Abba felt her pulse quicken when the road narrowed and became nothing more than a wide dirt path. Limbs of overgrown brush scraped the sides of her car as the road became progressively narrower. It had taken far longer than she thought it would and darkness had just entered the scene as Abba crept along. �One mile past the end of the paved road they had said, one mile,� she said as she was carefully watching the odometer.
Soon she came into a clearing and could see an outdoor light, a Sodium Vapor light off in the valley, �Hope that is it,� for there were no other lights visible to her other than her headlights.
After about fifteen or twenty minutes she drove up to the house. Two dogs a border collie and a part Dingo came out to meet her, and of course barking all the way. The barking dogs caused the outside flood lights to come on and she saw the front down open and close and as she set the parking brake and turned off the engine she saw him, saw her contact walking toward her car.
�Abba, Abba, I am Kin,� a tall thin man with a pony tail and wearing those durn baggy clothes spoke.
Hi Kin, I am Abba, my car OK here or should it be out of sight in the barn? The short chunky bleached blonde said as she rolled up the window, and then locked her car after she was out. Then shook hands, boy he had a weak handshake Abba thought.
She walked around, opened the trunk and took out two bags, one a nylon type suitcase and the other a large gear bag. She expected Kin to offer help but he didn�t. �Carry this bag for me,� she ordered and he obeyed. They started toward the house. Well it looked like a little cabin off of a postcard or from an old movie about Montana and ranching.
When they entered the house, Kin set the bag down, �Your room is the last one on the right, there is one john and we share.� Then he added, �That is Vie over there.� And he sat down in a ratty old looking rocker and focused on the television.
Abba looked at Vie, a tall thin, long stingy haired type with a gallon of makeup on. .�Hi Vie, what are you cooking? I am Abba.�
Vie looked at Abba, with the look on her face saying, �Damn fat one she is,� to herself, �Hey can you cook?�
Abba shook her head and went down the hall and found there were two bunk beds in the little room and from the looks of it Vie was her roommate. She threw her bag on a bunk and then sat the gear bag on the floor next to it. After a pit stop and washing her face and combing her hair she went back into the main room. She went to the kitchen area, which was in the rear corner.
�What is the problem,� Abba asked as she noticed that the stove was one of those old fashioned wood/coal stoves, a big old range they called them.
�How does this work?� Vie asked as she pointed to the table where there were TV dinners, pizza and some hot pockets.
Abba just shook her head. �Kin, Kin, do you know how to split wood and kindling?� He did not move. Half an hour later she had wood and coal and a good fire going in the old range. She saw three gallons of wine and two cases of beer on the floor next to the table. She grabbed a beer, popped the top and drained about half of the can, �Buuuuuuurp.� And she took what they had and made some supper,
When the pizza was done Kin came in got two pieces and went back to his chair and watching TV. Vie sat down with two TV dinners and three burritos, �Thanks momma,� she said as she poured a quart mason jar full of Chablis.
After they had eaten, Abba, heated water and washed up and put away the rest of the food, which had been dumped, on the table. �Where are JP and Bill?� she asked. Vie when she finished eating had just left her dirty stuff on the table and gone in and sat down on the couch and started watching the Television.
Abba asked again but louder, �Where are JP and Bill?� Again no reply.
She walked over to the Television, reached over and turned it off. �Why did you do that?� Kin said.
Vie just yelled, �Turn the thing back on.�
�Where are JP and Bill?� She stood akimbo with that school teacher look on her face.
�They will be here later, they had to catch a later flight, JP had to go see her Doc she had the sniffles,� Kin replied as he looked like a small child who had been reprimanded.
�Thank you,� Abba replied, and then turned the Television back on. She walked out on the porch and sat down, having three quick smokes before retiring to her bunk with a Mary Stewart book she had picked up.
About ten the other two sowed up, JP had the sniffles all right, she looked like death warmed over and Bill had a bandage on his left hand, car door. Abba had a bad feeling about this job, a really bad feeling. But a meeting was held to go over the procedures.
