EARLY WITHDRAWAL (A Mitch Tobin Mystery Book 1)

by Mark Gannon

  It’s not bad enough that the guy shot me. What’s worse is they robbed the bank. Our bank has been there for a hundred years and nobody has robbed it before. That they did it on my watch just torques me.” After getting that off his chest he went on, “Good thing nobody was killed. Mitch you should have seen that guy look at me. He wanted to put that shot right though my brain. He is just plain whacko.”

  “You know Charlie I got to look into those same eyes and I know just what you mean. It gives me a chill thinking about it. So how long until they kick you out of here? Going to need me to run the next loan committee meeting?”

  “They say I’ll be out this afternoon but that I’m supposed to take it easy for a few days. Like I’m going to sit home and twiddle my thumbs.” Knowing Charlie I expected him in the bank on Monday morning.

  I moved down the hall to Ned’s room. Louise was sitting by Ned’s bed holding his hand and smiling. “Mitch, how good to see you. We just had some good news! Ned’s eyelids are fluttering and he gripped my hand back for just a little. The doctor’s think he is coming out of his coma. And his wound is healing well.”

  “That is great news. I knew a tough old bird like Ned wouldn’t let a little knife stop him.” Louise was all smiles. Who could be that happy about an old grouch like Ned? Makes a person think a little about life. Who would care if I was laid up in the hospital for a week? Maybe my son or my folks but nobody special like Louise. Ned was a lucky man.

  The short visit to the hospital took more out of me than I expected. After my stop at Ned’s room I headed for home. A short nap at home in my own bed was just what the doctor ordered. Doctor Mitch Tobin that is.

  I wanted to see Judy when she got back in town. But who knew when that was going to be. Right now a short little nap and I might be able to wake up to check on Judy later. As tired as I was, I wasn’t too tired to make a nice shaved prime rib on rye sandwich. It was great to be back in my own humble kitchen with a fridge loaded with what I like. I first sat on the couch while munching and then laid out on the couch. Somewhere along the way I zonked out.

  The next thing I knew I noticed someone snoring and it was me. The drool on my chin let me know I had really been out. The sandwich remnant was dried out and crusty. When I looked outside it was full dark and the clock said ten-thirty. I slept seven hours straight. Longest nap I ever had. My head did feel better and I felt rested.

  Dan and Biscuit quickly came to the fence nickering as I went out to do my delayed chores. The sugar cubes disappeared at an alarming rate. Biscuit was so happy for the company she didn’t bully Dan at all. After the treats I put some hay in the manger for both of them. “You two sure missed all the excitement this time around. I even missed some of the excitement. Biscuit should be proud of me – I used my head twice to stop the bad guys. Well I didn’t actually stop them. They still got away. The great thing is everyone seems to be on the mend. Charlie should be home tonight, Ned is coming out of his coma and Judy was rescued from the bad guys and the chopper.”

  I watched the two chew their hay and oats for a while thinking of this and that. Finally I asked, “What do you guys think about Judy? I’m wondering what I think about Judy. It’s strange to work with someone for years and just kind of wake up one day and realize she means something special to you. I wonder if she has the same kind of feeling for me. You know it’s not good to have a romantic interest in someone you work with. It always leads to trouble. And quite honestly I don’t know if I want it to go anywhere myself. Things are finally sorting themselves out. My hurt from the ex is livable. Why complicate things especially with someone from the bank?’

  I shook my head trying to clear my thinking. “That damn Nancy needs to be caught. I may not feel as strung out about the robbery as Charlie, but that Slick needs to be stomped and pistol whipped. You wouldn’t even like him, Biscuit. He is just mean and nasty. You’re ornery – he’s mean. There must be some way of catching up to those two.

  “Well I need to get some more sleep. I want to be in the bank early. I have no idea what kind of mess is waiting for me but it’s better to see it before people start arriving. I guess everybody in town will swing in just to see the scene of the robbery. Mary Beth probably had to work all weekend to complete an inventory and clean up the vault. That was a mess.”

