-37-
“Detective, these robbers were in and out before we arrived. Not at all like the last ones. It's as if they had a playbook that was the exact opposite of the one those four guys used. They even used a similar mask for all three of them, Hillary Clinton as if they were taunting us? I mean this may have been the perfect crime.” The officer finished as Simone glanced up and saw that he'd been talking to Chase who must have just walked in.
“There is no perfect crime. We need to look at the tapes.” Chase told the detective. Simone froze where she was standing as she worried about what they would find on the tapes.
“We need to set them up in a room. Right this way,” Jackie led the men toward the back of the bank.
Simone watched the clock and waited as every single person had been interviewed. Almost an hour past while she waited too nervous to call her sisters. The plan was to all meet back at the house. There was no telling if her phone was bugged after that last robbery so she wasn't taking any chances. It's the little dumb things that get you caught. As she glanced around she saw one more employee going into the office, which meant that they were almost done. She wondered why they had left her for last.
“Ms. Simone Banks.” A female officer approached without waiting to confirm if it was the right person. Everybody else had been allowed to go home so who she was was obvious.
“Yes, that's me,” Simone volunteered and followed the officer down a hallway and into a back office that had been set up with Chase and another detective.
“You all right?” Detective Dugan questioned and smiled as she entered, his attempt at comforting her.
“I'm just really tired,” Simone told the detectives.
“This must be hard for you? Especially after that last robbery. And this one right behind it just doesn't make any sense. At least no one was shot this time.”
“Yes, thank God. I couldn't have handled that.”
“So Simone . . . I mean Ms. Banks, this is my partner Detective Franklin,” he motioned to the middle age white guy leaning against the wall watching her with an intensity that made her nervous.
“Hi, nice to meet you Ms. Banks,” he says all the while staring at her.
“Nice to meet you, too,” she answered trying not to avoid him. She knew that the detectives would look for signs of guilt.
“We need to ask you some questions about the robbery,” Chase said, starting to interview her. After last night this seemed so weird.
“Yes, of course. What do you need to know?”
“It doesn't make sense that anyone would hit the bank this soon after the last one. The one thing every one seems to agree on is that at least one of the suspects was a female, but there is a question about the others. Not everyone agrees on all of the suspects being female.” Simone didn't dare mention what had just gone through her head, which was that Ginger would go ballistic if they dared to suggest she wasn't a female even if she was pretending to be male.
“Yes, I thought it was two girls, too,” she agreed.
“Our first thought is that these might have been connected to the male bank robbers?”
“You think so?” She hadn't thought of that as a possibility.
“We were looking at the surveillance tapes and we couldn't help noticing a couple of things Ms. Banks,” Detective Franklin commented. She glanced over at Chase and saw him attempt to offer his support with a weak smile.
“Yes, what is that?” she asked trying to stop her voice from shaking and revealing that she was scared shitless.
“We noticed that for at least an hour prior to the robbery you kept glancing at the clock,” the detective questioned her. Simone had to think quick on how she would explain herself out of that .
“I had special plans tonight and I guess I couldn't wait. I spend a lot of time being independent not allowing myself to like anyone and the truth is I had a date last night with someone I liked and we were going out again tonight.” She caught Chase's eyes as he looked up at her curious about how much she would say.
“Really?” So you were watching the clock because you had a date?” Chase jumped in and asked her.
“Yes, I guess my secret is out. I was anxious about my date tongiht,” she coughed and then had to take deep breaths to stop herself from choking. She wasn't entirely lying. She really was looking forward to her date tonight, but she knew that wasn't the real reason she kept looking at the time.
“You all right?” Chase rushed over to the door. “Can you grab us some water?” When he returned he handed Simone a bottle of water.
“I just have this cough that comes and goes.”
“Wait. Ms. Banks, the reason you were looking up at the clock had to do with your excitement over a date? So you must really like this guy?” Chase questioned her watching her closely to see if she were embarrassed. Simone scrunched up her face, trying not to die of embarrassment.
“I like him enough to not want to talk about it. I don't know him well enough. I mean he could be a player for all I know.”
“But you like him?” he asked again while Detective Franklin watched the two of them like a tennis match. Suddenly it was as if a light bulb went off.
