Love, Money, and Lies

by Olivia Saxton

  Bobbi threw some powder on the holes Aaron had just drilled.

  Aaron pulled out a smaller drill with a smaller bit. He only had to run for a second before a loud clunk sounded off, and the light on the vault turned green. “We’re in,” he announced as he quickly stuffed his tool back in the large black bag.

  Bobbi and Anthony pulled the vault door open.

  Morris almost shit himself when he saw the neat stacks of cash on the shelves with the denominations noted on the labels of each stack.

  “Marvel later, rob now, guys,” Aaron instructed as they walked into the vault. “Grab as much as you can.”

  “Three minutes,” Margo said through the Bluetooth.

  Shit. Morris shook off his shock and started dumping cash in the large black bag.

  “Remember, our target is one-point-five,” Aaron said.

  Morris looked over his shoulder. Bobbi and Anthony had filled one bag already and were working on another. It made Morris pick up the pace. He wasn’t used to fast-paced robbery.

  “Two minutes,” Margo said over the Bluetooth.

  Morris opened his second satchel and started filling it up. He wasn’t sure how much he was collecting. He was just picking up stacks.

  “I’m full,” Bobbi announced.

  “I am, too. This second bag is about to bust,” Anthony added.

  “You two head back up and get out of here. I’ll stay and help Mo. We’ll meet at the switch location,” Aaron said.

  “Take care of yourself, Mo,” Anthony said.

  “You two, dogg,” Morris heaved back. They were barely halfway through, and he was exhausted. Sweating in the black catsuit they made him put on wasn’t helping.

  Aaron’s bags were full, so he helped Morris fill his second one as Anthony and Bobbi left.

  “Sixty seconds. You guys better wrap it up and get out of there,” Margo said with slight urgency.

  “Did we do it?” Mo asked.

  “It’s full; that’s what we want. Now zip it up, and let’s get the fuck outta here,” Aaron said as he rushed to the other side of the vault to pick up his bags.

  Morris did what he said. He groaned as he slung the bags over his shoulder. He was only a hundred and thirty pounds. He was in good shape — or so he thought before he picked up the bags of money. “This shit is heavier than a mothafucker,” he grumbled as he made his way to the vault entrance.”

  Aaron snickered as they walked out of the vault. “That is a good thing, my friend.”

  “Thirty seconds. Get outta there, guys,” Margo said.

  It took all of Morris’s stamina and strength, but he was able to keep up with Aaron going out the door. The car trunks were already open. They slung the bags in cars and closed the trunks. Then they quickly got into the last two Chargers.

  “Five seconds,” Margo said.

  “Let’s go!” Aaron yelled as both of them started their cars.

  As they sped out of the small parking lot at the back of the bank, a loud alarm bell went off. Aaron took a left and Morris took a right as they had planned. They didn’t want to be seen leaving the bank and going the same direction just in case there was a pain in the ass witness around.

  Morris and Anthony had installed radar detectors in each car to avoid being clocked driving at high speed by cops as the crew drove cars to the switch location. Morris cranked up the AC as he pulled the mask from over his head. “Whew.”

  “I’m leaving the downtown area heading to the meet-up,” Aaron said through the Bluetooth.

  “I’m at the last stoplight about to get on the highway,” Morris said.

  “I’m already on the interstate, five miles away from the location,” Anthony said.

  “I’m seven miles away on the back road,” Bobbi said.

  “The alarm automatically alerted the police station. Two units just responded. You’re clear,” Margo said with a hint of victory.

  “Can I get a hells yeah?” Anthony exclaimed.

  “Oh, hells yeah,” Morris cheered.

  Everyone laughed through the Bluetooths.

  Fifteen minutes later, they met at a junkyard outside of the city. They unloaded the money into a Jeep Cherokee Bobbi had rented at the airport when she arrived that afternoon. Anthony and Morris’s connection and owner of the yard loaded up the Dodge Chargers. Per Aaron’s instructions, they had left the Bluetooths and burner phones inside them.

