Conduct in Question
Page 33
Harry stopped on the steps to the Commerce Bank. March 15, 2000?
Quickly, he checked his notes from his meeting with Mudhali. Crawford had paid out the loan advance on the same day with a bank draft.
Was it a gift to Marjorie from Richard Crawford, just before he died? By such a convoluted procedure, Richard could have left money to her without naming her in his will. Their affair would remain secret and Marjorie’s identity would be protected. Indeed, he was in Marjorie’s thrall. If the bank decided to sue Richard’s estate, poor Dorothy, his long-suffering widow, would have to pay the debt. Fortunately, the Crawford estate was valued at close to six million.
Harry strolled past the Alton Club back to his office. Smiling, he saw patterns in his life that, in hindsight, seemed to lead inexorably to new beginnings. The violent madness, murder, and fraud had burst open his life in just a few weeks. Crawford was dead, freeing him from his servitude. With Natasha, perhaps the pain of his dead marriage would fade. At last he could step through that shadowy doorway and into the light of a new life. Picking up his pace, he mused that passion and duty had achieved a fine balance, and that perhaps that was the aim of every life.