  After some sleep at John’s and a seven hour nap it was surprising to feel sleepy again. I went through more stress than I realized. Or it was just sinking in. Whatever. Before heading to bed I double checked the locks on the house and put my forty-five on the night stand. I went to sleep thinking I missed doing something, but what?

  Chapter 33

  Rubber Neckers

  I pulled into the bank about seven-thirty. The parking lot was already occupied. Charlie and Mary Beth were on site as well as a couple of other tellers. I was glad other people were already in the bank. Even with the company I felt nervous and jumpy going back inside. Saturday was the first time in my life someone shot at me and it was in the basement of this building.

  Mary Beth was at her station near the teller line. “Didn’t expect to see you so early. I heard you tried to stop the bad guys with your head, again. Ouch! It sure looks like it too.”

  “I tried but it didn’t work. They still got away.” Mary Beth was right. Shaving in the morning was an effort. The side of my face was cut, scratched and bruised. The back of my head still had a lump the size of a small devilled egg. I was in for a lot of questions, comments and looks but not as many as Charlie.

  He hobbled out of his office using a crutch. “I thought you would stay home today, Mitch. You had almost as much fun as I did.”

  “You’re the one that got shot. Why didn’t you stay home?”

  “Same reason as you. There are things that need to be done. And if we wait until tomorrow the rubberneckers will just be plugging up the place for two days instead of one.” Charlie turned to Mary Beth. “Do you have the list of the safe deposit boxes that were opened in the robbery? I am going to try to call all of them individually. They will want some assurances and I am the one they will want to talk to.”

  “I’m almost done. Charlie why don’t you sit in your office and I’ll bring it to you? Okay?” Charlie was used to running the bank but he did listen to Mary Beth.

  As Charlie headed back to his office I asked, “Anything I can do to help?” Mary Beth shook her head no. “Is the vault somewhat under control?”

  “See for yourself. All the boxes are back in the wall where they belong. The security people will be here in a few minutes to start repairing the locks. The biggest issue is all the loose items that were scattered on the floor. We are going to have all the owners of the boxes that were robbed come in and identify their possessions. And even then we will need to make sure no two people claim the same item.

  This could get real messy before things are sorted out. Plus how many are going to make up expensive items that are missing. Some of them are going to see this as a chance to put it to the insurance company or the bank depending on their dispositions. They are going to be upset when they realize items in a safe deposit box aren’t covered by Federal Deposit Insurance. This is a bad situation Mitch.” This was not the time to bother Mary Beth so I headed to my office.

  Dropping into my office chair I realized this was uncharted ground for me and the bank. I had never been shot at and the bank had never been robbed. Charlie was right to worry about the reputational risk to the bank. One of our own employees was involved in the theft. The public was bound to ask how many other bad apples we had helping them with their deposits and loans. If it happened once could it happen again?

  As I tried to make notes from the unusually large amount of voice mails on my answering machine, Judy came in and slammed a file down on my desk. “You still need to review the Jasper title policy from two weeks ago and Harley Fields has been in for the third time asking if you have a decision on his new business request.”

  Before I could tell her how glad and rel
ieved I was to see her, she whirled around and stomped out of my office. Well what the hell was bothering her? First I was a little surprised to see her this morning. I had assumed she would take a day or two off to get over her ordeal. But then I realized she was a lot like Charlie and was going to come to work no matter what.

  It was hard to concentrate on business and remember my usual routine. A lot of the staff showed up early. Almost all of them made it past my office to ask questions and get a first-hand report of the robbery. They were part of the bank and wanted to know. It was only natural. I reduced my story to a short canned version and retold it several times.

  Charlie wisely called a short staff meeting prior to opening the doors of the bank. He told everyone what had happened and what to expect. He answered just enough questions to settle the staff down but not dwell on the negatives. His body statement of hobbling around with a cane made a statement about how dangerous the past weekend had been.

