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“Outside Potomac Bank in Arlington. I talked to the manager, Van Horn, who confirmed that Tommy suspected that Becca Johns was an inside accomplice to the robbery. Based on the other questions Tommy asked him, Tommy also suspected that Hannigan had a second partner inside the bank that day.”
“Another teller?” Charlie said, eyebrows dipped in confusion.
“One of the customers. Brian Thompson.”
“The guy who was shot in the leg?”
She nodded, sat at Charlie’s computer. “Do you mind?” She motioned for him to type in his password.
He punched it in. “What are you looking for?”
“I want to talk to Brian Thompson. His name wasn’t highlighted in Tommy's notes, and he had no meetings with him on his calendar, but he could have talked to him.” She typed in the name, and a record popped up.
Reading over her shoulder, Charlie said, “He’s dead.”
Thompson had no criminal record, but they had access to the death record. “He was killed in a car accident six months after the robbery,” she said, reading the notes. A weather-related three-car crash, and Thompson had been the only fatality when his car spun off an icy bridge. He’d died instantly, per the ME report. No drugs or alcohol in his system, but signs of sudden cardiac arrest. He’d been thirty-six, not overweight, worked out daily, yet a heart attack may have contributed to the accident.
“Brian Thompson was shot during the attempted bank heist,” Charlie reminded her. “If he was working with Hannigan, why shoot him?”
“So we didn’t realize they were working together. It’s an old gestapo trick.”
“Quoting classic movies now?”
“Doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.”
“Still,” Charlie said, “a long shot. Almost to the point of being unbelievable.”
“Maybe. Yet... Hannigan went into the bank with allegedly no partners. He used Becca Johns—who Tommy learned had known Hannigan prior to the robbery—to break into five safe deposit boxes. Nothing was taken, per the box owners. He then shot and killed Johns for no apparent reason.”
“He didn’t plan it through. Criminals aren’t always the smartest tacks. What he wanted wasn’t in the boxes and the guy freaked out. Maybe our response time was faster than he expected.”
“What if—” she began turning over possibilities in her head “—it wasinformationthat Hannigan was after? He could have taken photos of something and passed it off to Thompson. Or he really did take something from the box, but the owner didn’t want to acknowledge it later. Thompson was taken to the hospital right away—not interviewed until hours after the situation was wrapped up. He would have had plenty of time to hide or pass off a document or flash drive or extra cell phone—something he could fit in his pocket.”
“I see where you’re going with it, but it’s still an out-there theory. And why kill Becca? All the witnesses stated that Hannigan was agitated, upset. That suggests that whatever he expected to find wasn’t in those boxes. Why kill his accomplice?”
Thompson was dead; he wasn’t talking. Could he have been working with Hannigan? Maybe, she thought. But there was no evidence to support the theory, and Tommy had left no notes regarding Thompson. Unless she found more evidence that Thompson had been involved—or knew either Hannigan or Becca—then she had to shelve the theory.
“There’s something else I learned since we talked yesterday. I pulled Tommy’s cell phone records from his billing information on his computer. He’d been talking to my ex-husband, Grant, several times over the last three weeks. According to Tommy’s calendar, they had a meeting days after he talked to Peter Grey. Speaking of Grey—did you get through to the warden? When can we meet with him?”
“I put in the call. Told the warden’s office exactly what we want. If I don’t hear back by the morning, I’ll call again.”
“I appreciate it, Charlie.” She picked up the files of the safe deposit box owners. “Tommy had these names listed in one of his notepads, and he asked Van Horn about them. I’m going to head back to Tommy’s house, do some more research.”
“He didn’t have any more detail?”
“No. Whoever killed him took his phone, took his laptop—He must have had any notes with him.”
“That is a far more plausible theory than JohnsandThompson both being accomplices.”
“Both things can be true,” she said. “But either way, I’ll find the truth.” She had to—for Tommy.
Fourteen
Jenna woke up Wednesday morning in the cabin she’d rented feeling disorientated and out of place. She’d left her house for two nights, no plans, no idea what she was going to do or who she was going to call. Last night she had been positive that the only answer was calling the FBI with the information she knew about Deputy Granger...but what did she really know? She didn’t know anything about his murder! She only knew what he had been investigating.
Still, the news report was clear.Anyinformation about Deputy Granger or his murder would be important for the police to know.
She weighed all this as she walked the short distance from the one-room cabin to the small lodge where they provided breakfast and coffee. After her restless sleep she needed the coffee, and after not eating much of anything yesterday she realized she was starving. She filled a plate with eggs and sausage that had sat on the warmers for a little too long. Orange juice, coffee, toast. She ate, not really tasting the food, and after her third cup of coffee, Jenna walked back to her cabin determined to find out what happened to Tommy Granger. She called the FBI phone number that had been on the TV news report about Granger’s death.
