Every Second

16

Roseoak Park, New York

Like a band of protective angels, the group had encircled two distraught women.

Kate Page counted seven women dressed in jackets, skirt suits and blazers, hugging their two troubled friends and looking around worriedly, as if searching for answers to what had befallen Branch 487 of SkyNational Trust Banking.

Some of them were smoking. It must’ve been the reason they were now outside, gathered at one end of the parking lot, deep in the corral of emergency vehicles.

Kate heard Gabe’s camera clicking as he shot frame after frame.

They’d come directly from the Fulton house to the branch. Kate had to find out what exactly had taken place in the bank this morning.

How does an upstanding man like Dan Fulton come to rob his own branch with bombs strapped to him and his family? What’s the driving force behind this?

Kate deduced that the women clustered at the far side of the lot were bank employees. The two upset women they were consoling had to be staff members who’d been present when Fulton took the money.

Little chance I can talk to anybody in that group.

Given their defensive posture and the fact they were enclosed in a fortress of patrol cars and surrounded by an array of police, Kate considered her options as Gabe left her to scout better positions.

Searching the area for any news competitors, Kate saw two TV news trucks at one end of the lot; a car from one of New York’s all-news radio stations was next to it, along with cars from the New York Daily News and the Queens Chronicle.

This isn’t going to be easy.

At the front of the bank, customers were trickling up to the sign posted at the door that informed them the branch was closed. After reading it and taking a few minutes to scope out the police presence, they left.

But one man didn’t.

He headed down the lot toward the group of distraught women. One staff member broke from the cluster, met him near some parked cars, hugged him and talked for a few moments before returning to her friends. As the man came back through the lot, Kate moved quickly toward him, using the cars to shield her so she wouldn’t be seen by the other reporters.

“Sir, excuse me, sir!”

The man went to her.

“I’m Kate Page with Newslead. I understand there was a robbery-do you know much about it?”

The man gave her question some thought. He appeared to be in his sixties. He had a sturdy frame, a handsome, craggy face and white hair with sideburns.

“My daughter called me not too long ago,” he said. “I just came down to see that she’s all right. She was one of the two tellers on duty when it happened.”

“Is she okay, sir?”

“Thank heaven, yes. She’s shook-up, though. It’s quite a jarring thing.”

“Could I get your name?”

“Ernest Beeson.”

“Could you spell that for me?”

The man did and Kate asked for his daughter’s name.

“Jolleen Ballinger, but she goes by Jo.”

Beeson spelled out her name.

“Did she tell you what happened?”

“I guess the manager came in and just walked out with a lot of cash.”

“Anything more?”

Beeson shrugged. “That’s about it.”

Kate glanced at the group in the distance.

“Mr. Beeson, do you think Jo would talk to me for a second?”

He stuck out his bottom lip. “I suppose you could go over there and ask her yourself.”

“I think we’d both prefer if she and I talked here, where it’s a bit private.” Kate touched his arm. “Would you consider asking her to join us here for a moment? You could tell her I’d be happy to share what I’ve learned about the Fultons.”

Beeson glanced toward his daughter.

“No harm in asking, I suppose. The girls are just waiting there for other investigators.”

Beeson went to the group, talked to his daughter and pointed to Kate. Immediately, Jo Ballinger’s attention, and that of some of the others, shot to Kate, who was standing seven or eight parked cars away. Several moments passed before Beeson accompanied his daughter to Kate, who introduced herself.

Jo Ballinger was uneasy.

“I don’t want my name in the papers. You can’t use my name.”

“I’ll just say a source close to the case.”

“Okay, but I really can’t tell you much,” Jo said. “I shouldn’t be talking to you, but Dad said you knew something about what’s happened?”

“I know a little, Jo, and I’ll help you if you help me, okay?”

“I will if I can. Did they find Dan?”

“Not yet. The SWAT team and bomb squad searched his house.”

Jo cupped her hands to her face.

“They found nothing. No sign of Dan, his wife or his son,” Kate said.

“Oh, my God!”

“Can you tell me what happened here earlier this morning? You were there when it happened, right?”

“Yes. This is my week to open with Annie, Annie Trippe, the head teller. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say.”

“Jo, I’m going to get most of the details anyway. You can help me make sure I get it right. I won’t use your name at all.”

Jo hesitated and bit her bottom lip. “Well, we went through our usual procedure for opening, then Dan came in and told Annie there was an inventory problem at South Branch. He drafted a directive for her to cosign about an emergency interbranch transfer that he was going to deliver himself.”

“So he planned to personally take the money himself to the other branch?”

“Yes.”

“Is that how transfers are usually done?”

“No, of course not! It’s a violation of procedure. Annie refused to sign it.” Jo glanced at the group. “I don’t know if I should be telling you this… I should get back.”

“Wait, Jo, just a few more seconds. Do you know how much money was going to be transferred?”

Jo hesitated before answering in a quiet voice, “A quarter million.”

“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars?”

“Yes. He just walked into the vault, put the cash in a bag and walked out.”

“So, what about the bomb he was supposedly wearing? Did he say anything about bombs?”

“He wrote a note on the directive, I guess so Annie would see it. Something about being held hostage, and that they all-him and his family-had bombs strapped to them. I really should get back.”

“Hang on, take these.” Kate reached into her pocket and gave Jo several business cards. “Pass them to your coworkers and ask them to call me. I’ll share any updates when I get them. Okay?”

Jo nodded and rejoined the group accompanied by her father, who’d decided to wait with her. Kate was glad to see Jo passing out her cards and the others glancing toward her. She was relieved that no other reporters had seen her interview Jo.

Kate used the hood of a car and reviewed her notes, confident that she now had the inside track on the story. She called the newsroom and asked for Reeka. It took a few seconds to transfer the call.

“Reeka Beck.”

“It’s Kate at the bank.”

“What do you have?”

“Dan Fulton, manager of the SkyNational Trust Banking in Roseoak Park, Queens, takes a quarter million dollars from his own branch after scrawling a note that ‘they’ have placed bombs on him and his family.”

“That’s solid? You’ve got it confirmed, Kate?”

“A person who was there when it happened detailed it for me. I don’t think anyone has what we have, Reeka. I think this is a national interest case. We don’t know where the manager is, or where his wife and nine-year-old son are. They’re all believed to be strapped with bombs, and no one seems to have a clue who’s behind it all.”

“Okay, get this on our news budget and give me a story within the hour. Did we get art with it?”

“Yes. Gabe Atwater’s got some dramatic stuff.”

“All right.”

“There’s still a few people I need to talk to.”

“I want a story in an hour, Kate. You can update through the day.”

“And the conference?”

“We’ll send a stringer.”

Kate ended her call.

As she turned to look for Gabe, she stepped directly into FBI agent Nick Varner.

“You’re something else, Kate, I’ll give you that.” He was tapping her business card in his hand and shaking his head. “You want to know everything, and you want to know it now.”

“I’m a reporter, Agent Varner. It’s what I do.”

“You’re doing a helluva job.”

“Well, that’s what I’m paid for. What’s your problem, anyway?”

“I’m telling you for the last time.” Varner jabbed a finger toward Kate. “Do not jeopardize this case.”

“And I’m telling you, I’m not going away.”