Kin would drive the van and would put the decals on it, then he would climb the pole, which fed the telephone lines and computer links to the bank, and would, when Abba was ready, splice in when Abba gave him the signal. When Abba had control over the computer and the alarm circuits she would give JP the go and JP and Vie would enter the bank, and go to the manager�s office and announce they were the advances for the FDIC audit team.
Bill would drive the van and pull up in front, and take out the two canvas bags and take them into the bank. He would activate the devices in each bag and immediately don his mask after giving the signal to JP and Vie who would don their masks.
The vault opened at eight, so it would be opened. Vie would spray the Manager and he would be bound and gagged, then the three would empty the vault, wheel the loot to the van,
As soon as Abba saw the van drive off she would give control back over to the bank, and Kin would unhook the taps, get off the pole and drive away, with Abba following. They would take different routes back to the house. Back here they would split the take and then each would go their separate way. Not spending any money for six months, and then only spending it in a foreign country.
They went over it step by step, step by step, and at two they went to bed. Not much sleep when you had to be at your best. JP then inspected each ones clothing and shoes, she was a stickler on not wearing the correct shoes for the occasion. Abba, although she would be sitting in the car, had a specific uniform, a navy blue suit with padded shoulders, white blouse, and above the knee skirt, with low pumps and her hair stuck under a beret, so she would look like a city or power company employee. Kin had a snazzy uniform with logos on his shirt and a Montana State baseball cap with heavy work shoes.
Six came early and five of them vying for the one bathroom was a hoot, especially since three were females and Kin and Bill the male representatives. By seven they were ready, had some breakfast and had rehearsed their roles. Abba and JP had fixed a pretty good breakfast. Then it was clean the house of prints and any clues, which could link any of them to the event. Before they started each put on rubber gloves and were not to take them off till they were back at their own homes.
Then they were off, headed toward town. The town was not a large one, maybe five or seven thousand, but it did have the regional bank for the area and sugar beet season was to start, so the bank had an exceptionally large amount of cash in its vault to cover the harvest, for the locals liked to be paid in cash as they had been paid for the past century.
Kin drove up to the bank and �Oh my god,� there was a telephone crew working there, and a person was on the pole.
JP and Vie were ready to enter the bank and of course Abba was parked in front of Kin�s van. �Just wait a few, maybe they will be done,� JP radioed. After ten minutes Kin climbed out of his van and walked over, �What�s the problem?�
He yelled to the man on the pole.
�Oh Hi, the bank has some interference and the phone lines are clean,� the man on the pole replied.
Not missing a beat, Kin replied, �Yeah, I think it is the J-436-B, we have had problems with them, and I am here because the bank put a frantic call into the dispatcher.� Of course Kin had a clipboard with a work order on it.
�Really, good, in that case if you can handle it, I have 32 other calls I am scheduled for today.� And with that he put his gear back into his little satchel and lowered his bucket back to the roof of his truck.
�Yeah that is the problem they give us more than we can even think of handling.� Kin said in a light hearted manner. �I have been working the road project to the west and we are not pushed, well pushed as of yet.� Kin studied the telephone man, he was intent on his job and not paying much attention to Kin. �I am pretty sure I can clear it up in a couple minutes.�
The phone man already had his bucket secured and was getting into his truck, �Good luck, see you later,� and he was gone. Immediately Kin was up the pole and had severed the Bank�s connections to the outside world, while Abba was playing telephone operator and feeding the security and alarm systems.
As soon as the telephone truck started its engine, JP and Vie were in front of the bank. �Splice made,� Kin reported.
Thirty seconds later, Abba said, �Got control, go� and JP and Vie were into the bank and the bank manager�s office while Bill was pulling in front of the bank.
Bill�s van looked just like the new armored cars, and with his two bags entered the bank. Bill activated the canisters, �Pop� her reported as he quickly donned his mask. Thirty seconds, forty-five seconds, one minute and everyone in the bank except for the three in masks were in sleepy town, all unconscious.
