EARLY WITHDRAWAL (A Mitch Tobin Mystery Book 1)

by Mark Gannon

  “So she really needed the money up until this weekend. Right?” I waited for Mary Beth to nod agreement, but she didn’t. I went on anyway. “So just because she broke up with the guy now, doesn’t mean she didn’t need the money a week ago. Enough so that she helped plan a robbery.”

  Mary Beth looked at me in exasperation. “You do not get it. I will cover it with Judy and Greta. They will understand.”

  I started to shift gears to talk about Bev but another employee showed up. So much for investigative time. The rest of the day went by without anything of merit coming to light about the suspects. Suspects. Calling coworkers suspects felt so weird. It felt right calling the Ice Princess a suspect but not Ruth and Bev. Well, not really – but it was fun thinking of Miller as a suspect.

  Chapter 39

  BEAN BARON

  I caught up with Judy in the parking lot. She said she was meeting Mary Beth at a coffee shop and asked if I wanted to join them. Going somewhere with Judy after work was becoming a pleasant habit. I need to keep this investigation going if this is one of the side benefits.

  As I walked into the Bean Baron I knew this was not a regular café. It had small tables and the aroma was like being soaked in a bath tub of fresh ground coffee. It was intoxicating. The sales person behind the counter was some college age young lady with a smile. This was way different than the Main Street Cafe. As I looked at the menu I realized the only things available were caffeine drinks. Judy and Mary Beth threw out their orders of espressos and lattes. The waitress looked at me expecting an order. I asked, “Does this place serve plain coffee?”

  The waitress hollered the order over her shoulder, “An Americana.”

  I looked over the menu written on the chalk board. “Two bucks for an Americana. Plain coffee at the Main Street Café is half a buck. That’s the price they get for this stuff?” They nodded. I hated to ask but did anyway. “How long has it been open?”

  Judy and Mary Beth laughed at me as Judy said, “You really need to get out more, Mitch, and I don’t mean to the roping arena. This place has been open for about six months. Mary Beth and I come here at least once or twice a week. It’s close to the bank and they make great foam.” From the way she said it foam must be important.

  I was starting to have some niggling thoughts jump into my brain. “They have managed to stay open for six months and all they serve is coffee at these prices?” Again the nodding heads. “Are they always this busy?”

  They both looked around and back at me and Judy said, “Busy? This isn’t busy Mitch. This is their slow time. You should see this place about seven-thirty in the morning. There are people shoulder to shoulder trying to get their morning java.”

  I was an idiot some times and a complete idiot other times. “So Harley’s idea of adding on an upscale coffee shop to his Sub Sandwich store has some real merit?” Judy and Mary Beth started to answer and I cut them off. “Harley has a loan application in for a coffee shop like this and I just blew it off. I DO need to get out more.”

  Judy dismissed my epiphany and said, “Enough of that, Mitch. There have been Starbucks in South Dakota for years. There is even one in the grocery store here in town. You really need to wake up when you are out walking around. Now we came here to talk about our suspects. Remember?” It was my turn to nod. “Good. So I get to start.” Judy smiled at having one up on me. “I took Bev to lunch today. I learned something interesting things. Do you want to hear them?”

  Mary Beth was almost breathless. “Give already. Quit the buildup.”

  I tried to jump in with my news on Bev but was cut off by Judy. “Bev was at first cool about discussing her personal life. But a sympathetic ear and she spilled her guts.” Judy stopped to build the suspense. Mary Beth made an exasperated motion urging Judy forward with the goodies. “Bev has some old guy that she is milking for money. He is the one who is buying her clothes and letting her use his car. She said his interest in her has grown along with her chest size. Now she can ask him for anything and he gives it to her.”

  Something clicked in place for me. “His name wouldn’t be Cooper would it?”

  Judy looked crestfallen. “How did you know? I thought I had a serious lead here and you already know about it. You never know any gossip. How did you know this?”