  Charlie started his speech with, “We all work here together as a team. Just because one of the team turned out to be a criminal is no reflection on the rest of us. Our bank has a long tradition of being a secure sound financial institution. We need to stand together and continue to be proud of where we work and what we do. If we tell our customers honest answers and give them the assurance of helping them going forward this will all die down by the end of the week. People tend to dwell on the newest event. Even in our little town this will be old news by Friday. If any customer wants to talk to me I will be available all day. Just send them to my office.

  “Today you will help us call all the safe deposit box customers and let them know we have valuables that they need to identify. They need to come in and go through the loose items boxes and try to pick out their own belongings. If they call or stop in we will try to answer their questions and concerns. This is the safe deposit box customers that were robbed. The ones who were not robbed will need a call to quiet their concerns. The list of customers has been put together by Mary Beth and will be handed out to those who will be making the calls.” With that Charlie dismissed the employees to their jobs.

  I was back to wondering what was up with Judy. But not for long. The Ice Princess came to my office with a short list of safe deposit box customers to call and invite. “Mitch please call this list of customers. And here is the script we are suggesting to use on the phone in case you don’t know what to cover. I would really appreciate it if you tried to have them called in the next half hour. Okay?” A please and a smile all in one visit. Something was definitely wrong.

  I was so surprised by the please that I actually made the calls right away. As I finished the last of my calls, Robbie Dunbar popped in. The Dunbar bank directors never pop into my office. “Hey sport. Glad to see you doing well. Charlie says you rescued him and Judy. Great job! Just great. Well keep up the good work.” And out he popped. What was that all about? Things are strange today. This is unlike any other day I have spent in banking in my life and the day is just started.

  Harley was in the lobby headed my way. I quickly grabbed his file from my desk top and pretended to be hard at work on his loan request. “Hey Mitch. So did you really scare off the bad guys? What all happened here anyway?” He didn’t want to hear about his loan. He wanted to hear about the robbery.

  After filling Harley in a little, I tried to get out around the bank. I told myself it was to get a cup of coffee but it was really to see if I might catch Judy. After a short stroll I found her with Mary Beth talking with a safe deposit box customer – one of the ones who had their box emptied. There was some high tension going on if the body language was correct. Charlie had one of the customers in his office also. I was getting by easy with all the attention and the staff was getting worked over by concerned customers.

  Next the police showed up. They wanted to go over our statements and see if there was anything they may have missed from the last five versions. There wasn’t anything but you have to give them an A for persistence. “Was there anything else you may have noticed? Did you notice what kind of gun the guy was carrying? Did he have an accent? Did he have any distinguishing marks or scars? What clothing did he have on? Could you identify him from a line up?” Answering the police questions the first time was easy. The second time it was still okay. The third time it was getting old. The fourth time my patience was gone. But the fifth time was just too much.

  It really was too much when they started asking questions like, ‘Were you a friend of Nancy Allen outside of the bank? and ‘Did you know Morrison previously?’. It was like they were trying to make me out as an accomplice. And the worrisome thing is they may ask me again a sixth or seventh time. And that doesn’t even begin to touch the times I may have to give depositions or testimony at a trial assuming that at some point they catch Slick and Nancy.

  I am a great believer in what goes around comes around. Slick would get his someday. Nancy too. But even though Nancy betrayed the bank as an employee I was much more consumed with Slick. It had to do with getting too well acquainted with his gun barrel and his boots.

  Both Charlie and Judy were busy. But they sat through the same questioning with the police that I had gone through. How they squeezed it in I don’t know. By noon I could see Charlie was wearing down and hurting. He was trying to do too much on his injured leg.