Quickly the cart was filled with bags and bags of bills, and the three moved to the front door. �Coming out� was the word. Quickly but in a nonchalant manner JP and Vie got into their car and departed, as Bill loaded the sacks into the van, and he too when he was in the cab, radioed, �Done�
With Bill�s done, Kin severed the phone lines, and when Abba gave the OK, Kin put a dummy box on the alarm and computer link lines. Kin descended the pole, got in his truck and left, and then seeing no movement Abba did the same. But as Abba drove past, she noticed four people entering the bank. She hoped the virus she had put in the police department computers would do their job.
Within a half hour all five were back at the cabin, with the vehicles all in the barn and cattle grazing around the house and barn. The kitchen table was cleared and the money laid out and counted, $2,455,250 in cold cash and only a small portion in new bills.JP as always agreed upon gets a triple share for being the brains and setting it up. Most was used currency. While the counting was taking place, the decals were being removed from the vehicles and the robbery clothes were Shredded by a paper shredder and placed in a lead weighted duffle bag. Each person�s share was put in a gym bag. As planned, Kin and Vie left first, then JP and Bill, and finally Abba. First she would go over the house and barn, cleaning and making sure there was no evidence left behind.
Abba put the duffle with the shredded clothes and decals in the trunk of her car, then she drove to Bayouville where she turned in her 92 Taurus to Rent a Wreck, and then she bought a an 88 Chevy Pickup truck, paying for it with a bank draft and a little cash. She then stopped in State Park, and changed clothes, taking off her man�s clothing and becoming Marcie Ray Jenkins, a school teacher on vacation.
Four months later the FBI made five arrests with respect to the Calliope Bank robbery. A graduate Electrical Engineering student at the University of California (KIN), a fashion Model in New York (VIE), a Truck Driver in Atlanta (BILL), A High School Business teacher and mystery writer in Tempe (ABBA), and a Police Lieutenant in Pittsburgh (JP), were taken into custody and charged with the robbery. How they were caught and how the case was solved, was credited to T Zubroud a Deputy sheriff in the county where the robbery took place.
Here are the key clues T Zubroud found and were used to solve the ribbery:
- JP wore a signet ring, FBI Academy graduate
- Vie had a unique little neck pendant (Julliard Honor Society)
- Kin�s use of the word �surfophobic�
- Bill�s surveillance picture was recognized from him winning a Safe driver award.
- Abba�s boyfriend became suspicious when she kept questioning him about a certain model security systems, and when he was sent to the robbed bank she got sweaty and was ill at ease.
Tom Zubroud's dream every since he was a young boy was to become and FBI agent. He had attended a decent school and majored in Criminal Justice. But when he applied to the FBI, he was turned down because his hearing was not up to par and they found he was partially colorblind. This had decimated Tom, and he had returned home and through sheer nepotism had gotten a job in the Sheriff�s department. Tom worked first in the jail, and then he was promoted to taking prisoners to the courthouse for trial. Eventually after a small departmental scandal he was promoted to Deputy Sheriff, Patrolman. He went at police work with vengeance, and when he was sent on a call where some dynamite had been stolen from a construction sight, he solved the crime and broke a burglary ring, which had been around in the county for years.
The new Sheriff kept and eye on Tom and then he solved three crimes, which had remained unsolved for three years. That is when the Sheriff promoted him to Sergeant, Investigative Division, a division of one. Six months later Tom was promoted to Lieutenant and given a Sergeant assistant. Tom would not take the job until he was allowed to select his own assistant. When the Sheriff balked at sending the assistant Tom had selected to the FBI Academy short course, Tom went to the people who he had helped by solving crimes against them and soon the Sheriff relented. He did so when the cost, full cost of three town businessmen and a wealthy widow financed the training course.
The assistant he had selected was a young departmental file clerk fresh out of the Community College with an AA in Criminal Justice but who was very smart and had helped Tom in his investigations, helped him mostly on her on time. Ellen Houllihan arrived back in town the day after the big bank heist and when she reported in to the Sheriff the next morning she was promoted to Sergeant Investigation Division. There was no departmental money for Ellen to have a car, so she drove her old Red Ford pickup; her dad gave her in high school; however she did get mileage.
