Deadly Details

“Brennan speaking.” the detective blurted into his cell phone. “Be right there. Come on Amanda. We're off to Mercy hospital. Seems that Trudy has taken a turn for the worse.”

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Amanda drove expertly through the afternoon drizzle. “Use the siren, if you like,” Brennan said and cleared his throat. “I've been meaning to tell you about what I did while you were drawing up the bank floor plan.”

“You found the bag of money up on the roof of the bank!”

“Not even close. I called Ronald and received new information about the Heffernan brothers. Seems they don't want a commensurate portion of the robbery money. They told Ronald they'd be happy if they were just given enough money to cover their expenses.”

“What expenses, S.B.?”

“Well, they invested in an ambulance from a junker dump. Then there's the two paramedic's uniforms, which Ed admitted were nothing more than ill-fitting painter's overalls and finally, two tanks of gas. Oh, plus the money Sterling and Ronald cheated them out of in that card game we keep hearing about.”

“Two tanks of gas?”

“They said they had to do several practice runs.”

“It's hard to tell who's cheating whom,” Amanda said. “Assuming the money isn't on the roof, where do you think it is, Sir?”
“My money's on the brothers, unless, in their haste to get Ronald to the hospital, they left the bag on the ground. Now they're claiming it was two thousand apiece they were cheated out of, and, rather than quibble, I'm inclined to comply with their wishes.”

“Very generous of you, Sir, but wouldn't that be stealing?”

“Is it really stealing if no one knows it was taken, like that 'if a tree falls in the woods' cundrum.”

“I don't think anyone knows how much money is in that bag, sir. What would be the point of counting, except to divvy it up?” Amanda said.

“Maybe they'll make a claim that they didn't receive enough of it? Amanda said. “The money is earning more interest, now, than when it was in the bank.”

Brennan leaned his seat back and closed his eyes. “I can picture Sterling with a smile on his face, as he opened the vault, this morning. He helps himself to as much money as he can stuff into the bag, pushing it down with all his strength, squeezing the life out of it to the point where he can scarcely find room to place the gun on top of the money and zip the bag shut.”

Brennan readjusts his seat to upright, “Here's another interesting thing about this case. Why didn't a legitimate ambulance company come by to pick up Trudy?”

“I know the answer to that one.”