CHAPTER ELEVEN

“I’m not sure whether to be offended or flattered by this conversation,” smirked Ghost.

“Grandpa, I’m serious. Up until a few days ago, these people were just bank robbers. Today, they are officially wanted for murder. What would possess people in their sixties and seventies to do this, other than the obvious of money?”

“Well, I think that is the obvious, honey,” said Ghost. “Not everyone is as fortunate as we are. We had Code pull some information for American seniors. Median income for older adults is around $29,740, with men earning $37,430 and women earning $24,630.”

“Why do women earn less?” asked Emelia.

“Most women in this age group didn’t work outside the home, or if they did, they worked at a much lower wage for a shorter period of time. Men just happen to have more in social security benefits and more in retirement benefits.”

“That’s not fair!” screamed Em.

“Hey, I’m just the messenger,” smirked Ghost. “About five point nine million people over the age of sixty-five live below the poverty level. Most older Americans receive income from a variety of sources, including Social Security, pensions, retirement plans, annuities, and life insurance contracts.”

“Here’s something very interesting,” said Ian. “Eleven point two million people over sixty-five are working or actively looking for work. Most people are earning around sixty-three thousand a year after taxes, but those above the age of seventy-five earn far less. Around forty-seven thousand a year.”

“Considering the cost of living today, the rising costs of owning or renting a home, this doesn’t leave much wiggle room for retirees to enjoy their golden years,” said Grace. “We have an entire generation of people who should be playing golf and tennis, playing with their grandchildren, but are forced to have additional income just to eat and afford their medications.”

“This is so disturbing,” frowned Leif.

“Tell me about it,” growled Nine. “Those age groups are everyone on our team. We are beyond fortunate that we don’t have to beg for jobs and prove to some twenty-something-year-old kid that we’re worthy of a job. But that’s not the case for everyone.”

“If you want my opinion,” said Gaspar, “I’m going to bet that your senior bank robbers were figuring out that their retirement funds weren’t as great as they thought. They weren’t going to be able to afford to live as long as they hoped in the way they wanted to live. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m just saying I understand what they’re feeling.”

“Uncle Gaspar, they killed two agents,” said Em.

“I know, honey. They’ll need to face justice for that. You asked why they would do this. I think that’s why. Once we can find financials on all these people, we’ll have a clearer view of the real reasons.”

“I have the financials on Helen,” said Hiro. “She’s been a widow for ten years. When her husband, Stuart Aikens, died, all he had was a life insurance policy. They’d dipped into their 401k several times to help their children.”

“Are you kidding me? So they risked their retirement to help their kids, but their kids won’t help them?” said Emelia.

“I don’t know the reasons, Em,” said Hiro, “but it looks that way. The life insurance policy covered the funeral expenses, and it looks like she paid off two major credit cards and her house.”

“Well, that’s good. Her home was paid for,” said Em. They all smiled at her, and she knew she’d missed something.

“Em, they’d lived in their home for more than thirty years. Repairs, updates, maintenance on a house that old can be overwhelming.”

“And it looks like it was,” said Hiro. “Four years ago, she had to sell the house for far less than it was worth. It needed a new HVAC system, a new roof, some electrical work, all high-dollar items that she couldn’t afford. She sold the house, and it looks like she moved into an apartment after that. She left the apartment thirteen months ago, but there is no forwarding address.”

“She would have had to have provided that to the bureau,” said Em.

“They still have the apartment as her address,” said Hiro. “I hate to say this, but I’m guessing that she moved in with her friends, just like she told you. She just didn’t tell anyone else. As of three days ago, she had seven hundred in her checking and around twenty-three hundred in her savings.”

“Are you kidding me? She makes a good living here,” said Em.

“Em, she makes a good living if she has no other expenses like medicine, car payments, all the other daily and monthly things. Obviously, they’re putting the money from the robberies somewhere else.”

“I just feel as if there’s more to this than we know. Good people who have worked hard their entire lives don’t just wake up one day and decide to rob a bank. Like you said, this is out of character for Helen, at least. There has to be some life-changing event for them that provoked this.”

“You bring up a good point,” said Nine. “Maybe one of them is sick and needs care that isn’t provided for in their healthcare plans. Or they could be hoping to get an experimental treatment of some sort.”

“I suppose any of those are possibilities. I’d like to speak with Helen’s children as well to see if they’ve heard from her,” said Em.

“I’ll keep searching facial recognition for the four that were at the bank. Helen’s face was not one of them, so maybe they were using her as their watchdog at the bureau.”

“Sounds like we have a plan,” said Sebastian. “Maybe take teams of two to interview the banks that were recently robbed. We’ll start looking into the other members of Helen’s little gang and see what we can find out.”

“Listen, these are senior citizens, but they’re highly capable people. Everyone needs to watch their backs,” said Ghost.

“We will, Grandpa. I love you,” smiled Em.

“I love you, too. Sebastian? Don’t fuck this up. Bring my granddaughter home and marry her.”

“That’s my plan, sir.”