  Mullet, the junkyard owner, started the crusher. He was going to crush all the cars. By the time he was finished with them, they were square boxes.

  Aaron paid Mullet from the stolen stash.

  “Thanks, I appreciate the business,” Mullet said as he looked at the stack.

  “No problem. We appreciate the favor,” Aaron said.

  “Well, you know my homies, so I thought it be all right,” Mullet stated.

  “Let’s get outta here, guys, it’s getting late,” Bobbi said.

  Mullet nodded and closed and locked the gates to the yard. “Yo, any of you need a ride?”

  “I’ll ride back to the neighborhood with Mullet,” Morris said.

  “All right, I’ll send your cut through Anthony,” Aaron said.

  “Okay,” Morris said.

  Mullet started walking to his Jeep.

  Morris looked at the people he just robbed a bank with. “It’s been a pleasure. If you need an extra hand again, please call me.”

  “We will,” Bobbi assured him.

  “Yeah, you did pretty good tonight,” Aaron stated.

  “I told ya he was solid,” Anthony said with a proud smile.

  “Thanks for turning me on to the gig, cuz. I’ll see ya later.”

  Chapter 17

  Bruce woke up to running water, a ringing phone, and a headache the size of a mountain. He groggily looked over at the clock. It was six a.m. Margo was in the shower. Bruce snatched the annoying ringing contraption and answered it.

  “Yeah,” he answered hoarsely.

  “Sorry to rustle you awake from one of your ladies’ beds, Styles, but we need you, Peterson, Soros, and Calcutta to report to SunBeam Savings and Loan as soon as possible,” Blanchette said. William Blanchette was supervisory special agent and his boss.

  “Why?” he asked huskily as he placed his hand on his throbbing head.

  The water in the bathroom stopped.

  “SunBeam was robbed last night. They drilled right into the vault,” Blanchette said.

  He opened his eyes more. “You’re shitting me?”

  “I wish. Damn crooks can’t even take the holidays off,” Blanchette said with resentment. “I had promised my daughters that I would spend the day with them, and I had to break my word when the chief of police called.”

  “I’m sorry about that, boss,” Bruce said sincerely.

  Margo walked out of the bathroom with a white towel wrapped around her perfect body and a towel around her hair.

  “I’ll get myself together and get down there as soon as I can. I’ll call Alec to see if he needs a ride. I’m not far from his house,” Bruce said as he blinked his eyes.

  “I’m about to call Peterson now. I’ll let him know that you’ll be picking him up – hopefully in an hour?”

  “Yes, sir,” Bruce said.

  “See you there,” Blanchette said and hung up.

  He clicked off and looked over at Margo.

  She sat on the edge of the bed next to him. “Is there something wrong?”

  He exhaled. “Looks like I have to go to work sooner than eight o’clock today. That was my boss, William Blanchette. He needs me to go straight to the SunBeam Savings and Loan Bank. It was robbed last night.”

  Her eyes widened. “They want you and Alec on the case?” she stuttered.

  “Us and two other guys,” he answered as he placed his hand on his head again. “Goddamn, how much did I have to drink last night?”

  “I didn’t keep count. Do you have a headache?”

  He nodded.

  “I’ll fix you a qu
ick breakfast. It might help clear your head. There’s some Motrin in the bathroom.”

  “Thanks, babe,” he said and kissed her cheek. “It won’t make you late for your appointment, will it?”

  “Nah.”

  He smiled. Margo was so considerate and sweet. He was lucky to have found a goldmine like her.

  ****

  Bruce pulled up to the bank in question. He and Alec got out of the SUV. Vic Soros and his partner, Tommy Calcutta, were standing outside of the bank’s entrance. Four cop cars were parked on the street in front of the bank.

  “Morning, fellas,” Alec greeted.

  “Hey,” Vic and Tommy said.

  “What’s the word?” Bruce asked.

  “Don’t know yet. We just got here, so we thought we’d wait for a minute or two to see if you guys were going to pull up.”

  “Well, the gangs all here, so let’s go inside,” Bruce said.

  They entered the bank. Three cops in uniform were inside along with several tellers who looked shocked and concerned.

