The phone on the counter quit vibrating, and the little apartment went completely silent.

I pushed the steel latches down until they both clicked shut.

The carpet in the second-floor boardroom at Oakhaven Savings was thick enough to swallow our footsteps as Vance walked in ahead of me.

Dean sat at the far end of the long mahogany table next to the bank president, Mr.

Harrison, holding a white ceramic mug in both hands.

Two senior board members, Mr.