  I gave my all-knowing smile and said, “Just a lucky guess. Some things I know. This one makes sense. At the rate the money is flowing out, Mr. Cooper may be out of love life in the near future. He had to borrow money to buy the Cadillac coupe.”

  Judy made a face that grew worse as something sunk in. She turned to me and said, “Not our sweet old Mr. Cooper. That loan I helped you process was a stretch. And he’s pushing his credit limit for twin forty Ds. Yuck! How could Bev be doing that to him?”

  I was a little surprised at Judy’s take on the situation. “Well he must be getting something out of it or he wouldn’t be doing it. So think on that.” Judy made a gagging motion. “I wonder how far she let him get. Second base?”

  That earned me a swat on the arm from Mary Beth. “Before you say anything else, Mitch, remember you are talking about one of the bank employees.” I bit off the next smart ass remark I had ready. It probably saved me from a severe beating from both of them.

  By now our coffees had arrived. I blew on mine to keep from saying something else. Tasting the coffee I made a face. “This is a two dollar coffee? I was expecting something wonderful. Something beyond the normal. I make better coffee than this at home.”

  Mary Beth said, “The coffee critic has spoken. I am sure the written review in the paper will be very witty.” The sarcasm dripped out of thin air. “How about we move on to Ruth?” Judy and I both nodded. “Ruth is Ruth. She has broken up with the no good two timing married ass and her heart is broken. There is no way she planned a heist. She was too wound up with her love life to handle the added stress of robbing the bank. Believe me Ruth is not our inside accomplice.”

  Mary Beth stopped talking and they both looked at me expectantly. What were they waiting on? Then I got it. “If you are wondering if I came up with anything on Deb Miller, I didn’t. I tried to all day long. I looked at her bank records. I tried following her around. I checked out her wardrobe and vehicle. Nothing except her sub human personality warrants a possibility of being the bank accomplice.” I was watching Judy as I said this and saw her smirk and turn her face away from me so I wouldn’t see.

  Mary Beth scolded me again, “Mitch she is our supervisor. Even if you want to suspect her we need to keep it civil.” Then she looked at Judy and said, “And don’t you encourage him.” Trying to keep a straight face she continued with, “But it is like I thought, you have nothing on her and you won’t.” We all sipped our high priced coffees and gave it some quiet thought. “Other than eliminating all of our suspects, I don’t think we made any progress today.”

  Practical Judy said, “Well eliminating suspects is a positive. That’s what we are supposed to do until we get it down to one.”

  I said, “We are just overachievers. We got it down to none. So we eliminated them all.” My witticism fell flat. “So we put our heads together and come up with more suspects.”

  Mary Beth shook her head. “We all agreed last night that it had to be someone on staff. Whoever the accomplice is needs knowledge of the bank and the safe deposit box customers. And the only people with the knowledge are people who work at the bank. We have gone through all of them and eliminated every last employee unless one of the people we think is a guy is just a good cross dresser.”

  That had us all sitting there quietly contemplating the possibility. The other conversations around us continued and provided a low hum background noise. Yesterday at this time we were all fired up with a plan and a limited number of suspects. Now twenty four hours later we were out of suspects and didn’t have a plan. Life sucks sometimes. On the other hand I was spending time with Judy again. Not everything was bad.

  I said, “All we have to do is come up with a ne
w plan and new suspects. We came up with one plan and executed it already. We should be able to do it again.”

  Mary Beth gave a sarcastic, “No problem, Mitch. We do the impossible all the time. Just another day of work at the bank.”

  Judy said, “To tell you the truth, Mitch, I am tired and ready to go home. How about you, Mary Beth? Are you ready to go home?” So much for spending time with Judy. I walked out with them not wanting to sit in the Bean Baron by myself. It was bad enough being in a high priced coffee shop with women but it was unthinkable to be in there by myself.