  “Over here, guys,” Blanchette called. He was standing next to an office with the door open. Blanchette was in his late forties with thin, dark brown hair. He was tall and slim as a rail.

  They walked over to him and followed him inside the office.

  “Men, this Camilla Hunt. She’s the bank manager,” Blanchette said.

  “Good morning, Ms. Hunt,” Vic said.

  “I wish it was a good morning,” she said. “But I appreciate the greeting.” She looked to be in her early fifties. She was chubby, and her hair was short and thick with tight curls.

  “Ms. Hunt, these guys are four of the best field agents I’ve got,” Blanchette stated with confidence. “If anyone can solve this, they can.”

  “How much did the robbers get?” Bruce asked.

  “We’re not sure yet. My people are still counting what was left in the vault. They couldn’t get in there at first because the forensic team was brushing for fingerprints.”

  “Our team?” Vic inquired. Bruce didn’t blame Vic for asking. Bank robbery was a federal offense. The cops were first response, but this was an FBI case.

  “Yeah,” Blanchette answered. “They’re looking over the security cameras now.”

  Tommy nodded.

  “We should be able to catch them. As soon as they spend the money, the serial numbers will register in the system when a vendor makes a deposit,” Alec said.

  “Not exactly,” Ms. Hunt said with regret. “We hadn’t had a chance to log the serial numbers when we closed the day before yesterday. We were going to do it this morning. You see, the BRINKS truck couldn’t get to us yesterday. They got overwhelmed with pickups because they’re short staffed.”

  “We still got the security cameras. Even if they wore masks, they always leave a clue; stray hair, a broken fingernail, etc.,” Tommy said.

  Ms. Hunt nodded.

  “Blanchette,” Wilt, an agent on the analysis team, called as he stuck his head into the office. “You better come and take a look at this.”

  “All right. Ms. Hunt, will you please see how your people are doing with the count while we confer with the rest of the team?”

  “Certainly,” she said.

  They left the office and walked into a room. There were multiple monitors and a computer setup. It was the security room.

  “I got good news and bad news,” Wilt said. “Which do you want first?”

  “Does it really matter?” Vic asked. “Just lay it on us.”

  “The bad news is that they had a hacker. He was able to disarm the security system temporarily and hack into cameras.”

  “Meaning what for footage?” Bruce asked.

  “Meaning that the hacker was able to loop the version of the bank he wanted us to see. There’s over six minutes of recorded footage during the time of the robbery that is almost ten minutes behind current time.”

  “Shit,” Blanchette spat out.

  “However, when the alarm reset itself, the cameras did too. We got a view of a license plate as the car pulled out of the back parking lot.”

  “Hot damn,” Tommy said with joy.

  “Did you run the plates?” Blanchette asked.

  “Yes, sir. It was registered to a Dodge Dealership on East Adamo Drive. We checked with the Tampa PD to see if someone reported a stolen car from a dealership. They didn’t have anything on record,” Wilt explained. “However, I checked online, and the dealership doesn’t open until nine.”

  Bruce looked at his watch. It was eight o’clock. “They might not know the car is missing. I’m familiar with that dealership. They have a huge lot and inventory.”

  “Excuse me, gentlemen,” Ms. Hunt said in the doorway. The room was so small that she couldn’t come in if she wanted to. “The team supervisor just got the final count from the tellers. I matched it with our electronic records.”

  “Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” Blanchette said.

  “They got away with one million, eight hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars,” she replied flatly.

  “What?” Vic said. “You actually keep that much cash here?”

  “Like I said, the BRINKS truck wasn’t able to get to us until today. Plus, we had several large transactions during the week including people coming to pay their bills through the bank. Most of our customers are senior citizens. They usually deal in cash.”

  “God,” Bruce mumbled. The thieves got away with a small fortune.

  Chapter 18

  Bruce and Alec drove to the Dodge dealership at nine-fifteen. They walked through the doors.

  “Well, well, Bruce Styles,” Carmen drooled out. “Long time, no see.”

