Sam and Dov arrived at a scene that had been taped off and littered with squad cars and officers. They were responding to a bank robbery at a branch of Hudson Trust. The same bank that had another branch held up a couple years back. Sam parked behind a squad and the two detectives got out and approached the cordon line. They held up their badges and the officer manning the perimeter lifted up the tape for them to walk under.
"Epstein, go check out the security footage. Make sure we get a copy of it. Maybe there is something useful there," Sam said trying to sound optimistic.
"Detective Swarek."
Sam turned around to find Marcy walking towards him. "Officer Zettle. Were you first on scene?"
"Yeah. Well, me and Gail. We were just driving by when some lady ran out and flagged us down that the bank had just been robbed."
"And where is this lady now?"
"She's over here with the other witnesses. I'll take you to her." Zettle led Sam over to a woman about his age who said her name was Trisha Sanders.
"Ms. Sanders, I'm Detective Swarek. Could you run me through what happened?"
"Um, well, I was at the table, filling out a deposit slip when at the desk all of a sudden there is some shouting. I look up and see the man that was up there pull a gun from his waistband and start waving it around."
"Did you get a good look at the guy?"
"Not really, I'm sorry. It's just that he was wearing sunglasses and a stocking cap. Which I thought was a little funny when I noticed him walk in considering it's not sunny today but some people have more sensitive eyes then others, I guess."
"That's okay ma'am, please continue."
"Right. So, he's pointing the gun and yelling for everyone to get down on the ground, so we did. He orders two of the thee tellers out from behind the counter, those two over there." She pointed, indicating two women being separately interviewed by Diaz and Price. "Then the guy that was still back there," she pointed at a man talking with Peck, "he makes him back up from the counter, slowly with his arms up. I guess he was worried about silent alarms or something. Anyway, the male teller opens up the safe and puts the money in a bag the robber pulled from his coat. Then he made the man get down on the ground with the rest of us and then ran out the back. When I heard the door close I got up and ran outside and was pulling out my phone to call 911 when I saw a police car just turning the corner."
Sam nodded and jotted down a couple last things in his note book. "Alright, we're gonna get a typed-out statement from you for you to sign and then you can go."
"No problem, Officer."
Sam left Zettle to handle that and went to talk to the other three officers to compare witness accounts. They all aligned pretty well. The timelines were all the same. Each one had a slightly different sight of the event but none of that amounted to anything conclusive to go on. In the end, they guy was described as being in his late 20's to early 30's, Caucasian, average height, no accent, and no noticeable distinguishing marks or traits. Gail added that the teller told her he was unable to hit the silent alarm because he initially froze and by the time he recovered, it was too late.
"Did he get a dye pack in with the money?"
"No, none of the money in the safe was prepped with a dye pack yet. It was all money that had just come in from transactions during the day. This robber knew the tricks and how to best avoid them. Best guess on the take is around a few thousand."
"Thanks guys. Finish up with these witnesses, send a copy of all the statements to me." Sam walked inside the office where Dov was set up behind a bank of monitors watching the robbery occur from three different angles. "Anything?"
"Not much," Dov sighed. Much of the face is obscured by the hat and sunglasses. Also, the gloves meant he left no prints anywhere. No cameras out back so there is nothing there. But there is something, maybe, from the front door camera. Dov ran the video back, paused, and zoomed inn as best he could before the image became to distorted. On screen, the soon-to-be robber was reaching to pull the door open with his right hand and the sleeve of his coat rose maybe an inch up his arm and between there and the glove was something dark.
"What do you think it is?"
"Could be a tattoo, that would maybe help us. But it could also be a wristband."
"Or a watch."
"Possibly, but I think he was right-handed since he opened the door and held the gun with that hand. Most right-handed people would wear a watch on their left wrist and vice versa."
Sam squinted at the image again but didn't get a better grasp of what the dark patch was. "Well, the lab will get a copy. Maybe they can clean it up a little. Either way we'll put it on a big screen back at 15. Hopefully we can see it better then."
Dov nodded and reset the image to normal.
"Did you get anything on the gun? Can you tell? Because the only information from our witnesses was that it was black, not shiny."
"Glock?"
"Maybe. Could just be a dull, un-polished finish."