“Yes. I think so,” she admitted.
“Thank you Ms. Banks. That will be all. Partner why don't you walk Ms. Banks to her car. We can get in touch with her if we have any more questions.”
“You sure about that? I don't' want to step away if you need me?” Chase questioned his partner no doubt feeling self-conscious.
“I'll go and gather my things,” Simone explained and left the room with the two detectives watching after her.
“She's a beautiful woman Chase,” his partner teased him.
“Look, I only asked her out after she was cleared from the last robbery. I had no idea that the bank would get hit again and this would become an issue.”
“You like her, huh?” he asked putting Chase, who preferred to keep his work and business life separate on the spot. The two men worked exceptionally well together over the past four years, but where Franklin was married with children his partner could and had been accused of being wedded to his work, but the way he looked at Simone gave his partner some hope. He'd been talking to him about the importance of balancing work and home life and he hoped this meant that he was actually willing to make a change and to give this woman a chance.
“I do like her, but maybe it's a bad idea trying to mix these two things.”
“If I thought that was a problem I would be the first to tell you to proceed with caution. But there is no way that young lady had anything to do with this robbery I'd bet my badge on it. If you like her and from what I just witnessed I'd say that you do then you should go out with her. Hell, I haven't seen you light up at the sight of a woman in years and the way they throw themselves at you I would know.”
“You're right. But you really think it's going to be all right?”
“What you don't trust me now?” He gave his partner a stern look to go with his response.
“I'll be right back,” Chase agreed.
“Go. And take your time I want to look at this tape again.” He motioned his partner out of the room. It was nice to finally see something other than work on his mind if only for five minutes because they had a lot riding on this case.
Chase met Simone at the door.
“I'm around the back in the employee parking lot this time. I thought it was time I followed the rules. My boss isn't exactly team Banks.” Simone told him as they went around the building to her car.
“Look about tonight?” he began and she could tell that his mind was heavy so she finished his thoughts.
“It's not going to work for a date?” She smiled up at him. “I know you have your hands full. ” She smiled at him again.
“I do. You have no idea. The FBI is threatening to take this case away from us if we don't find the suspects within the next twenty-four hours,” he sighed looking real stressed about the situation, which made her feel torn because she knew that she was the reason for his problems.
“It's all right. I can have dinner with my sisters. I really need to get my mind off today,” she lied because what she needed was to help Bunny give Ghostman his money tonight.
“So now you're cancelling on me?” he looked a little confused and that actually confused her.
“But I thought that you were cancelling on me?” she answered and even though she wanted nothing more than to spend time with him she had something much more important on her plate at the moment.
“I might be a little later than I originally planned, but I will let you know. You're not getting rid of me so easily.” He leans in and gave her a kiss that turned passionate reminding them both of the chemistry they'd had last night.
“Wow?”
“Was that okay? I don't know after everything you went through today I thought it mightâ”
“Might what?” Simone asked cutting him off.
“Be nice. A reprieve from the heavy stuff we're both dealing with not to mention that I've been wanting to kiss you all day.”
“Good, because to me that is the best reason.” She smiled suddenly wanting to be wrapped up in his arms somewhere far away from this bank. Hell, far away from all of it if that were even possible.
“I got to get back in there. I will call you as soon as I can.” He opened her car door and waited until she got in and pulled away before heading back into the bank. The detective couldn't remember the last time he'd spent this much time thinking about anything besides work. Yes, Simone Banks certainly intrigued him, but even more than that she made him feel at home he thought as he reentered the crime scene.
He kept asking himself how the hell had the same bank been hit in such a short time?
“Nice of you to join us Detective,” FBI Agent Jonathan Marks, Detective Dugan's contemporary and nemesis quipped when he saw that Chase had come and appeared annoyed to discover him surveying the crime scene.
“What? You're not honoring the twenty-four hour threat your superior gave us? Is that how the FBI works these days?” Chase sneered at the man who proved to be a consistent thorn in his side always taunting the local police that they were inept when it came to doing their jobs.
“Oh, I'm so certain your team will fuck this up that I'm making sure none of the evidence is compromised.”