�Tom the bank robbery is a Federal Offense, so the FBI will investigate, and we will only help where asked,� the Sheriff had stated in no uncertain terms.
�Sir may I have my two weeks leave, and I will work on the case on my own time. If I am needed I will come back to work and work on the County work, which has priority.�
�Have at it, and you can use our resources as long as it doesn�t cost any over time,� the sheriff replied.
Tom quickly got a copy of the bank�s surveillance tapes, and then interviewed everyone who had seen or spoken to the culprits. The Bank Manager was quick to point out that the lead person was wearing a FBI academy ring, and the assistant a tall thin woman had a funny looking necklace thingy. The tall thin woman carried herself like a ballet dancer and was very precise in her movements. Tom drew and sketched till he had it. Tom also got a copy of the surveillance tape from the manager�s office, three different tapes with audio. Quickly he found good shots and soon Ellen had faxed the picture of the lead woman to the FBI and within an hour she received a reply that was Lt Jane Paulman, who was with the Pittsburgh City Police Department.
Ellen called her Aunt Constance in Philadelphia and faxed her the sketch. The next day Aunt Constance called and told her it was like the Julliard coveted Honor society pendant and sent her a picture of hers. A fax to Julliard of the surveillance photo resulted in Vie being Victoria Jean Klingersburg, a fashion model, who now resided in New York City. Miss Klingersburg had broken her leg and could not dance ballet but she was a quite successful fashion model.
The Telephone repairman gave a detailed description of Kin, and what struck him funny was that his office had not been told of any others working in town, and his supervisor knew of no construction by that company within their area. The telephone repairman just said, �He looked and talked like a young California dude, and my sister who go to UC Berkley was saying that when she was home at Christmas, it was slang for all messed up The sketch was sent to the Berkeley police and the UC campus police, and it turns out one of the policemen remember seeing a person who fit the sketch from a call for a loud party four days after the robbery.
Tom was talking to a man from the computer and security system company, a new state of the art integrated system and asking him about what was new and what wasn�t working. �This is one strange robbery, they were knowledgeable about the system and when Tom said that the man who did the system override talked of a problem with a J-436B unit,
The systems engineer went green at the gills. �That is a secret unit, how did he learn of it? I need a drink.�
�Hey it is that time, lets go have one,� Tom offered and they went to Nell�s and Tom ordered a large pitcher and two mugs. They sat and chatted and then Tom said he was trying to find some information on a woman who was near the bogus repair truck, a woman who had on a funny looking uniform.
�Could you describe her please?� the systems engineer asked. Tom read what he had and again the man went green.
�My girlfriend went to see her sister in Des Moines last week and it fits her description.� He drank a half mug of beer. �Just between you and I, she has been quite interested in the system your bank has for the last month, and she has been asking me all sorts of information about it and; how it works. But she is a school teacher and a writer.� Tom got her name address and the systems engineer loaned him her picture.
The next day three people who walked down the street while Abba was sitting there identified the woman in the car, the woman in the uniform.
The receiving clerk, who the Armored truck driver reported, said the man was new and different from the normal two men who usually came to the bank. He was talkative and a couple things he said in their brief conversation were terms her husband a truck driver used. An agent who had worked on a truck hijacking case and had been undercover say the surveillance photo and laughed, �No, no, no way, that is Bill Witherspoon, a Trucker for JPS,� and then he went to his desk and dug out a box from the case and there on the front of the Trucker�s Safety magazine was the Armored truck driver.
Tom and the agent in charge sat down and went over Tom�s data and information. Now it was the FBI�s turn to tie them to the crime. Tom went back to work the next day only to find he had not been on vacation but had been assigned to the case. The next week Ellen was issued a plain wrapper car.
During their investigation it was found the five had awful big bank accounts and IRAs for their normal livelihood. They had pulled off twelve heists. And if people really want to hear about them, they too could be chronicled.
