COLD CASE

The Heist

By J. B. Tilton (a.k.a. NoAzMale) and Teri Thibeault (a.k.a. Tessalynne)

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Rating: G

Disclaimer: "Cold Case" and all related characters and events are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and the CBS Corporation, except for those characters specifically created for this story. This is a work of fan fiction and no infringement of copyright is intended.

(Authors' note: This story takes place between season 1 episodes "The Runner" and "Love Conquers Al".)

The team reopens the case of a bank robbery in 1973 that took 11 lives when indicators point to an undiscovered accomplice involved in the robbery.

PROLOGUE

November 1, 1973, 2:04 p.m.

Two gunmen stood in the lobby of the bank each brandishing a shotgun. One stood near the teller's counter where a group of people huddled on the floor. The other stood in the middle of the lobby watching the front door. Suddenly two more men, both brandishing shotguns, came out of the vault, each carrying a bag. All of the gunmen were wearing ski masks that covered their features. As the two that had just exited the vault rounded the teller's counter, 2 uniformed policemen came rushing in the front door.

"Drop your weapons and get down on the floor," cried out one of the policemen as the two brandished their service revolvers.

The masked man standing in the middle of the lobby turned toward the front door aiming his shotgun at the officers. Before he could get off a shot one of the officers fired, hitting him squarely in the chest. He went down on the floor as the gunmen and policemen began to exchange gunfire. The crowd of people huddled underneath the teller's counter quickly began to disperse as they all ran for whatever cover or safety they could find.

Not all of them were successful. Several fell to the floor bleeding from gunshot wounds. Just as suddenly as it had started the gunfire stopped. The 2 officers lay dead on the floor and several of the people also lay dead or dying. One of the masked men checked the one that had been shot by the policeman.

"He's dead," he announced.

"Let's get out of here before more show up," screamed one of the other masked men. As the 3 made their way to the door he turned to the crowd of scattered people. "Anyone sticks their head out for 5 minutes they get it blown off." Then he turned and followed his two compatriots out the front door of the bank.

No one moved for several moments. Suddenly several began to cautiously make their way to the front doors as they heard sirens in the distance grow closer. Within a few moments one of the men stood next to the front doors. He cautiously peered around the door but saw no gunmen waiting outside.

"I think they're gone," he announced, moving back into the bank.

Several of the other people had all ready begun to check the bodies lying on the floor. Blood was everywhere and the smell of gunpowder hung heavy in the air. A man, 29 years of age with brown hair and wearing a dark suit stepped out from behind the teller's counter. He surveyed the scene. The 2 policemen and at least 7 people lay on the floor dead or wounded. Suddenly several more uniformed policemen rushed in the front door, weapons drawn.

"No, wait," called out the man in the dark suit, "I'm Carter Sheraton. I'm one of the loan officers here. They went out the front door. Three of them wearing ski masks. Maybe a minute or so ago."

"Did you see which way they went?" asked a policeman wearing sergeant stripes on his sleeve.

"No, we were all down on the floor," said Sheraton.

"They must have had a car waiting," said the man who had looked out the front door. "I got to the door only a few seconds after they left but they were all ready gone."

"Okay, everyone just take it easy," said the sergeant. "Help is on its way. Moody, go call it in. Let them know we have cop killers on the loose."

"On my way, sarge," said one of the uniforms, turning to head for the squad cars sitting in the front of the bank.

The sergeant looked around. It was a bloodbath in the bank. Many of the wounded probably wouldn't survive. In his 22 years on the force he had never seen such a massacre. He had seen people shot before but never such a senseless slaughter as this. Silently he prayed that the scum that had done this would be brought to justice.

November 1, 1973, 8:17 p.m.

It appeared that nearly half the police force sat on the street in front of a house on E. Mt. Pleasant Avenue. All of the surrounding houses had been evacuated and the people from those houses were all gathered at the end of the block well away from the policemen and the house.

"Throw out your weapons and come out with your hands up," a police lieutenant announced over a megaphone he was holding. "You won't be harmed."

There was no response from inside the house.

"Are you sure they're in there?" asked the sergeant who had earlier that day witnessed the massacre in the bank.

"They're in there," said the lieutenant. "We tracked them here from the information we got on the dead robber at the bank. They've been holding us off for over an hour now."

"Is there anyone else in the house?"

"We don't think so. Just the 3 bank robbers and probably the money they got away with. I think it's time we used some teargas to flush them out. We can't sit out here all night."

"I'll let everyone else know," said the sergeant.

"Ten minutes. Then we go in."

The sergeant moved off, careful to remain behind the police cars, to let the rest of the policemen know what was going on. The men in the house had all ready proven they had no compunction about killing if they felt threatened. And they had no compunction about killing policemen.

Ten minutes later teargas was fired into the windows of the house. Every policeman surrounding the house had their weapons trained on the house ready for anything. Smoke began to pour out the windows of the house.

Suddenly the front door burst open and 2 men came running out, coughing. They opened fire with shotguns aimed at the police in front of the house. Every cop in the street opened up on the two. Within seconds the two men lay dead on the yard out front of the house.

