LITMIR.BIZ

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Italy. Officials at Ellis Island had changed their name from Varnisanino to Varner.

      “Morning, Marvin,” Varner said. “You must be close to hanging it up.”

      “One more lousy winter, then we move to Nevada. Hey, you’re alone? You feds never come alone—and you got here pretty fast.”

      “Traffic was kind to me, and the others are on their way. What do we know?”

      “Not a lot. We’ve barely started.”

      “What can you tell me?”

      Tilden described how Dan Fulton, the branch manager, came to work alone talking up an emergency branch transfer. “Then he violates security procedures, fills a bag with cash and disappears. No GPS, dye packs, transmitters or bait bills.”

      “The tally?”

      “They’re still calculating, but it looks like two hundred and fifty thousand, which would just about clean them out of cash inventory.”

      “What’ve we done so far?”

      “Like I said, we’re just getting started. We’ve alerted the Real Time Crime Center, put out a BOLO for Fulton’s car, a 2015 blue Taurus SEL. We’re calling on traffic to put people at toll plazas, but that’s a resource matter—we can’t cover them all. We’re checking to see if the car has anything we can maybe get a signal on, like a GPS. And we’ve got people heading to his house. Whit Tallbreck, SkyNational’s security guy, is just getting his legal department’s blessing to volunteer the cameras, and he’s got people pulling Fulton’s file. We already ran him and nothing lights up.”

      “What’d you think, Marv? Duress, drugs, debt—he just flip out?”

      “Any of the above. Look—” Tilden nodded to a desk in a far corner “—my partner, Betsy Mendelson, is talking to one of the two tellers who were here when it happened. I’m about to interview the other one. Why don’t you join me, be like old times?”

      * * *

      Annie Trippe sat alone in the lunchroom at the back of the bank.

      She was holding a mug of hot tea to keep from shaking. When she wasn’t dabbing her eyes with a tissue, she traced the words World’s Best Mom on her mug between glances at the staff bulletin board next to the fridge. It was feathered with notes, selfies from vacations and a group shot from the tug-of-war for charity.

      Dan Fulton was smiling with his arm around her.

      Looking at it, Annie’s lower lip started to tremble.

      “Hello again,” Tilden said as he entered the room. He held out an arm toward another man Annie hadn’t met yet. “This is Nick Varner with the FBI. We’d like to talk to you about what happened.”

      Chairs scraped as the two men sat opposite Annie at the table. They flipped through their notebooks to clear pages, logged the time and copied Annie’s information from her driver’s license before starting their recorders.

      “Can you start by giving us a time line and step-by-step account of your actions?”

      Annie steeled herself then related details of the morning; how she and Jo Ballinger arrived, followed branch opening procedures and what had transpired when Fulton got in. Varner and Tilden took notes, nodded, asked occasional questions.

      “Everything was by the book and routine until Dan arrived.”

      “And you say he seemed a little off center?” Tilden asked.

      “Anxious, distracted, troubled even.”

      They made a note.

      “And he insisted you violate policy with the transfer directive that he’d created on his computer and demanded you sign it after reading it carefully?” Varner asked.

      Annie nodded.

      “Did you read it?” Varner asked.

      “No. It was a policy violation and I refused to sign it.”

      “Where’s this directive?” Varner asked.

      “Still on his desk in his office, I think.”

      “Did your people look at it, Marv?” Varner asked.

      Tilden’s chair scraped as he stood and left the room. A short time later he returned wearing latex gloves, a file folder in one hand and the transfer directive in the other. He looked grim as he laid the printed form on the table for them. Annie went still as she read the note Dan had scrawled on the signature line: Family held hostage at home! Strapped bombs on us!

      She suddenly felt sick, but before she could say anything, Tilden reached for his phone.

      “We need ESU on the Fulton house ASAP!”

       10

      Roseoak Park, New York

      It’s almost over. Stay calm.

      Dan’s scalp was prickling as he drove back toward his house.

      The bag with cash sat on the passenger floor. He’d done exactly what they’d forced him to do. He’d walked into his own branch and robbed it.

      Now this nightmare can end. They’ve got to release Lori and Billy. You just need to get home.

      He’d expected further instructions when he’d gotten back in the car, but Dan had heard nothing from Vic since he’d left the bank.

      “Hello?” Dan said aloud. “I’ve got your money.”

      Nothing but silence, making him worry their communication system had malfunctioned. He gently pressed the arm of his glasses to his ear.

      “Are you there? Look, I did what you wanted. I’ve got your money. You’ve got to release my wife and son, now!”

      Silence.

      As the shaded boulevards of Roseoak rolled past, Dan’s mind raced with images of what had happened and scenarios of what may be playing out. He pictured Annie at the bank, how he’d shocked her, how he’d hated seeing her grappling with unthinkable events.

      I know she’ll come through.

      Annie was smart, and she was strong. He trusted and believed she’d know what to do.

      She’ll find my message. She has to.

      In the bank he’d been careful not to lower his head, pulling the directive close to his chest so it was out of the camera’s view as he wrote. He imagined Annie and Jo finding it, making calls, showing it to police, and people jumping into action to help.

      Maybe that’s why no one is answering, he thought hopefully.

      Maybe police had raced to his house and rescued Billy and Lori. Maybe they’d arrested Vic and the others. Would it happen that fast? He had no way of knowing. They’d taken his cell phone, and it would be too dangerous to call, anyway.

      Still, Dan couldn’t convince himself that he was off the hook. He grew anxious about what he’d done at the bank.

      Maybe I shouldn’t have left the note. Maybe they know, maybe they saw and—

      “You did good,” Vic said.

      “I’ve got your money! Now release my family!”

      “We’re not done, Dan. I need you to pull into the Empire Coastal Mall up ahead.”

      “Why?”

      “Do it, right now!”

      Empire was one of the state’s largest malls, and the marquee for the north entrance towered just ahead of the traffic light. Dan got in the turning lane.

      “Go to zone fourteen. Park near the lamppost with green flags.”

      Fourteen

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