, but then decided we’d split the billions between the three of us.”
I said nothing here. I couldn’t. The idea of a billion dollars just falling into my lap was something to consider. But what would I do with it?
“Walter, we didn’t earn it!”
“I’m not finished! I said I thought about it; I didn’t say we’d actually do it!”
“Sorry. Well, what were you thinking, then?”
“I thought I’d just hold onto this money for a while, for just a little while, until the dust cleared and Dr. Frank Burke saw reason enough to go back home to be with his wife and children, where he ought to have been in the first place.”
“How long is a little while?” I asked.
“I haven’t got all that worked out just yet. Mebbe long enough to make some dough off the interest?”
He glanced over to where I was sitting, but could tell by my face that it probably wasn’t a good idea.
“Keeping the interest is stealing. It’s not ours to keep,” I said.
“Well, it’s all in my possession now,” said Walter, “and I’m the only one who knows where it’s all at, so technically, it’s only in my possession.”
“So, we’re back to square one. What do you intend to do with it?”
Walter grinned. “I finally came to the conclusion that I’d put it all back into Susan Lovely’s account, all at once from the different banks, under guise, of course.”
“Of course.”
“That way she’d get it all back, with interest. It’s just out of her control for a little while, a tiny