What would happen if I told him the truth? Would he tell his boss, call the cops? I’m pretty sure bankers have an ethical obligation to report suspected crimes, so better to keep Ed in the dark.

“I don’t have time to explain. You’re going to have to trust me on this.”

“And you’re going to have to give me some kind of indication of what’s going on before I can agree to do this. I can’t help you without an answer.”

Normally I could volley like this for days. Winning Ed over with words, cooking up steaks and uncorking a bottle of my best red, plying him gently to my side, but every second I spend arguing is another second I don’t have the money. The clock is ticking. My heart feels like it’s about to explode. I don’t have time for this shit.

I grab my phone from the shelf and hold it an inch from my face. “What’s going on is that I need you to give me my money. Give me my damn money, Ed. It’s mine. Give it to me!”

There’s a long patch of empty air, and I force myself to pause. To take a deep breath and blow it out. Get my temper under control just enough to sound remorseful as I start again. “Come on, Ed. You know me. You know I wouldn’t ask unless this was life or death. The truth is I’m desperate, man.”

The silence stretches again while in my head, I’m doing the math. The rest of the line of credit, the few piles of cash in the safe, cash advances on my three credit cards. If I’m lucky, $100K, which means without that IRA, I’m screwed. Jade and the kids are screwed. I don’t have anywhere near enough.

I slide the money into the shoebox, along with what I really came for: my gun, a tidy black Smith & Wesson. The three magazines, eight 9mm rounds apiece, I drop into my jacket pocket. That’s twenty-four bullets I can sink into the asshole in the mask. I grab the box and head for the door.

Ed blows out a breath heavy enough to rattle the line. “Fine. But you’ll have to give me a minute to run things by my boss. Maybe we can work something out where we extend the line of credit if you sign over your IRA. Just to bridge the time it takes to sell the stocks.”

“Thanks, Ed. I really, really appreciate it. I owe you one.”

“Don’t thank me just yet. Alissa still needs to sign off on this plan, and even then, I don’t see how any of this takes place today. It’s going to be tomorrow morning at the earliest before I have that kind of cash.”