CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Well, I think it seems obvious that all of these robberies are connected, which means they’ve been robbing banks for at least a couple of years. Hiro texted to say that he has some information for us when we’re free,” said Sebastian.

“Let’s give him a call,” nodded Chief.

“Morning, everyone,” said Hiro. “I’ve got at least some good news for us, or at least a place to start. We have the names of our robbers. We were able to get facial recognition from the street cameras and match it to recent camera footage at a local hospital.”

“Damn. It’s what we thought then. Someone is sick,” said Hex.

“Someone was sick. The hospital was the VA,” said Hiro. The silence in the room was deafening as they all stared at one another. “I know it sucks, but the patient they were seeing was at the VA hospital in Pennsylvania.”

“Tell us everything, Hiro,” said Em.

“We already know about Helen Aikens. She’s been a civil servant for her entire career. She’s been active in her community, she is an avid bridge player, and along with a group of friends, they won four national tournaments. They take this shit seriously. She’s in a book club, and she plays golf once a week. Sounds like she lives a pretty good life. Except that she shares her home with four other people.

“Ed Morgan, Myrtle Cunningham, Jeffrey Banks, and Mac Steiner.”

“None of them are married?” asked Emelia. “I mean, I guess it doesn’t matter. I just thought there would be couples involved.”

“There was at one time. Mac Steiner was married to Estelle Steiner. She was a veteran. The veteran at the hospital. An Army nurse with more than thirty years of service. She developed metastatic breast cancer five years ago. They did a bilateral mastectomy, three rounds of chemotherapy, two rounds of radiation, and it still spread to her brain.

“There was a new drug and treatment regimen available in Germany, but the VA nor Medicare would pay for it. That was in May two and a half years ago. The first bank robbery was August of that year. She was flown to Germany two weeks later and died in the hospital there. It was too late.”

“Damn. Damn,” muttered Sebastian. “They not only tried to save their friend, but they were also too late and, most likely, blame Medicare and the VA.”

“It looks that way. She and Mac were married for more than fifty years. They were part of the friend group with the others. When she died, Mac lost the house, and his driving privileges were revoked at the request of his nephew, who was handling his estate. It looks like he took almost all of Mac’s money and disappeared.”

“Little shit. I’d like to get my hands on him,” said Chief.

“Same,” nodded Hiro. “It was after that when Mac moved into the house that was being shared by Ed, Myrtle, and Jeffrey. Ed Morgan is a retired employee of the Treasury. He was an analyst for almost forty years. He never married. He has no children. Myrtle Cunningham was married to one of Ed’s best friends. Nick Cunningham was also an employee of the Department of the Treasury. He died suddenly of heart failure three years ago.

“Jeffrey Banks is the most interesting of all of these to me. He was a cop in Baltimore for twenty-five years, then had a second career in security, specifically in electronic security systems.”

“So, he’s the guy disrupting the alarms and cameras,” said Sebastian.

“He’s my bet,” said Hiro. “Once I had this information, Jean and Ella were able to dig in and find the financials we needed. At face value, their bank accounts are average. A few hundred in checking, a few thousand in savings. Nothing out of the ordinary for retirees. In fact, it’s probably generous for many retirees.”

“So where is the money?” asked Emelia.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Every month, they donate to a non-profit organization called The Silver Fund. The Silver Fund is designed to help seniors in financial distress. Now, their donations up until now have been no more than fifty bucks a month. But that’s just what we can see.

“When Jean dug into The Silver Fund and their donors, he noticed that between eight and twelve days after a bank was robbed, The Silver Fund received donations of almost the exact amount stolen from the bank.”

“Who heads The Silver Fund?” asked Sebastian.

“We’re trying to find that information now. It’s very secretive, almost like a club. But here’s the interesting thing, the thing that might make us all pause for just a moment. They’ve helped thousands of senior citizens who were at risk of losing their homes, food deprived, or needing medical treatment not covered by their retirement. Thousands.”

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit,” muttered Chief. “I do not want to do this. I do not want to stop something good, but they’ve been robbing banks, and they killed two agents!”

“We have to find them,” said Emelia. “I don’t want to stop the good either. Maybe if we can find out who heads the organization, we can advise them not to take donations from this source any longer. I mean, technically, the government could ask for those donations to be returned if it could be proven where they came from.”

“There has to be a better way,” said Hex. “Hiro? Do we have an address for this house that they all share?”

“Yes, but it won’t do you any good. At 0231 this morning, a fire was reported at the home. There were no bodies inside and no furniture. It was completely empty and appeared to have been started by an accelerant. They burned the house to the ground and left. They’re on the road, and we have to find them.”

“Get busy, brother. Check all the cameras, check local banks that they could hit, find out everything we can. I want to know if Ed, Helen, Myrtle, Jeffrey, or Mac have any medical issues or medications that we could use to find them or if they have another residence they could use. They were using the house that Em went to. Who owned that one?” said Sebastian.

“It was a house up for rent. I think they broke into it and used it while they could,” said Hiro.

“Alright, brother. Dig as deep as you can,” said Sebastian.

“Will do. Take care, everyone.”

“Hiro? Nice work, brother,” said Chase. Smiling, Hiro ended the call, and the others frowned at the blank screen.

“I think Garr and I will head to the address of the fire,” said Alistair. “Maybe the fire department found something that will help us.” Sebastian nodded at his friends as they left Emelia’s townhome.

“Hex, Chase, Torro, and I will go to the VA hospital where Estelle was treated. It’s not a place I want to visit, but I don’t think we have an option. With any luck, we’ll be able to speak to someone, and we won’t be tied up there all day and night. Hopefully, we can find out something there as well,” said Chief.

“I’ll take Milo and Tiger and head to the Treasury. Two people that we’re aware of are connected to the Treasury, and being a part of this seems strange to me. I can’t imagine what they were doing that would have any part in this, but it’s just too easy to ignore. Then we’ll see what we can find on Banks’ old investigation company. I’d like to know why he closed his doors. Businesses like that, run by ex-cops, usually do well.”

“That leaves you and me, babe,” said Sebastian. “What do you say we go see if we can join a bridge game?”

“It’s what I’ve dreamed of. Playing bridge with my man and a bunch of seniors.”