At the same time a man opened the back door to the house and began to sneak out the back yard. As he did a flashlight suddenly illuminated him from the alley beyond and someone identified themselves as the police and told him not to move. The man leveled his shotgun at the light and fired. Almost instantly several policemen opened up on him and, like his two friends in the front yard, he lay dead in the backyard.

Miraculously none of the police officers had been injured by the gunfire from the bank robbers. The police quickly moved in, kicking the weapons away so that the men couldn't reach them. They all knew it was probably not necessary. The men were obviously dead. But it was always best to play it safe. The house was searched thoroughly. As the bodies of the dead men were taken to the coroner's office for an autopsy a policeman walked up to the lieutenant.

"There's very little money in the house, sir," said the officer. "A few thousand dollars maybe."

"What?" exclaimed the lieutenant. "That can't be right. They got away with over 10 million dollars. It has to be in the house."

"We'll search it again but I don't think we're going to find anything. Unless it's hidden in the walls or under the floorboards."

"Tear the house apart if you have to," said the lieutenant, angry at the turn of events. "I want that money found."

"Yes, sir," said the officer, turning and heading back into house.

ONE

November 1, 2003

As Stillman came into the squad room he noticed Will setting up a small portable television on his desk.

"Will, what's with the TV?"

"Channel 6 is having a retrospective today," said Will. "I thought it might be interesting to watch."

"Oh, that's right," said Stillman, glancing at a calendar on the desk he was standing next to. "The heist. I had almost forgotten. Thirty years ago today."

"That's right," said Will. "I just thought we might watch as much of it as we can."

"Thirty years ago what today?" Lilly asked walking into the squad room, Nick close behind her.

"The big bank heist," said Will.

"Biggest bank robbery in Philly history at the time," said Stillman. "Thirty years ago today four men walked into the Mayfair branch of the First Trust Bank with shotguns and held it up. Got away with over 10 million dollars in cash."

"That's right," said Lilly. "I remember learning about it in school. One of the bank robbers was killed in the bank, wasn't he?"

"Yeah," said Stillman. "One of the tellers was able to set off the silent alarm and a patrol was nearby having lunch. They were the first on the scene."

"And got killed, from what I remember," said Nick. "Along with 5 employees and bank patrons."

"That's right," said Will. "The bank robbers wouldn't surrender. A gunfight ensued and two bank employees and three patrons were caught in the crossfire. Later that night they cornered the remaining 3 bank robbers at a house on E. Mt. Pleasant Avenue and they were killed while the police were trying to arrest them."

"And the money was never recovered," said Stillman. "No one ever figured out what happened to the money. Somewhere out there is over 10 million dollars in cash just rotting away."

"Nice chunk of change," said Nick.

"You sure they got all the robbers?" Lilly asked. "Maybe one of them got away with the money."

"No, they got them all," said Stillman. "Everyone in the bank said there were 4 robbers and all 4 were accounted for. They probably hid the money somewhere and planned to go back after it after all the fuss had died down. But they were cornered in that house and shot. So the money went unrecovered."

"Quiet," said Will. "The program is coming on."

They group sat watching the program as did most of the others in the squad room. Occasionally someone had to answer the phone but for the most part everyone watched as the commentator told about the robbery and subsequent killing of the robbers.

"Officers Arthur Forney and Mark Richards were brutally murdered when they attempted to apprehend the bank robbers. One of the robbers, Erin Miles, was also killed in the gunfight as was Clarrissa Jones, one of the tellers. In addition, Richard Porter, Ellen Vincent, and Chuck Raymond, patrons of the bank, were killed during the gunfight. Carlton Grimes, personal secretary to the bank president, was brutally murdered execution style with a gunshot to the back of the head by one of the robbers. The remaining 3 bank robbers, Jerome Stapleton, John Harris, and William Harrington, were all killed later that night in a police standoff at a house where the police had tracked them. The $10,406,000.00 the robbers got away with was never recovered."

The program lasted only half an hour and when it was over everyone went back to work. Stillman and Will stood talking about the case for several minutes, being 2 of the few officers old enough to actually remember the robbery.

"I had forgotten about it," said Lilly. "It must have been a bloodbath in the bank that day."

"It was," said Will. "It was not only the largest bank robbery in Philly history it was also one of the worst mass murders as well. And one of the largest manhunts. The bank put a plaque in its lobby to commemorate what happened that day."

"Not to mention an execution style murder," said Nick. "Boy, I'll bet that was a bloody mess. A shotgun blast to the back of the head? Probably wasn't enough left of poor Grimes to tell who he was."

"Caring as always, huh, Nick?" Lilly asked, smiling at him.

"Hey, I'm just saying," replied Nick.

"Actually it wasn't a shotgun blast to the head," said Will. "As I recall it was a .22 caliber bullet the robbers used. One shot behind the left ear. He was probably dead before he hit the floor."

"Why did they do that?" Lilly asked. "Why did they execute the president's personal secretary like that?"

