Continued from Part Seventeen

The Emerald Avenger entered the bank disguised as Welch. Jake Welch normally banked at the branch in Seattle, so the Emerald Avenger went to the Tacoma office. He walked up to a banker, an auburn college age kid with freckles, who stood at the front counter.

The banker said, “How can I help you?”

“I’m Jake Welch,”the Emerald Avenger said. “I need to do a wire transfer.”

“Sure. How much would you like to send?”

“$345,212.53.”

That got him arched eyebrows. “Buying a house?”

What? “Something like that.”

After the banker got Welch’s identification from the Emerald Avenger, the banker looked at Welch’s accounts. “Sir, you only have $8,000 in your checking account.”

Who did this guy think he was? “Like I didn’t know that! Transfer over all the available funds on my home equity credit line, my savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and IRAs.”

After all the fees, that left him with exactly enough money for the transfer, but an empty checking account would get caught sooner than he wanted it to be. He frowned like he was having second thoughts, but was too committed to back out. “You know, I need to eat. Transfer the available credit on my Visa card to my checking account.” At a very high interest rate.

The Emerald Avenger wet his lips each time he signed Welch’s signature on all the forms, which seemed to stack as high as in a cartoon. What if Zolgron was wrong, what if his signature wasn’t an exact forgery of Welch’s? What if it got traced back to Dave Johnson?

 He gave the banker the scammer’s swift code—the number that said where to wire the money, apparently. The banker sent him a curious look. “You’re buying a house in Nigeria?”

Would he please stop asking questions? “Yes.”

The Emerald Avenger signed the last paper and grinned. Yes! Free at last!

The banker headed off to transmit the wire. The Emerald Avenger turned around and gasped at the man walking in—the real Jake Welch.

Continued Next Tuesday

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