Chapter 4 - The Midnight Run
By 9:00 PM, the storm outside matched the chaos inside the house. The rain beat furiously against the windows as Eric and Diane packed luxury suitcases into the back of Eric’s SUV. They were frantic, sweating, arguing over which jewelry to take.
"Where is the baby's passport?" Eric demanded, slamming the nursery door open.
"In the safety deposit box at the bank," I lied smoothly. "We can stop by the 24-hour drive-thru ATM to get the physical cash out of your mom's account first, then hit the bank downtown."
Diane scoffed from the hallway. "We don't need the physical passport right now, Eric. We can cross the border by car if we use the back roads. Just get her and let’s go."
They forced me into the back seat of the SUV next to Lily’s car seat. Eric drove like a madman, his eyes constantly darting to the rearview mirror, checking for flashing lights. He kept checking his phone, watching his corporate email account get systematically deactivated.
"They’re locking me out of everything," he muttered, hit hands slick with sweat on the steering wheel. "My corporate card just got declined at the gas station."
"It’s fine, honey," Diane consoled him from the passenger seat, clutching her designer purse like a shield. "We have the savings. We have the $23,000 from her little fund too. We are set for at least a year abroad."
"Pull into the regional bank branch on 4th Street," I said from the darkness of the back seat. "The commercial ATM allows large-volume cash withdrawals if you use the premium tier card your mother has."
Eric veered the SUV into the empty, rain-slicked parking lot of the bank. The fluorescent lights of the drive-thru lane cast a sickly green glow over the car. Diane rolled down her window, chilling air and rain spraying into the front seat as she slid her gold debit card into the machine.
She punched in her PIN. "I’m going to withdraw the maximum daily limit of $10,000 right now," she boasted.
The screen spun. A red text box appeared on the ATM screen, bright enough for me to see clearly from the back seat: ACCOUNT FROZEN. CONTACT FRAUD DIVISION.
Diane blinked, her jaw dropping. "What? Try it again. Eric, she must have typed the wrong PIN."
She slammed her fingers onto the keypad again. Same message. She checked her mobile banking app on her phone. The screen displayed a balance of $0.00, with a legal hold notice from the State Department of Revenue.
"Eric..." Diane’s voice cracked, a high-pitched whine of genuine panic. "The money is gone. All of it. The corporate money, the house money, the delivery fund... it’s all showing zeros."
Eric whipped around in his seat, his eyes wild, glaring at me. "What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO, MAYA?"
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I leaned forward, the submissive, broken wife completely vanishing from my face. I smiled, and for the first time, Eric looked terrified of me.
"I didn't do anything, Eric," I said softly over the sound of the pouring rain. "The State District Attorney did. I filed a temporary asset freezing injunction four hours ago based on evidence of grand larceny, identity theft, and corporate embezzlement. You didn't launder that money, Eric. You just left it in a neat little pile for me to hand over to the state."
