“It’s my understanding that Steven Hanzel is friends with Troy Whitman, father of Emma. And that he is responsible for setting up the fund-raising site. That put him on my radar.”

“I’m keenly aware of his involvement in that.”

It was an odd choice of words. “Keenly aware?” he repeated.

“When it first started, about three other VPs brought it to my attention. It made all of us a little uncomfortable that he was spearheading the effort. We didn’t want it to appear that it was a banking-led thing.” She held up a hand. “That sounded bad. It’s a good idea, right. But just not something that we’d generally take a lead on because there’s been a few situations with these efforts where the primary fund-raiser was working for his own gain. It would be problematic for Baywood Bank if that was the situation. So I immediately talked to him about it. And let me tell you, I read the fine print of how he’s got everything set up. I felt good when I could assure my peer group that it was all aboveboard, that the money would and could only go to the Whitmans. Steven evidently just felt moved to do something to help. He was being a good friend.”

“I guess I’m surprised that the bank felt so strongly about it.”

“Well, in truth, it probably had much to do with the fact that it was Steven Hanzel. He’s got a reputation in the bank.”

“For?”

“This will stay confidential between us, right, Detective?”

“As much as I can keep it,” he said.

She sighed. “That’s the same answer that I give. Steven Hanzel is an underperformer. He’s a loan officer who doesn’t get very many loans closed. Loan officers are basically sales representatives. And you’d think that his personality would be a good fit for that. But for some reason, he cannot seem to pull together the numbers that we expect or certainly what his own peer group produces. And some of his decisions about loans have also seemed questionable. So questionable that I’m reviewing every one that he authorizes above a certain limit.”

“So why does he still have a job?” A.L. asked.

“Excellent question. I inherited Steven from another VP who, quite frankly, isn’t willing to address performance issues. Over the last six months, I watched him closely and took every opportunity presented to me to coach him on his work. And when that didn’t have the desired effect, I started with the bank’s formal corrective action process. Steven Hanzel has received several written notices that his performance is lacking. Quite frankly, he’s on his last leg here.”

“Seems like a lot of work for somebody who isn’t doing the job.”