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He wished he’d realized that last year.
Grant owed it to Regan—and even to Tom Granger—to help her finish what Tom started.
Eleven
As Regan walked to her old office in the courthouse, she expected a sharp wave of loss as the nostalgia hit; instead, the dull, steady ache that she had learned to live with continued. Was this progress? She couldn’t point to one specific moment in time when the grief had shifted, but she feared returning to Virginia, to the remnants of her old life, would bring back the pain. She was relieved it hadn’t.
The office was quiet when she walked in, though it was after ten in the morning. Maggie was at her desk, one of the marshals Regan didn’t know was on the phone at his cubicle, and a clerk was busy filing along the narrow hall that barely complied with fire regulations. So much in law enforcement had switched to the computer, but there were still reams of actualpaperin the paperwork.
“Charlie called,” said Maggie. “I already pulled up the files that you need. Do you mind working in Tommy’s office?”
“Thank you, that’s great. Can you do me one other favor?”
“Anything.”
“I was hoping you could dig up any information available on Jenna Johns. Here’s her address and phone number and her employer, but if you can confirm?” She handed Maggie a slip of paper. “I know it’s asking for a lot.”
“Nonsense. I’ll get what I can.”
“Thank you.”
Regan took a seat at Tommy’s desk, but she left the door open. It didn’t feel right being here with him dead. In some ways, it was more uncomfortable than sleeping in his house.
She moved the computer mouse and the screen woke up. Maggie had already brought up the files for her. Regan dived in and started reading.
Some law enforcement reports were entered directly into the computer, others were scanned or uploaded—such as field notes, forensic reports, photographs. But she remembered the case even though there was nothing special about it. She’d responded to multiple hostage situations throughout her career, most that ended without bloodshed. But more than a few had ended with one or more dead or wounded—like the Potomac Bank heist.
In fact, if the perpetrator’s brother hadn’t killed her son a year later, Regan wouldn’t have remembered the event at all.
Just over two years ago, Mike Hannigan had taken nine hostages during a bank robbery. He had acted alone, which was unusual—most bank robberies that went beyond a bad guy handing a teller a threatening note had two or more people involved: one who was responsible for watching the hostages while the other collected the money. Hannigan—armed with a semiautomatic rifle and two sidearms—had forced the manager, Stuart Van Horn, and the teller, Becca Johns, to take zip ties that he had brought and secure the hostages at the wrists and the ankles; then he told Becca to tie up the manager. Except for Becca, each hostage had been restrained, their phones taken, and ordered to lie facedown on the floor. The victims were told if anyone moved, they would be shot in the back. He gave one warning to a male customer who attempted to fight back by shooting him in the leg—he told the group there would be no further grace given.
No one else fought back.
Hannigan forced Becca into the safe deposit vault at gunpoint. He used a cordless drill to cut through the lock’s core on five safe deposit boxes, but the FBI suspected he knew exactly which box he wanted, and that the others were a diversion. It was possible he only knew the general area of the box, but either way, the FBI believed he was targetingonebox.
The marshals were first on scene because they were physically closer to the bank, but the FBI took over when they arrived minutes later. Their lead negotiator soon made contact over the phone with Hannigan, who seemed amicable at first. But ten minutes after first contact, Hannigan shot and killed Becca Johns.
Regan and Charlie had been first inside during the breech. She took out Hannigan when he didn’t respond to commands to drop his weapon and put his hands behind his head. No one else died.
She wished that there had been CCTV footage, but Hannigan had disabled it and all they had to go on were witness statements. At the beginning, Hannigan had seemed in control and focused. After returning from the safe deposit vault, he’d acted frustrated, agitated, and angry.
One statement was repeated by multiple witnesses: Hannigan said something to Becca before he shot her. No one heard what he said.
When the FBI searched Hannigan’s backpack, they found nothing. The FBI interviewed the five box owners, and they all stated that nothing was missing from the boxes.
The list of the five box owners looked familiar to Regan; she printed it out and put it aside to review.
Hannigan didn’t have any money, jewels, bonds, gold,anythingon him when he’d been killed. His phone was clean: a burner, untraceable. No photos or phone numbers. No outgoing calls during the time he’d been in the bank.
If Tommy was right and Becca was Hannigan’saccomplice, why would he kill her? Had Becca deceived him somehow? Was she supposed to identify the correct box and made a mistake?
It was all speculation, and with both Hannigan and Becca dead, they couldn’t prove anything. Except...maybe that was why Tommy had been in communication with Becca’s sister, Jenna. Perhaps Jenna had information that led Tommy down this particular path.
Because she was a victim, there would have been no reason for the FBI to review Becca’s cell phone data or do more than a cursory look into her background. Regan found nothing in the reports that suggested the FBI had done anything beyond processing the scene and trace evidence, interviewing the hostages, and talking to the five box owners.
The whole robbery stunk, Regan realized. She hadn’t considered it at the time because she wasn’t involved in any follow-up, other than the mandatory interview, investigation, and subsequent psych eval from the shooting. She’d been on mandatory two-weeks’ administrative leave. Jumped through all the hoops, was cleared and back on duty. Didn’t give the robbery a second thought.
Now, reviewing the files and witness statements, there seemed to be no clear reason for Mike Hannigan’s actions. The final FBI report concluded that he had targeted the five boxes because he believed there was cash inside. When he learned that all the boxes had only documents or personal items, he became angry and volatile, lashing out at Becca because she was the closest one to him or because he equated her with his failure.
