ordered to write down the name of every customer they helped.'
'Once we make the list of the names, then what? ' Cole asked.
'We talk to all of them because one might have noticed something out of
the ordinary.'
'Has that ever happened before? ' 'No, but we still have to ask.
Those bastards are going to slip up one of these days.
Maybe one of them came into the bank earlier to look it over. '
'That's wishful thinking, Ryan.'
'Yeah, I know, but we still have to go through the routine. We have to
cover all the possibilities. From the looks of all these stacks of
paper, there were quite a few customers yesterday. It's going to take
us the rest of the day to go through them.' They divided the stacks
between them. Ryan went back into the president's office to work
there. Cole stayed out in the lobby. He searched through the top
drawer of the ink-stained desk for a notepad and pencil so that he
could make his list, found what he needed, and put them on the
desktop.
He was on his way to get the chair Ryan had kicked over when a glimpse
of blue on the floor under the desk's kneehole caught his attention.
'We're going to have to go through everything in here at least three
times, ' Ryan warned. 'Just in case we miss something the first and
second time around.'
'We'll be here a week, ' Cole shouted back as he bent down on one knee
and reached inside the kneehole. He pulled out a pale blue bag with a
blue-and-white satin string.
He opened it and looked inside. There wasn't anything there, just blue
satin lining. Cole stared at the thing for several seconds, then
called out, 'Hey, Ryan, do you know who works at this desk? ' 'Yes, '
Ryan shouted back. He was seated at the president's desk, methodically
going through the contents in the top drawer. 'I've got the name
written down in my notes.'
'Do you remember if it is a man or a woman? ' Something in Cole's
voice caught Ryan's attention. He glanced up, saw him down on one
knee, and called out, 'A man sits there.'
'Was he one of the men killed? ' 'No. He was home sick yesterday.'
Cole stuck his head into the opening. 'Well . . . well, ' he
