“Couldn’t give you anything about his partner in crime?”
“Met him in a bar. The guy asked him if he’d like to make some easy money, ten grand. Naturally, he didn’t turn it down. Though he realized too late that he was in over his head. Todd did petty theft. Bank robbing was out of his league. He looked through mugshots, but—” He shook his head. “Your dad didn’t share this with you, did he?”
My smile was answer enough.
He shook his head again. “You’d make a good interrogator. You ease into a conversation and get it to where you can easily have someone telling you everything.”
“And have you told me everything?” I laughed when his brow narrowed. “No need to answer. I got what I needed.”
“Any insight you care to share?”
“Nothing I imagine the FBI doesn’t already know.”
“Humor me and share anyway,” he said, though it sounded more like an order.
“It’s obvious someone is manipulating these men, a chain of men, so there is no trace to the top person, no ties that can be made, no blame laid.”
“Same conclusion here,” Stone admitted.
“With all the robberies being local, and not a mastermind bank robber living close by?—”
He laughed. “I can confirm that.”
I grinned.
“Damn, Pepper,” He shook his head at me yet again. “You’re interrogating me again and like a fool I’m falling for it.”
“Come on, Stone, you’re no different. You’re trying to do the same thing to me, have me share when you’re hoping there’s something I caught that you didn’t. One thing I would like to know, for my own safety, is if anyone who emptied their safety deposit box had their home robbed recently.”
“We’ve been keeping watch, but no one so far has had a break-in. They doesn’t mean you shouldn’t remain alert.”
I nodded. “How about the size of the safety deposit boxes opened? All the same size or different sizes.”
“Different.”
“So, size didn’t matter.” This time I shook my head. “We’re missing something and I can almost feel it staring me in the face.”
“There you go, sweetheart, you have some nice cool water on this blistering day.”
I turned to see Mo drinking from a plastic bowl Vera had filled with water and she was wrong, it wasn’t blistering. Hot but not blistering.
“Shame on you, Pepper, for not paying attention to Mo. You need to get your precious furball out of this heat. And make sure he gets enough water.”
She shoved the water bottle at me and turned and walked away mumbling.
“Don’t forget to put me in your notebook, Vera,” I called out.
“The special one,” she yelled back.
I turned to Stone, enjoying a good laugh. “She keeps tabs on you.”
“I think she fancies herself the town crier.”
“The day of the robbery, she told me the world was going to hell in a handbasket. I haven’t heard that one in ages, and that there was nowhere a person could keep their valuables safe.”
His cell phone rang and he stepped aside to answer it.
I went to Mo and poured the rest of the water into the bowl for him to finish.