“Your blatant disrespect is getting old, Jonathan.” He looked down at the agent pleased to have a good four inches on him.
“You don't have a problem with it do you? Because I could call your Sergeant and talk to him?” he quipped watching his team collect whatever they could from the scene. All Detective Dugan could do was to watch the smug officer who had made a habit of stealing his cases to the point that he couldn't help but take it personally. Sure he'd been the one to make detective before Marks and that made him quit the police force and join the FBI, but you'd think making that leap would have satisfied him.
“I've got work to do,” Chase stepped around him and went to find his partner.
“Detective Dugan, tick-tock,” the agent warned him as he stormed off as much to get away from him as to try to find the bank robbers.
-38-
Simone left the bank and drove straight home. She knew that if for some reason the cops hadn't brought her story and put a tail on her she needed to go where she said she would be. Her nerves were completely shot as she pulled up in front of the house and parked.
“Dammit!” Simone noticed a new large for sale sign spiked into the grass in front of the house. She hated that damn Cassius Street and promptly added his name to the list of people she planned to make pay for their betrayal one day.
“We did it!” Ginger raced outside and jumped all over Simone as soon as she stepped out of her car.
“Stop!” she snapped at her sister. “We need to act cool in public.” She rushed Ginger inside the house.
“What happened at the bank after we left?” Bunny hurried down the stairs at the sound of Simone's voice.
“Well, Chase and his partner interrogated me for what seemed like forever. But then I could tell that they ruled me out.”
“Chase? We like Chase,” Tallhya kidded as they entered the living room. Simone blushed at someone else mentioning his name.
“Stop!” she warned her. “So as far as I could tell they didn't think it was three women. They thought that it could possibly be one woman and two guys.”
“See I said you two hoes act like men,” Ginger laughed clowning his sisters. “'Cause I'm the only real woman around here.”
“Ginger shut up. What else happened?” Bunny demanded. Simone understood why her sister sounded more stressed out than the rest of them, but she needed to fall back. This whole thing had taken its tole on her today.
“They did everything I said that they would, fingerprints, tire prints, they separated all of the employees, and interviewed us. It was like they were trying to catch us all in a lie, but they didn't know that I was the only one that knew anything.”
“So it was that easy?” Tallhya sounded shocked.
“Maybe it was beginners luck,” Ginger suggested.
“We can't ever do it again,” Simone preached to them. “This was so scary. My nerves are shot right now. You all have no idea how worried I was sitting in the bank after you three left. I just kept wondering if you were going to get caught and all of us would wind up behind bars. We risked our lives. I still can't beleive we did it.”
“But we did it for Bunny. Me-Ma was the first one to tell us that we needed to stick together and take care of each other no matter what,” Tallhya added.
“Shit, Me-Ma would not be okay with this, but it ain't like we had any other choice. We can't let somebody hurt our sister,” Ginger added, getting emotional as she went to hug Bunny.
“Thank you so much all of y'all. I can't believe we pulled it off. I mean this motherfucker would have no problem taking me out the way that he did with Reek, and you all saved me.”
“Shit, after what that asshole Walter did to me I needed to do something badass on some
Set it Off
shit. This new Tallhya ain't about to take no shit from nobody so jokers like Walter better watch their fucking backs.”
“Amen, my sister!” Simone, Bunny, and Ginger exclaimed as they went in for a group hug with Tallhya. Their was just one thing left to do before they could put all of this behind them.
“Guess it's showtime,” Bunny got up and went upstairs to get herself dressed. Simone didn't want to let her go alone, but this wasn't about to happen without a fight because her sister invented stubbornness.
“Either I come with you or you're not going and he'll have to come here to pick up his money,” she insisted, as Bunny stopped to weight what she said before taking a deep breath and answering.
“Fine you can drive with me, but you can't come inside,” Bunny demanded as she strapped on a pair of black tight jeans and black patent leather flat Louboutins.
“Damn, I wanna go,” Ginger came into the living room whining. The adrenaline of the day had her going nuts. She was ready to race all over town like a bat out of hell and cause all kinds of trouble, which is why her big sisters clipped her wings at least for the night.
“You need to stay put.” Simone warned.
