“There’s nothing in here about your old group, hon,” he said after three minutes of reading. “This could be anybody. Armored cars don’t get held up all the time, but it does happen more often than you’d think.”

“I know, but does anyone rob an armored car with a freeze gun anymore?”

“I saw that. Did you see what the witness said? Three people, two men and a woman. All Hispanic, in their late teens or early twenties.”

“One of them had a white stocking mask, just like Mitch did.”

“Mitch was a scared little boy when he ran with you guys. Now that he’s old, like us, he probably couldn’t rip off the take at a Bingo parlor. Besides, they said it was a group of Hispanics, didn’t they? Aside of Miguel, your group was whiter than a cow in a snowstorm.”

“Jake could hypnotize them. Plant a memory in their heads. It said the police couldn’t respond to the robbery call right away, because a jewelry store was getting robbed crosstown, and over here-” now she was sitting beside him, her red-fingernail stabbing at another story on the lower corner of the front page, “it’s talking about an old man in a flight suit, confronting that gal, the young one that dresses up like a Roman gladiator. That was how Russ and Jane loved to do their heists- distraction, get the police over someplace else just a few minutes before, and then do the job! It’s them, Robbie, I just know it, in my gut!”

He sighed, but caught himself before he sighed too deeply. “Well, Bea, what are you worried will happen?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just worried one of them will come by, looking for revenge. Maybe it’ll happen when Georgie is here.”

“Gwen hasn’t brought Georgie by for more than a day in the last year, Bea. And even so, like I said before, your old crew are all old folks, like us. But I’ll wager none of them have taken care of themselves the way you and I have.”

“Calamity Jane has those exercise videos. She’s in good shape. And Jake could hypnotize someone into coming out here!”

She was getting that edge in her voice.

Robbie knew the signs, having seen them many times in the course of their marriage.

“Bea, look at me.” He’d put down the paper, moved to make room for her on the couch beside him, and locked his eyes on hers.

“Robbie, stop-” her breath was coming faster as the anxiety attack began to take hold.

“Bea, remember what the doctor said. We can work on this, but you need to do what he said-”

“But what if they come for us?!?”

“Beatrice, count backwards with me, ready?” He hoped he hadn’t waited too long this time. The last time he’d erred, she’d locked herself in their room for four hours, and he’d had to miss a poker game with his buddies. No way he was going to leave her alone in this state!

“Bea, ready? Three-hundred, two-ninety-nine, two ninety-eight . . .”

“I don’t want to do this! Stop treating me like a child!”

“We’ll do whatever you want, after we do what the doctor said! Now count!”

She counted with him, fuming.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

By the time she reached two-eighty, the edge was gone from her voice.

By the time she reached two-fifty, her breathing was normal.

At two-twenty-five, she looked tired. Her eyes had lost the glassy look and instead were looking droopy with a desire for sleep.

“You feeling better now, hon?”

“Better,” she sighed. “But what do we do, Robbie? You’re probably right; they may not even know to this day that I told on them. I don’t even know if any of them got caught when they raided the hideout. But it’s something that still nags on me every day; what if they get enough money, enough spare time, to look for payback?”

“I think, hon, that the time’s come for me to call in a few favors. I’ll talk to a few friends I still have in Justice. Maybe they could peek into a file for me, see how that little raid went.”

“You could’ve done that? All this time?”

“Nope,” he said, grunting standing and stretching as bones and muscles snapped and popped quietly. “Seriously against the rules. But with a case and event this old? I think I’ve still got a buddy or two alive and un-retired enough they can tell me how an investigation went down.”

#

The moon was peeking up over the buildings opposite the bank when the argument started.

“I’m relieved? Says who?”

“Says the post orders I got from Ed, the area head.”

The guard scratched his head. The two guys who’d shown up had a piece of paper that looked official, but anyone could do a dot-matrix printout. They knew the name of Ed, the area head, though…

“I’ve gotta call Ed for confirmation.”

“Look,” said the taller one, a slight southern twang in his voice, “it’s real simple. I’ve gotta get another sixteen hours in to retire. I need’em by the end of the weekend so’s I can get my bonus in time for the trip my wife an’ I are taking. Ed gifted this to me from the company, since I’ve got twenty years in. You guys get to go home, and get your hours free the next two days. You’ll make money putting your feet up watching the game, come back Monday night, and you’re all set.”

The two guards on regular duty looked at each other. “Whaddya think?” the younger one said.

“We can call Ed, but you know he never answers on the weekends unless the world’s burning down.”

“Look,” said the shorter one, “it ain’t hard, guys. Could you just show me the ropes before you head out? I haven’t been to this site before.”

“We can’t do that unless Ed tells us that-”

“Tell you what,” said the smaller one, his voice dropping several notches, “how about we shift gears here, just a few spaces. Let’s look at the phone here. See the phone, how the light shines off of it. Now, if we look at the phone, at the dark plastic, and the light as it reflects off of it, you see the light is just perfect, isn’t it. Makes you think of a night sky. A perfect night sky.”

Jake’s voice had gone from its Jersey twang to a mellow, almost sing-song quality. The two regular guards looked at the phone, then stared, then after a few more seconds went slack jawed.

“Now, when I snap my fingers, boys, you’ll feel happy and refreshed. You’ll realize that it’s just fine to turn the site over to us, no need to call Ed or anyone else about it. You’ll head home for the weekend and come back for your next shift on Monday. Nod your head if you understand.”

With eyes closed, both men nodded their heads.

“Good. Snapping my fingers now, in three, two, one-”

Jake snapped his fingers. The guards’ eyes flipped open. “Well, dang,” said the first one, “That’s gotta be the best deal I’ve ever gotten in this business. A free weekend, with pay!”

“Lovin’ it,” said the second, “Lemme get my stuff. See you guys on Monday morning!”

They packed up, signed out dutifully and left the site.

“How the hell d’you do that?” Mitch asked Jake when they were gone.

“School,” Jake said, shedding the security guard uniform shirt to reveal a floppy t-shirt underneath with the Cincinnati Reds logo emblazoned on it. “You ready?”

#

TO BE CONTINUED...