"The police theorized that he must have seen one of their faces," said Stillman. "So they killed him to keep him from identifying them."

"Well, weren't they all wearing ski masks?" Lilly asked.

"Yeah, what's your point?" Stillman asked.

"If they were wearing ski masks how could anyone have seen their faces? No one else apparently saw their faces."

"They drug him back into the vault to help load the money into the bags," said Will. "Maybe he saw one of their faces then."

"But why would they take off their masks?" Lilly asked. "If I remember it only took something like 7 or 8 minutes for them to load the money and leave the bank. Why would one of them take off their mask if they were in there less than 10 minutes?"

"She's got a point," said Will, looking at Stillman.

"And why shoot Grimes with a .22?" Lilly asked. "You said they all had shotguns. If they were going to kill him why not just use the shotgun? And why kill him in the hallway that leads back to the offices? Why not just kill him in the vault? Why lead him to the back of the bank to kill him?"

"I guess I just never thought about it before," said Stillman. "Now that you mention it, it does seem odd. And I guess the police were so intent on catching the robbers and recovering the money back then that those questions just never came up."

"Plus, a lot of people died in that bank that day," said Nick. "One body more or less wouldn't be noticed too much."

"I also wonder why they went all the way into the vault," said Lilly. "Most bank robbers hit the teller windows and take all the cash. Why take the risk of going all the way into the vault?"

"The bank had just received a shipment of money from the Federal Reserve that morning," said Stillman. "It was a bigger haul."

"And the robbers knew that how?" questioned Lilly. "The delivery dates and times of those shipments are not exactly something a bank is going to advertise. Who would have known they had just gotten that delivery?"

"Certainly the bank employees," said Will. "Banks routinely get shipments like that to replace the money they give out to their customers."

"Except as Lilly said," said Nick, "it's not something a bank is going to want to advertise. Too much risk of someone trying to rip them off, just like what happened in 1973. She has a good question boss. How did they know the bank had that amount of actual cash on hand? If I remember, November 1 was a Thursday in 1973. Not exactly a payday or major financial day where the bank would need a large amount of cash."

"Maybe they just got lucky," said Will. "Just happened to hit the bank just after the money had been delivered."

"A coordinated bank robbery in under 10 minutes and they just happen to pick a day when the bank is loaded to the gills?" questioned Lilly. "That just seems a little too coincidental to me, boss."

"Not to mention they all but ignored the teller's windows," said Will. "They went straight to the vault, according to the eyewitnesses. It does seem a bit odd."

"Yeah, I guess it does," said Stillman.

"Unless it wasn't an accident," said Will. "What if there was an inside man, just as Lilly intimated earlier? That would explain how the robbers knew the money would be in vault at that time."

"You mean Grimes?" Stillman questioned. "So Grimes lets them know when the money is going to arrive. They come in, clean out the vault, and kill Grimes to cover their tracks."

"Something like that," said Will. "Split the money 4 ways instead of 5."

"That still doesn't explain why they would use a .22 to kill Grimes instead of shooting him with one of the shotguns," said Lilly. "Or why they wouldn't just kill him in the vault. Why did they take him all the way into the back of the bank to kill him? I would think they wouldn't want to waste the time."

"Unless Grimes wasn't the inside man," said Nick. "What if someone else was the inside man? Whoever that was wouldn't be wearing a mask. What if Grimes was just another bank employee who was forced to help the robbers? He might have discovered who the inside man was."

"That would explain why he was murdered," said Lilly. "To keep him from identifying which bank employee was aiding in the robbery."

"Makes sense to me," said Will. "It also means there may be another accomplice still out there. And it's conceivable they're still alive."

"Except that any statute of limitations on bank robbery would have run out long ago," said Nick.

"Not on murder," said Stillman. "Eight people died in the bank that day, including 2 policemen. And three more died later that day as a consequence of the robbery. Capital murder laws weren't in effect in 1973 but whoever it was can still be charged with murder. If there was an inside accomplice maybe we should take another look at the case."

"It sure would be nice to recover that 10 million dollars," said Nick. "This one has been on the books for 30 years. I'll bet a lot of people would like to see it closed out."

"Start in the archives," said Stillman. "See what you can find out about the events of that day. Will and I will see if we can find out how many bank employees still work at the bank today."

"I know one who does," said Will. "Carter Sheraton. Back then he was a junior bank officer. Now he's the president of the bank."

"That's a place to start," said Stillman. "This was a big news item back in the day. So there should be a lot of information on it. Maybe we'll get lucky and something will give us an indication who the inside man was."

"You think he's still around, boss?" Lilly asked. "The money was never recovered. Whoever the inside man was probably collected it and disappeared with it. That would explain why it's never been recovered."

"Probably," said Stillman. "But at least maybe we can identify who the inside man was. Then it will simply mean tracking them down and having them extradited back to Philly for prosecution. Assuming they're still alive."

"We're on it, boss," said Lilly. "Come on, Nick. Let's go read up on a bank robbery."

Nick grabbed his cup of coffee as he and Lilly headed for the archives room.