“Damn, Sisi, you are getting in the way of my shit,” she complained. “If I hadn't robbed a motherfuckin' bank like a real pro I'd still be going out and getting my swerve on.”
“Well, then it's good you're being forced to take a break,” Bunny snapped giving her face and attitude. “Give your jaws a break from all that dick sucking.”
“And we need to let the heat cool down off that cash, too.” Simone piped in.
“So let me get this straight? All the money is too hot to mess with so that little shopping spree I wanted to go on is not going to happen?” She pouted at the idea that she wasn't going to be as fly as she had been earlier.
“Girl, stay your ass home. We can watch reruns of the news,” Tallhya came in from the kitchen eating a slice of peach cobbler pie. She plopped down on the sofa and clicked on the television flipping the channels for the news stations.
“So we good Bonnie?” Simone asked but it came out like more of a warning than a question. All three sisters turned to stare at this new version of their sister who had always been the rule follower with her head on straight.
“I hope you calling her Clyde 'cause my ass is Bonnie,” Ginger just couldn't stop herself from being drama, but they lived for her quips as they all broke out laughing.
“Bunny? You're going to pay off the thug who probably killed your boyfriend not a date,” Simone reminded her rolling her eyes.
“Yeah, well I want to keep him distracted so that he don't know what the fuck hit him until it's too damn late.”
“All right. Hurry up! Let's go.”
“Somebody is tryin'a get back in time for a late date,” Tallhya kidded her sister. “I can't believe that after everything that went down today you of all people got dick on the brains?”
“What's that supposed to mean?” Simone asked getting all huffy and bothered after all she was a living breathing female. Three sets of heads swiveled in her direction and served her some serious side eye. “What?” she asked still not getting why her sisters were messing with her. “I like him.”
“All we know is for the longest time we thought you were adopted, or Deidra had stolen you or something.” Tallhya tried to sugar coat what they had all been thinking.
“Girl, what she trying to say is that your mama Deidra is a ho and her fine-ass daughters are not that far behind her and we always wondered why your ass wasn't giving it away, too,” Ginger told her snapping her like it was just a given. Bunny jumped in with her piece.
“Well, I might not be as big a ho as some of you,” she said shooting looks at Ginger and Tallhya. “But we all got dick sucking skills in the blood and like to fuck except you 'cause you be so damn prissy. No biggie. We love you like a sister,” Bunny winked trying to make her laugh, but she was not pleased.
“For all your information I might look like a good girl in public, but I'm a real freak between the sheets. And if we were in a contest I would win on fellatio alone.”
“You can't even say sucking dick in public in case somebody hears you being inappropriate so I know you can't beat me,” Ginger teased loving the look of embarrassment on Simone's face.
“Can we go?” Simone rolled her eyes. “Later for all y'all and when I go on my date tonight I will remember this.”
“Why does she get to go out when I can't?” Ginger complained, but Simone turned to her, all attitude.
“Because I am going to find out exactly where they are with the case tonight and if that happens after the best sex I've ever had then great.” She laughed shooting a smug look at Ginger as she headed to the door. “That's why.”
The two sisters stepped out of the house and got into Bunny's Porsche. She hit the pedal and they were off. They had to stop and get the money from the storage place Ginger had rented earlier in the week. They had Ginger dress in men's clothing to rent the space as Gene in order to cover their tracks. Bunny had to give it to Simone since her Type-A Virgo personally made sure every single detail of the robbery had been covered.
Bunny left her car in the parking lot of a supermarket and they slipped into the store and came out the back exit where they got into an old Hyundai, a Craigslist purchase that Gene had also gotten for them. They drove the car to the storage locker and once they were inside Simone cut on the camping light she purchased a few days ago. There sitting on top of some crates were the bags of money.
“You need to check inside the bags to make sure there is no dye,” Bunny instructed her sister. “I can't get it on my hands because that would be it.” When all the money had been laid out Simone spotted the marked bills and grabbed them as they counted out the hundred grand.
“I want that motherfucker to pay,” Bunny seethed talking about Ghostman.
“Let's just make sure he doesn't kill you.”
They shoved the money in the plastic grocery bags and left. Bunny took out her phone and dialed.
“I'm on my way.”