  Back on the street it was a beautiful late summer afternoon with a pleasant temperature. People were hustling on their way home or to kid’s soccer games. TT was probably sweating his ass off running drills up at the college football practice. There was a lot of traffic on Main Street with the usual tire hum, squeaks, rattles and exhaust. Small town vibrancy and peacefulness dripped everywhere. Watching Judy’s backside move down the street was a pleasant activity on its own. Instead of worrying about that dumb robbery I should go enjoy the afternoon. Dan would like a short ride as much as I would.

  As Judy disappeared around a corner I turned to head to my truck in the bank parking lot. My attention was in the other direction and I bumped into Sue Kerry almost knocking her down. I kept her from falling and mumbled a, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to run you over.” She seemed upset and a little aggravated.

  She bit off something sharp she was going to say as we recognized each other. Her expression and her tone changed from annoyance to welcoming as she said, “Thanks for catching me. You almost knocked me off my feet.” It was a little embarrassing to almost tackle one of the bank’s customers. “Mitch, how are things at the bank? Settling down after all the hub bub of the robbery?”

  I felt a little sorry about almost running over her so I stopped to chat hoping that would help restore some good grace. “Yeah, things are getting back to normal. By this time next week people will have forgotten the robbery.”

  “Well, I won’t forget it very soon. It’s not as bad as a home break in but it is still an invasion of your personal property. Having to go down to the bank and sort through everyone’s possessions to find your own is unsettling to say the least.” She saw the alarm building in my face. Here was a customer probably ready to dump their bucket on a bank employee out on Main Street after work hours. “It must be hard on the employees. When I worked in the bank it seemed like it was always the pickiest customers had safe deposit boxes. But the staff here has done an excellent job with the customers that are usually so demanding. The bank staff has been helpful, kind and professional. They offset a lot of my anxiety.”

  She could see me relax again so she thought it was safe to ask some questions. Everyone was a rubber necker or a snoop at heart. “Is there any way to tell how much the robbers got off with? I mean it must have been quite a lot.”

  “That is the million dollar question isn’t it?” Sue Kerry was hanging on my response, her curiosity overriding her decorum. “As you saw yourself, there is no way to tell what is missing for sure. The mess on the floor and everything all mingled together plus the fact that your deposit box contents are unknown to the bank in the first place leaves little chance to figure out a list.

  “Well whatever the total, it must be a huge amount. I mean just out of my deposit box I am missing some very expensive jewelry.” With that she gave me a smile almost of satisfaction. “The bank must have a huge insurance policy to cover large losses like this.” With that she turned and left. As I watched she headed to a new Escalade with dealer plates still on the bumper. That was weird. Why would she be happy about the bank heist? And that new SUV, did she think she was going to cash in on the bank insurance? That was a little premature on her part.

  Charlie said that the insurance company may not cover the contents of the safe deposit boxes. After all they were in a fire proof vault that was secure. The insurance company was claiming there was no way to insure something they couldn’t verify. And where did that leave the bank? The bank may have to make good on customer claims for everything except the kitchen sink which may or may not have actually been in the safe deposit boxes. It was shaping up to be a litigation nightmare. FDIC insurance may cover your deposits and bank liability insurance may cover bad faith by a bank employee or a customer slipping on ice, but apparently there is no insurance that covers items stored in a safe deposit box.

  Chapter 40

  SPINNING DAN

  I thought about swinging past John’s office to ask him about the liability issue but decided to head home. Dan nickered as I pulled into the yard. Biscuit just licked her lips thinking chow was going to be early. Should I ride from the house and face the traffic or load Dan in the trailer and take him to a trail head? The sun will set about eight-thirty so there was usable daylight until nine. But I hadn’t had supper and if I went to the trail head by the time I got back and curried Dan and put him away it would get close to ten. A short ride over to the roping arena was the best bet.

  Biscuit tried to get in the way thinking she was going to be the first to chow. When she saw me with a bridle in my hand she did an about face and headed for the back of the pen. Dan stayed right there. He was up for some fresh air and exercise just like me.

  It is a short ride from my little acreage to the roping arena. Well, it is a short ride when you cut across my neighbor, Tim’s, acreage and avoid looping around on Lower Valley Road with all its traffic. Tim was on his back deck grilling supper and gave a friendly wave as I rode past his house. When he puts up his own pasture fence next summer this short cut won’t work.