  I tried catching Judy to see if she wanted to get a bite for lunch. By the time I had Charlie settled Judy was gone. So much for that idea. I headed for the Main Street Café and was almost out the door before I remembered Sweet Mary’s bucket. Of course to help me remember she had called Mary Beth almost every day last week and asked her to remind the ‘young fella’ to bring back her bucket. Given how busy Mary Beth was I didn’t want Sweet Mary calling her again today.

  Lunch was a repeat of the office with people wanting to know particulars of the robbery. Bad Bob was the worst. He neglected his cooking for five minutes while he pumped me for information. And that was during the rush of noon lunch. There were a lot of comments on my face. The kicks from Slick left me with cuts abrasions and bruises all over the left side of my cheeks and temple. I was giving serious consideration to growing a beard so I wouldn’t have to shave.

  Sweet Mary brought me down to reality, “Well young fella it sure took you a long time to bring back my bucket. I’ve been saving my tips in a mayonnaise jar since you took my bucket. It isn’t full but I want you to take it anyway. I didn’t wash it out too well and it’s making my money smell a little. You take it back to the bank with you but you don’t need to bring it back.” So I had the pleasure of walking back to the bank with a smelly mayonnaise jug tucked under my arm.

  Back at the bank it was utter chaos. Members of the police department were still interviewing staff. Rubberneckers were all over the place. People who had their boxes robbed were queued up waiting to talk with either Mary Beth or Charlie. A representative of the insurance company was talking to the Ice Princess.

  All the part time staff was sorting the mess that was dumped on the floor in the vault. The safe deposit box contents had been placed in several boxes but was all mixed together. Any document that had a name on it was going into a box identified for a similar named customer that rented a box that was broken into. There were several other boxes with items that could not easily be identified for an owner like jewelry and art and collectibles.

  The staff in the vault was also supervising two employees of Diebold who were installing new locks in the ruined safe deposit boxes. To get into the safe deposit boxes Nancy and Slick had attacked the locks with a large heavy duty drill. They had drilled out the second lock on each box. The first lock was for the bank key and Nancy had that because it was stored in the bank.

  The bank had a total of one hundred and twenty boxes. The boxes came in three sizes; sixty small boxes, thirty medium boxes and thirty large boxes. According to the list I saw, forty-two boxes had been broken into. Almost all the large boxes and a mix of the medium sized boxes were robbed. None of t
he small boxes had been tampered with. When you dump forty-two safe deposit boxes on the floor and twenty-five of those are the larger boxes and then walk around on the contents it really makes a mess.

  After the rough sort all the boxes and all the contents were taken into the board room. One safe deposit box customer at a time was being allowed into the board room to search for their personal contents accompanied by two bank staff. The items people chose to lock up in a bank vault amazed me. One little section of the board table that I could see held yellowed old papers, government bonds, armed services medals, land abstracts, baseballs, a rubric’s cube, old photos, track shoes, baby spoons, baby shoes, cell phones, a horse shoe, antique revolver, silver dollars, gold coins, envelopes of a dozen different sizes and colors, family photos, ribbons, tissue paper, Christmas ornaments, wrestling medals, a tin soldier, baseball cards, gum pack, diplomas and a pop can. I thought the last was really strange until I saw the staff member grab the can and take a drink.

  Any item selected and claimed was catalogued and photographed prior to being place in a box for that person. After the customer claimed items they were given a form to report lost items. The lost item list would be turned into the insurance company as a claim against the bank insurance policy. As many customers as possible would be allowed to claim items today.

  But even once an item had been claimed, it could not be released. All items had to be available for viewing until all box owners had been through the bank. If two or more people eventually claimed the same item, it was going to be interesting as to how that worked out. If you let one of the first customers claim something and it left the bank and later it turned out to belong to someone else, the bank would be at fault.

  This was going to be a long process. Some of the safe deposit box customers were on vacation or moved out of the area or were in a nursing home. Customers that made it through the item search had their boxes returned to the vault. Charlie hired rent a cops to stand guard in the bank all night and since Sunday when he came out of the hospital. Saturday night the local police had pulled guard duty.