“I understand,” I said.

“Can you wait one hour?”

Arthur nodded and went back to his paperwork.

I drove my rattling Buick out of the strip mall lot and headed for a branch of my own bank.

The drive-through lane was empty.

I pulled up next to the speaker, pushed my blue debit card into the clear pneumatic tube, and pressed the call button.

The metal speaker box crackled to life with a burst of static.