he pushed a chair out of the way, sending it rolling across the floor until it struck the wall and fell over on its side. Ross didn’t move. Jack stuck out his hand.
“Give me your notes.” Ross handed the notes over and Jack walked to the window and leaned against the wall as he reviewed what Ross had written.
As he looked over the pages, Jack thought of his own kids, a girl and a boy, a couple of years apart. He looked at his reflection in the window and then out at the world a few floors below. “Damn it.”
Jack walked back over and sat at the table. He closed up the notebook. “We don’t know much, do we? Get the files from the other three robberies up here.” He slid Ross’ notes back across the table to him and rocked back in his chair. “And we need some analysis done. You’re on the right track getting all of those other videos from cameras around the area. I want to know all I can about this guy. I want to know for sure it’s the same guy. Get the geeks on it. We need to know how he got to and from the bank, his height, weight, color of his eyes, type of clothes, shoe size, how big his hands are, and the length of his stride, anything to help ID this guy. Tell them I want to know everything. What he had for lunch, if he prefers boxers or briefs. And make sure those lab guys check her forehead. He had his gun pushed up against her forehead.”
Jack rocked forward and worked the imaginary remote in his hand again. “OK, let’s see it again.”
Ross hit play on the remote control and the video started for the third viewing. His thumb hovered over the pause button, ready for when Jack wanted to stop it again. He fumbled for the phone with his other hand, not taking his eyes off the picture in front of him.
Cradling the receiver between his ear and shoulder, he dialed an extension with his free hand. “Hello, Barb? Yeah, it’s Ross. Jack and I are in the back conference room. We need the files from the Duluth and Stillwater robberies we were talking about earlier. Bring them in as soon as…”
“Freeze it!”
“…you’re ready.”
“You missed it.”
Ross exhaled heavily in frustration, hung up the phone and hit pause, and then rewound the video frame by frame.
“There,” Jack said.
Ross paused the video. “What?”
Jack got up from his chair and approached the screen. He looked at it straight on, squinting, and traced the face on the screen with his finger. The killer was saluting him, the eyes staring right at him. Jack stepped back trying to take in more of the picture.
“Get some stills made of the mask that show it from different sides and figure out who made it, where it’s sold, how long it’s been around, etcetera, etcetera. He didn’t just go pick this mask up at the mall off the rack. This one’s too good. Send a photo to the costume department at the Guthrie Theater and the U of M theater department. Maybe they’ll have some ideas. And print one off for me, the one where he’s saluting. Make yourself one too if you want one.” He rubbed his hands over his face and stretched. “I’m going to go take a leak and get some other work done. Call me when you’ve got everything ready. It’s almost July. We better get busy and solve your case before the next robbery.”
Chapter 2
Jack sat in his cubicle and looked at the pile of case folders in front of him. It was time to catch up on his active cases while he waited for Ross to pull the other videos together for the next viewing. He grabbed the top folder, laid it on an open spot amid the clutter on his desk, and started to flip through it. He made it two pages into the details, refreshing himself on the follow-up issues, before his mind drifted to the images on the video. It was hard to watch somebody being killed and not be able to stop it. That was the tough part of the job. As FBI agents, they were brought in as a reaction to something bad having happened. This was no different. Learning that this victim had a family, Jack thought of the father with a daughter at home, his world turned upside down. The killer had pulled the trigger and gone about his business. Jack wanted to get ahead of this guy and stop him before something else like this happened again.
He looked at the framed pictures on his desk. They had been there long enough that he almost forgot they were there. Jack picked up the one that had both kids in it, brushed off the dust from the edges of the frame and the glass, and smiled. He could remember Julie taking the picture last summer. The kids went from running through the sprinkler to starting a water fight, with him as the target as he sat in the Adirondack chair in the shade working on the crossword puzzle. Julie snapped the picture just after he had grabbed the kids and pulled them onto his lap. They’d squealed and laughed. The newspaper was soaked and water dripped from his chin. The trio then went after Julie, but she’d claimed immunity as she held the camera in front of her like a shield, knowing they wouldn’t dare get it wet.
With the picture in one hand, he grabbed the phone and called Julie. His thumb caressed the kids’ faces in the picture as he waited for her to answer. On the fourth ring, Jack was ready for it to go to voicemail. He cleared his throat, preparing to speak, but then he heard a voice.
“Hello?”
Jack cleared his throat again and then spoke in the hushed, hoarse voice used in cubes when the conversation was of a personal nature. “Hey, Jules. It’s me, Jack. Just thought I’d call, see what’s going on. I wanted to talk birthday plans for tomorrow and about the Fourth, where we all might go to see the fireworks.”
“Jack.” She paused and continued in a soft tone matching his. “The Fourth, I don’t know.”
“Come on, Jules. I thought we were still going to try.”
“I’m not ready for a big family thing yet, Jack. I know the kids would love to see you. But all of us together. I think it’s just too confusing right now.”
“Confusing for who? You? Or the kids?”
“Them, me, us. Why don’t you plan a birthday outing with them? Let’s start with that.”
“Sure, Jules. One step at a time. I want to keep things normal. I’ll pick them up tomorrow afternoon about one? I took the afternoon off.”
“They’d love it, Jack.”
“What about the Fourth? Should we make our annual trip to Nicollet Island? I’m sure they’ll have the same family activities and the fireworks display.”
“Jack, quit pushing. Let me think about it.”
“OK. Think about it.” Jack looked at the framed photo in his hand. She said she’d think about it. “Tell the kids I’ll see them soon and I want some ideas for where we’re going.” He looked up and saw Ross standing in the doorway of his cube. “I have to run. Give them a hug for me.”
Jack hung up the phone and put the picture back in its spot.
“Birthday, huh?” Ross asked. “How old are you going to be?”
“Older than you.”
Ross picked up the picture frame. “These your kids?”
Jack reached up and took the frame from Ross. He blew off the dust clinging to the photo and put it gently back in its spot. “Yeah.”
“They have names?”
“Yeah.” He looked at Ross and stood up. He’d learned long ago that the secret to getting somebody out of your cube was to get up and walk out. The intruder wasn’t going to hang out in your cube without you. Jack walked by Ross and turned down the aisle towards the conference room. “So, everything ready for review?”
Ross took a couple of quick steps to catch up with Jack. “I’ve got the videos from the other bank robberies ready for us to look at. The surveillance video from this morning is still being picked apart by the boys in the lab. They’ve started on the stats we talked about to learn more about the guy.”
Jack said “Hmm,” and kept walking towards the conference room.
Ross kept at his heels. “I’ll show you them in order. They aren’t much different from the others. A guy in the mask, with a salute to the camera on the way out the door.”
They got to the conference room and Jack took a seat. “OK, let’s see what we’ve got.”
