"Marlo's sister stopped by to see you?", Andy asked Sam as they sat at the Penny. Everyone was gathered to celebrate Traci's return to work and the return to town of Nick and Juliet. Sam and Andy were at a corner table, away from most of the gathering.
"Yeah, this morning. Zettle came up to my desk and told me Terri was here to see me and wanted to talk privately." Sam filled her in on the highlights of their conversation and his phone calls afterwards.
Andy took a sip of her beer then asked, "What do you think?"
"Honestly, I don't know. She seemed healthy when she was up here with Mia, so even if she is sick now, there's something else going on."
"You going down there?"
"I'd like to but I don't know what I'd do. Plus, with this new case, I don't think I can take a day right now."
"Then you better hurry up and solve it," Andy raised her eyebrows.
Sam chuckled and took a sip of his own drink. "Hypothetically, we close the case, guy turns himself in, whatever. I go down there. What's the angle? The daycare says Mia's perfectly fine so I can't use that."
"But Marlo may not be fine. Don't you want to check on that. For Mia's sake if nothing else?"
"Of course, I do. But she has no reason to even let me through the door, especially if there is something wrong that might affect her ability to be guardian over Mia."
Andy thought about it for a minute. "How about this? You call her up, tell her you have to go down there to drop some files with Hamilton P.D. Then ask if she and Mia want to meet up and get a bite to eat or something."
"Yeah, maybe. The good thing is the daycare will call me if Mia is unwell or isn't there one day so I always know about her."
"Right, and maybe whatever is going on with Marlo will pass and things will return to normal. But it would be nice to figure out what ever it is. Or at least determine for a fact that it's not an issue any longer."
Sam nodded, "I'll check up with Terri again soon and see if she's been able to get though or learn anything. But for now, what do you say we rejoin the party?"
Andy smiled and leaned across the table to give Sam a kiss. "Sounds like a plan," she said when they broke apart.
Dov was frustrated. It was now the day before New Year's Eve and none of the last strings of hope he was clinging to were resulting in any leads to go on in the case. The video, even after being cleaned up in the lab didn't lead anywhere. No DNA, no additional witness testimony. He was down to his last option. He had to hope that he could pick up the suspect on cameras outside and follow him back to his point of origin. But that would be an impossibly long task involving phone calls to every business that had a camera just in-case it might have caught the suspect. Warrants and subpoenas would probably be necessary and all of that would take days to accomplish. Dov wanted to get this thing solved and not just because of Oliver's desire to see it done, but for his own reasons as well. He wanted nothing hanging over him tomorrow.
"Before we go that far," Sam said after Dov told him what he was thinking, "Let's think about how he would get away."
"Obvious choice is car. Have one stashed somewhere, lot or garage. Could be on the street. Maybe a getaway driver."
"He didn't get a dye pack…"
"So, public trans is an option."
"We know he headed out the back. Figure out the closest subway, street car, and bus stops along that trajectory. I'll do the same for parking areas. It'll be a lot shorter list than every business in that area. And even though he got away clean he would want to stick around that area too long so he probably used one of the options we came up with."
"Unless he took a cab. Or had a getaway driver."
"Epstein, you're too young to start being a pessimist. It's going to happen to you in this job eventually. Don't rush it along."
A couple hours later Dov and Sam had collected the footage from all the items on their lists. They had gotten footage from an hour before all the way to an hour after for each location. They were deciding how best to divide and conquer this and decided that they could uses some help.
"Do you want me to see if a uniform is around?", Dov asked.
"Let me make a call first," Sam picked up his desk phone and punched in an extension.
Nash answered on the second ring. "Nash."
"It's Swarek, what are you up to? Still doing paperwork?"
"Yeah, and the pile is not seeming to get smaller."
"What would you say if I offered you the opportunity to help me and Epstein out with some actual police work?"
"I'll be right down." They hung up and Sam said, we got backup. And I think you'll find it better than a uniform.
Traci was at their desk pair a minute later and Sam gave her a run-down of what they were doing. "Look for the clothing but especially the sunglasses. There probably weren't too many people wearing those."
Not long after Traci said she had something.
Sam looked at Dov, "What'd I tell ya?"
"What is it?", Dov asked.
"First parking garage on the list. Man fitting the description and wearing sunglasses walking out and heading in the general direction of the bank."
Sam checked the time stamp, "17 minutes before Gail reported the robbery."
"Dov look at the video for a long moment. "That's him."
"You're certain?", Sam asked.
Trust me, I poured over the bank footage for hours. It's him. I can tell by the way he walks, carries himself.
"Epstein from that time stamp, write down every vehicle that enters. Nash and I'll try to spot him coming back."
They fast forwarded to the time that Gail radioed in that a bank robbery had occurred and ran the tape from there. 12 minutes later the same guy returns to the garage, wearing a drawstring backpack that he wasn't wearing before.
Sam ran it through. "He walks to the bank at a normal pace maybe a little sower or stops a minute or two to make it harder to track him. Then a few minutes for the robbery. Walks back a little quicker, maybe. I can buy it. You two?"
"Yeah, that make's sense," Traci said.
"It's him," Dov reiterated.
"Let's take Epstein's list and see if we get any of these leaving," Sam said.
