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“Mr. Granger had follow-up questions, I suppose you could say, about what happened during the bank robbery. He showed me a copy of my sworn statement, we went over it again. He said he wanted me to refamiliarize myself with what I stated at the time, then asked if I remembered anything else, which I didn’t, and said as much. Had I thought of something new, of course I would have contacted the FBI.”
“But Deputy Granger had additional questions,” Regan probed. “About Becca Johns.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, that’s correct. He did.”
“He had her name in his notes, but no details as to why.” Slight fib. “What did he want to know?”
“I admit I was shocked by his questions. He asked if I knew that Becca personally knew Mr. Hannigan prior to the robbery. The thief who—who killed her,” he added, though it wasn’t necessary. “Mr. Granger implied that the information had just been discovered, and he said that he was considering reopening the investigation.”
She remembered the printed photo of Hannigan and Becca in Tommy’s file. Was that all he had been going on, or had Jenna Johns provided more information? And if Jenna had known, why hadn’t she told the FBI?
Regan wondered if Tommy had been serious about reopening the case or was just using that as an excuse to reinterview Van Horn.
She was glad she’d reviewed the case file before coming in. “After Hannigan secured the hostages, he took Ms. Johns to the safe deposit room and drilled into several of the boxes to access the contents. You provided a list of those boxes to the FBI.”
“Yes, and the FBI contacted the customers. We also followed up after the fact, when the FBI cleared us to, because they were our customers and we wanted them to know of additional security protocols that we were taking, in light of the robbery attempt.”
“Nothing was taken.”
“Correct. Each individual came in and verified such. I confirmed that with Deputy Granger.”
She looked at the list she’d written down from the files. Not for the first time, she wished Tommy had left clearer notes. She asked, “Did Tommy have specific questions about the safe deposit boxes that were accessed?”
“Nooo,” he said slowly, “though he did ask if we had records of the last time each box owner accessed their boxes.”
“And?”
“We do, but I couldn’t share that information without a warrant. I would have been happy to give it to him, but the original FBI warrant had expired. He said if he needed the information for his investigation, he’d return with a new warrant. As you know, we are happy to work with federal law enforcement in any criminal investigation, but documentation is critical to protect all parties.”
Banks were always forthcoming, but the rules were there for a reason.
She asked, “Did Deputy Granger tell you why he concluded Hannigan and Johns had known each other?”
“No specifics, just that he had uncovered evidence that they’d known each other prior to the robbery. I told him I was surprised because the FBI never told me anything about such a relationship.”
She wondered how closely they’d looked two years ago. Bad guy dead, they’d search his house, business, talk to his friends, co-workers. Cross thet’s and all that jazz. But nothing was missing—the robbery was a failure—and if they didn’t find something specifically incriminating that Hannigan was part of an organized network, then they’d close the case.
“Was there anything else?” she asked Van Horn. She hated open-ended questions because they rarely yielded anything, but she was scrambling.
“He simply confirmed my statement, and he had other statements from the witnesses and wanted to know if anything was missing. I couldn’t say—I mean, I don’t know what people recollect in a stressful situation.”
She understood the unreliability of witness statements. Fear messed with memories—it could heighten a specific memory, or someone might completely block out an incident.
Yet it was odd that Tommy would ask Van Horn about theotherwitness statements. She needed to print them out and study them. Did Tommy think that one of the hostages was lying?
She handed Van Horn her card. Well, nothercard, but one of Tommy’s where she had crossed out the front and written her name and cell phone on the back. Probably not kosher, but he had a box in his desk at home, and she’d grabbed a few in case she needed them. “If you remember anything else that you and Tommy discussed, please call me. That’s my cell phone.”
He took it. Stared for a minute. “One thing seemed a bit...well, no one had asked me the question before, and I had to think on it.”
She motioned for him to continue.
“Deputy Granger asked if Hannigan had approached any of the customers after he returned from the vault. I couldn’t say. I didn’tthinkso. When I reread my statement, I had indicated that Mr. Hannigan had paced the premises after he returned from the vault. He was agitated. I recall him walking back and forth in front of where the customers were tied up. My staff, and myself, were against the teller wall. The customers were forced to lie in front of the main doors—I assumed that was to make it harder for you all to enter.”
It was a standard bank heist tactic—put the hostages in the line of fire. But Regan had entered through the fire door in the back with her team. Some criminals didn’t know that law enforcement had special tools to access doors that appeared to have no way to open from the outside.
“And?”
“The gentleman, Brian Thompson was his name, the customer who was shot in the leg, he was lying on the floor, where the sitting area is now. He was separate from everyone else, I suppose, halfway between us staff and the other customers. Hannigan kept pacing back and forth between Mr. Thompson and the staff.”