  Alec looked at him.

  “Hi, Carmen. How’ve you been?”

  “Okay, until today. My father is flipping out. We got robbed yesterday. He just got off the phone with the police.”

  “That’s why we’re here, ma’am,” Alec said. He had no idea who Carmen was.

  Bruce had met Carmen a few years back when he went looking for a new vehicle. He didn’t like anything in the lot but Carmen. They had gone out a few times. At one point, Carmen was on Bruce’s top-ten list.

  “What? This is official business?” she asked.

  “That’s fast,” Lance Davidson said as he walked out of the office. “I just got off the phone with the cops.”

  “We’re with the FBI, sir,” Alec said and flashed his identification.

  “FBI? What in the world are you guys doing here?” the older man asked. He was wearing a white dress shirt with the ugliest tie Bruce had ever seen and beige pants.

  “We believe that the vehicle that was stolen from your lot was used in a bank robbery, sir,” Bruce said.

  “A vehicle? What did they do with the other three?”

  “Other three?” Alec and Bruce inquired at the same time.

  “Yes, we’re missing four Dodge Charger Hellcats,” Carmen replied.

  Bruce and Alec looked at each other.

  “Tell us what you found when you came in this morning, please?” Alec asked.

  “I came in at eight-forty-five like I always do. I noticed a big gap in the lot. I had just gotten the current Chargers two weeks ago for the upcoming year. I called my daughter and asked if she had sold them Wednesday evening. I had left at five.”

  “I hadn’t,” Carmen confirmed. “And they were still here when I locked up at nine on Wednesday.”

  “That’s when I realized that they were stolen. I went into the other office where the security monitors are to find that the footage outside had been blackened out. So I went outside to look at the cameras. The lenses had been broken on all of them.”

  “Were you closed for Thanksgiving?” Bruce asked.

  “We sure were,” Mr. Davidson answered. “They had to have taken them between the times of Wednesday at nine fifteen p.m. to early this morning.”

  Bruce looked around. There were other stores and vendors in the area. Perhaps they had
security cameras that caught something useful.

  Mr. Davidson showed them where the cars were before they were taken. No footprints or tools were left behind. Bruce and Alec took a look at the outdoor cameras. The lenses had definitely been shattered. Alec called in to the bureau to get the analysis and forensics team out there to comb the area with a fine-tooth comb.

  The police showed up to take a report of the incident so Mr. Davidson could turn in the paperwork to his insurance company.

  Bruce and Carmen were standing next to the building while Alec spoke to the cops.

  “I take it that it’s a snowballs chance in hell that we’ll get the cars back,” Carmen said.

  “I’m afraid so, sweetheart,” Bruce confirmed. “Personally, I think the cars are either at the bottom of the ocean or charcoal by now. That’s the bad thing about having to do everything by the book – it makes us slow down. Crooks don’t take their time when it comes to getting rid of evidence.”

  “So what time are you getting off today?”

  “With all this going on? Who knows?”

  “Don’t you still have my number?” she said in a low tone as she got closer to him.

  “Carmen–”

  She had interrupted him by grabbing his crotch.

  Bruce took hold of her wrist and pulled it away from him. “No can do, honey. I’m a one-woman man now.”

  “What? You?” she asked with bewilderment.

  “Yeah. I got a girlfriend now.”

  Carmen stared at him for a moment. Then she burst out laughing. “Oh Bruce, I have a boyfriend. It’s not like they’ll find out if we’re careful.”

  Bruce looked into Carmen’s dark eyes. She had skin like milk, and her hair was long and darker than midnight, but he couldn’t do it. “I . . . care about her too much, Carmen. This isn’t . . . one of those things.”

  She examined him carefully. “Are you in love with this woman, Bruce?”

  He had denied it to Alec and himself for weeks. He had told himself that he just cared about her lot. But now looking at a hot, sexy woman he knew was fantastic in the sack, he realized that Margo St. John was the only woman for him. “I . . . think I am,” he stuttered. The admission scared him more than a shootout. But by Carmen coming on to him, it forced him to face the truth.