After they had run through the footage only one car entered and left within a reasonable time revolving around the suspect.
"Grey four-door Toyota sedan," Traci said.
"Matching plates, same car," Sam added.
Traci ran them, "Registered to a David Sanders. I'll have his address in a minute."
"Sanders, that's familiar…" Dov pondered.
"No need, Nash. He's married, right?"
"Uh, yeah. to a-,"
"Trisha Sanders," Sam finished.
"How did you-," Traci began again before being interrupted again.
"Shit, that's why that name was familiar," Dov connected the pieces.
Sam turned to Traci, "Trisha Sanders was the customer in the bank. She's the witness that flagged Peck and Zettle down. The witness I talked to. She was still on scene when this car left, so it can't have been her driving away. And we never caught her on camera. You got David's I.D. info? Does he fit the physical description?"
"I'd say he does," Nash smiled.
"We got him," Dov said.
Sam picked up his phone and dialed the number Trisha Sanders gave him. Ms. Sanders? This is Detective Swarek from 15 Division. We talked at the bank. I was wondering if you'd be able to come in to the station to look at a couple photos. I know it's a long shot but we don't have much to go on here. Anything you can do, even just eliminating some people, well it would be a big help. If you can't get over here, we could always swing by for a couple minutes if you have a moment." Sam listened for a moment. After work would be fine, we'll see you then. Thank you, Ms. Sanders." He hung up. "She's coming in."
"What's the angle, here?" Dov asked.
"While she's here, you're going to execute a warrant on the house with E.T.F. Take Peck and Diaz with you. We don't have that much time so we got to move fast on the warrant and I have to put together a bunch of mug shots for her to look at. I'll try to stall her as best I can. Text me if you find anything. We'll arrest her then."
"Good plan," Traci said. "If you don't mind I'll sit in on the interview."
Sam smirked, "Can't bring yourself back to doing paperwork right now?"
"Not after my first taste of real police work in months," Traci smiled.
Later on, Ms. Sanders was seated on the couch in the interview room. Sam was also in there.
"Thank you again for coming in. I'm sorry the other detective is running late. She should be on her way. Can I get you anything? Coffee?"
"No, thank you. I'm fine. I just want to help you and get home.
"And I appreciate that. I understand with the holidays, we won't keep you any longer than we have too. I'm just going to grab a coffee and hopefully Detective Nash will be here when I get back."
Sam stepped out and closed the door behind him. Traci was standing next to the door, where she had been standing ever since Sam took Ms. Sanders in to the interview room. Sam mouthed coffee and she nodded back. A couple minutes later he returned and opened the door. This stalling tactic was over, time for the next one.
"I'm back Ms. Sanders and look who I bumped into on the way." He indicated Traci as she stepped into the room. "This is Detective Sergeant Traci Nash from the Guns and Gangs Unit." Sam looked at his phone, nothing from Dov yet.
"Hello, Ms. Sanders. Sorry to keep you waiting on me. Detective Swarek called me into consult on the case, since they had no leads. Maybe I would have some repeat offenders in my files or some tips on where to look. So, I have some photo arrays I want you to look at for a few minutes. If you're not certain, don't finger them either positively or negatively, okay?
"Yeah, sure. Just a few minutes, you said?"
"Well," Traci pulled a large folder from her bag, "Maybe, a bit more than a few."
After 20 minutes, she had fingered nobody positively and only a couple negatively. Ms. Sanders was starting to feel unhelpful. The stalling was about to wear out again when Sam's phone finally vibrated. He glanced at the text quickly. 'Sanders in custody, tattoo on right wrist. Money and gun in basement.
Sam put his phone away and stood up. "Detective Nash, I think that's enough. Thank you for the help, even if you don't think it was all that helpful, I assure you Mrs. Sanders that is was." Sam couldn't tell if she picked up on him using Mrs. For the first time or the slight added emphasis he put on it. Either way she was moving toward the door wanting to get out.
"One more thing," Sam said as she reached for the door handle. "What were you going to spend the money on?"
Trisha Sanders tried to look confused.
"You know, the gun your husband David used to rob the bank."
She stammered a bit but didn't say anything.
Sam continued. "I should probably tell you that while you were here, my partner and E.T.F executed a search warrant on your house. They found the money, gun, and arrested David."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," her face had lost all color and she was visibly shaking when she opened the door. Zettle and Foxx were standing on the other side.
From behind her Sam said, "Trisha Sanders, you're under arrest for accessory to armed robbery."
"Turn around and put your hands behind your back," Marcy told her and Jake put his cuffs on her as she complied."
"I want my lawyer," Mrs. Sanders told the two detectives."
"We'll get right on that," Traci said as Foxx and Zettle led her off to booking.
"Let me get this straight," Oliver said. Sam and Dov were seated in his office. "She was the scout, and texted him when the bank was clear. Then poses as a victim and the rest goes from there."
"Yeah," Sam said, "you got it."
"Good work guys, you went from nothing to case closed in a day."
"Well, to be fair, Traci was a big help. It would have taken us much longer if she hadn't helped us out," Dov said.
"I'll be sure to commend her when I see her. Good to hear she's still in top form after her leave."
"She certainly is," Sam said.
"Go on, get out of here, enjoy your night," Oliver instructed them. "Busy shift tomorrow night."