  The street in front of Tim’s was gravel and only a few blocks to the arena. Being on top of Dan riding in beautiful late summer weather just put a huge shit eating grin on my face. The creak of the rigging, the so familiar thud of hooves on the road, the jingle of the bridle, the rocking motion in the saddle all were sounds and sights from home on the ranch. Sitting on a good horse is one of the best feelings in the world. Adding a gorgeous summer day with the warm sunshine and soft evening air was just like adding sprinkles to your favorite ice cream cone when you were a kid.

  There were three different people in the arena practicing turns, stops and spins. The arena wasn’t just for roping; a lot of people used it for training their horses. Laurie was at the far end with her pretty little paint mare. I stopped to watch her. Watching a master trainer at work is a joy. And who knows I might learn something. Given enough time Laurie could take any horse and have it climb ladders or go through a ring of fire.

  Laurie was maneuvering the paint around the arena without really touching the reins. Laurie would shift her body or pressure the horse’s ribs with her heels and the horse did whatever she wanted. It was like magic. She spotted me and reined up by the fence. “Hey, Mitch, did you come over to finally teach Dan how to spin properly?” Laurie’s face split into a nasty little grin making the freckles on her cheeks pop out.

  “Now, Laurie, Dan knows how to spin. It just may not be up to your standards.” Something jumped out of my memory. “I see you still have your horse. Frank hasn’t hauled her over to Larson’s?”

  “The day either of those sorry SOBs gets their hands on this horse will be a cold day in hell.” By “either” I assumed she meant Larson and her husband Frank. The tone she used left no doubt she meant it. “One of these days I am going to drop kick that husband of mine for doing his dumb deals. If anybody is leaving home it will be Frank and not Buttercup. Anyway, John says I can keep her, so I’m not too worried.” With that she barely touched her heels to Buttercup and the horse jumped away from the fence in a run.

  I turned up the road away from the arena and I said to Dan, “Now you could take some lessons from that cute little Buttercup. That horse makes you look slow.” Dan shook his head but I think it was to get rid of the flies around his ears. As I made the corner at the end of my planned loop I saw someone hurry off a deck and round the corner of a house ahead of me. />
  I jerked on Dan’s reins and pulled him to a stop so hard he started backing up. “Easy, Dan. Sorry about that buddy, I just got spooked.” What had spooked me was the movement I caught out of the corner of my eye had the body and quick easy motion of Slick. That little bit of a ghost possibility that it was him sent my adrenaline into high gear.

  I collected Dan and galloped him around the street corner and slid him to a stop on that side so I could see the other side of the house. Nobody was there. I spun Dan on a dime and raced him back to the first side of the house. Another sliding stop on the lawn of the house showed the same – nobody. The street was empty as my favorite cold pop on a hot day. I spun Dan again and looked back up and down the street. Still nobody.

  The hair on the back of my head was standing straight out and my antennae were on full alert. I slowly became aware of the damage I was doing to the grass. I took another quick look around with still no one in sight and did a quiet sneak off the lawn and back on the road acting like nothing was going on. On my last pass in front of the house I didn’t see Slick or anyone staring out the window or a suspicious movement at a curtain. But I did see a newer light colored SUV making a corner a block away. With no one in sight to wonder about my strange behavior, I urged Dan back down the road toward home.

  Here I was out for a nice relaxing ride and thoughts of the robbery kept intruding. Was that really Slick? Should I call the sheriff and have him search the area? Would that do any good? Did I feel certain enough of my hunch to risk the possible ridicule if I was wrong? What are the odds that Slick would be hiding out in Spearfish? He should be a thousand miles away trying to fence stolen goods. All these questions and doubts buzzed through my brain as I traveled toward home. The further away I went the more doubt seeped into my mind. Had I really seen Slick? It didn’t make any sense. I need to get away from town for a short while to get this out of my head.