"True. I couldn't tell anything that distinctive. Let's look again." Dov ran the tape forward and selected the frame that put the gun in profile the best and zoomed in as best he could. "Not compact, looks standard size. I can't make out a hammer, so it could be a Glock."
"Yeah, or a bunch of other guns, too. And if he's dumped the gun it won't matter anyway."
"All around, not a hell of a lot to go on," Dov said.
"Nope."
Back at 15, Oliver went up to the D's office and stopped at Sam and Dov's desk pair. "Bank robbery, huh?" Anything solid?"
Sam looked at Dov who said, "Not really yet. Still waiting on the techs to finish processing everything. Maybe something will come from that."
"This guy might not be a pro, but he's good," Sam said." He knew how to best conceal himself without standing out too much. Knew how to control the situation. Knew what the bank tellers would try to do and how to best counter that. I mean, if he made a mistake that leads us to him, it wasn't in the bank."
"Except for the possible tattoo," Dov added.
"What tattoo?" Shaw asked.
"When he pulled open the door to go inside," Sam said, "his coat sleeve moved up a bit and revealed a dark stripe, patch, something, just above his wrist. Couple be a tattoo, but it could be something else.
"Keep working it, you guys will figure it out. We can't have this kind of thing happening during the holiday season. I want a result. No pressure." Oliver gave a quick, re-assuring smile and walked away.
"How many days until New Years?", Dov asked.
"Three. No pressure." Sam stood up and said, "I'm going to the lounge, you need anything?"
"You're willing to get my coffee?"
"Call it the holiday spirit," Sam said as he turned to head down the stairs. As he walked into the lounge he did a double take. Standing with her back to him was Traci. "Nash? What are you doing here?"
She turned around from the coffee machine, "Hey Swarek," They shared a quick hug then Traci said, "I'm back as of today. Administrative duties for a little bit then back in the field. You know about that."
"Yes, I do. Damn, I didn't even know, I would have swung by to see you. But I've been dealing with something and then Epstein and I caught a bank job just a couple hours ago."
"Don't worry about it. There's a lot of people that didn't know I'd be here today. I just came in a little while ago
"Andy?"
"I texted her earlier that I might be back, depending on what Oliver said."
"Huh, she didn't tell me."
"Maybe she wanted you to be surprised," came a familiar voice from behind them. Andy was leaning in the doorway, grinning widely. She quickly hurried over to her best friend and wrapped her in a hug. "It's so great that you're back. This place missed your charm." Traci laughed a bit grabbed her coffee and said, "well my 'charm' is needed back upstairs where there is a bunch of paperwork from when I was gone that is awaiting my attention."
When Traci left, Andy said to Sam, "I heard about the robbery over the radio. You guys caught that?"
"Sure did," he said while preparing a cup of coffee.
"Did you solve it yet?"
"Heh. We've got a few leads."
"Really? Like what?"
Sam turned around and shook his head. "We got nothing. The techs haven't gotten us their report et and the video might give us something after they've looked at it, but um, we're grasping right now."
"Well it's early, I'm sure you'll figure it out."
"We better, Oliver told us we can't let something like this go unsolved especially during the holiday period."
"Sam, you know he's not giving you a deadline."
"Yeah, I know." Sam poured his cup of coffee and took a sip. "Enough about me. How's your day been?
"I also caught a case, to a degree. Well, Detective Anderson did. Maybe vehicular manslaughter, maybe murder. We're still working that out and I'm helping out a little."
"Ah, so that's why you're in the barn."
"Yep, I'm heading back out now."
"Well, I'm happy you stopped by. Listen, after shift I need to talk to you, about Marlo."
"Did something happen?" Andy was concerned now.
No, I don't think so. Just some details, Marlo's sister stopped by to talk to me this morning and I made some calls. Nothing definitive, Mia's doing fine, don't worry too much. We'll talk later." Sam gave Andy a kiss and said, "I should probably get back to work as well. Maybe my partner cracked the case while I've been down here."
Andy giggled as Sam walked towards the door before pulling a U-turn and heading back to the coffee machine.
"Forget something, Detective?"
"As a matter-of-fact, Sergeant, I did."
"And what might that be?"
"Epstein's coffee."