Murder at Grand Bank

by Danny Jacobs

I was sitting at my desk playing solitaire, like usual, when I was notified of the Grand Bank robbery. Captain Dale came up to me as I was finishing my fifth game and handed me a manila folder. My name is Ryan Potter and I am a detective at the police station in Grand City, California. My job is pretty simple- I wait around for a case to open up and then I go out and solve it. Written on the folder were the words “Grand Bank” and inside was information about the robbery and murder that occurred. He looked at me with big bags under his eyes and then looked at my cards.

“Potter, what are you doing?” he asked. He sounded exasperated.

“Just the guy I was looking for, Captain,” I said quickly. “I’ll get right on the case, sir.” I got up and winked at him as I walked briskly out of the office. I drove my squad car down Main Street and parked in the Grand Bank lot. Numerous police cars were already there and the crime scene tape had been put up by the time I arrived. Before walking through the front door, I noticed the emergency exit on the side of the building was slightly ajar. I noted this in my book and continued into the bank. The large room was full of petrified employees. In the very center of the room was a dead body covered by a white sheet. I scanned the room again and saw a teller who was speaking to an officer. I strolled over to the teller and introduced myself.

“Hello, I’m Ryan Potter. I’m the detective assigned to the case. Could you tell me what happened?”

She looked at me warily and responded, “I’m Denise. Denise Walker. I’m the teller here. I was the one who faced the bank robber.” She barely looked up at me as she spoke again and then she mumbled the rest of the story.

“He was wearing a hooded gray sweatshirt and black sunglasses. He waited in line and then came up to me with a note. The note said that he had a gun and wasn’t afraid to use it. It also said that he wanted 1,000,000 dollars in cash and he wanted it now. I panicked. I gave him the cash in a bag with the initials GB on them. He grabbed the bag and then turned and shot the first person he saw. I screamed. He ran out the emergency exit.” I noticed the vault was unlocked. I turned back to Ms. Walker and questioned her some more.

“Has the vault always been open?” I asked her. She replied more slowly than before with some suspicious disfluency.

“Um, no, uh, I unlock it before I start work. To check if all the money is in the right place.” I didn’t know why she was getting so nervous, but I would find out later. I took down her information and told her we’d be in touch. I walked back outside to survey the perimeter. The emergency exit was still open. This is odd. It couldn’t have been opened from the outside because there was no handle. All this was new information I wrote in my notebook as I continued my search.

As I was examining the main room of the bank, a man dressed neatly in a blue button- down shirt with dress slacks approached me. He introduced himself very properly and shook my hand with a firm grasp.

“Hello there Detective, I’m Aidan Joseph. I’m the manager here at Grand Bank and I was wondering if I could be of any assistance with your investigation.” I stared at him closely as he shook my hand for more than five seconds. This guy seemed quite strange but maybe he could help me. I decided to try my luck.

“Uh, perhaps you can help me. I could use a list of every employee working during the time of the robbery and murder and how about a cup of coffee. You think you can handle that?” I asked.

“Sure thing. Anything to help out the law enforcement in this town!” he said enthusiastically. I watched him walk away and then I quickly darted to my car and drove off. I needed some time to think about the case, the clues, and the possible suspects.

When I returned to the bank the next day somebody was there waiting for me- Mr. Joseph. I sauntered over to him. He had this grin on his face that I wanted to slap off. He was an annoyance that I wanted to stay away from. In one hand he had a piece of paper which I assumed was the list of employees and the other hand held a cup of coffee. His grin never left as he started speaking. “Detective! I lost you yesterday. I came back with your list and coffee but I didn’t see you anywhere. It’s okay though, because I knew you’d return today. So, I am ready with your coffee and I even brought you a donut. I know how much police like donuts.” This guy was getting on my nerves. Why couldn’t he leave me alone? I needed to finish the case and not deal with any distractions.

“Thanks, Mr. Joseph.” I said. His smirk was still there. Just looking at him gave me the creeps, but he was being generous. So, I didn’t turn him down as I took the coffee, donut, and list.

“Oh please, call me Aidan.” he responded. “I feel young again when people refer to me as Aidan.”

“Yeah, okay Aidan,” I said quickly. I wanted to get away from him as fast as I could. I wanted to interrogate the teller, Denise Walker. However, another teller told me that Ms. Walker was too distraught to come into work today. I grabbed a telephone to call her home. I needed to get to the bottom of this case. The phone rang a couple of times before she picked up.

“Hello?” she said.

“Hi, Denise? It’s Detective Potter. I’d like to ask you some more questions. Could you answer them for me?” I asked.

“Sure, sure. Go ahead.”

“What can you tell me about your manager, Aidan Joseph?” I inquired.

“Oh, well, he’s always working. He’s never missed a day of work in his life. That’s how he got the manager position. He always showed up on time and never took sick days. He is a real jerk though. Never treated anybody nicely,” she answered. Fascinating.

“Where was he on the day of the robbery and murder?”

“Well, I assume he was at the bank with us, but I don’t recall seeing him there at all. You can check the video surveillance if you’d like,” she said.

“I’ll do just that. Thank you for your time, Denise.”

“Oh, no problem, Detective Potter. Feel free to call me anytime.” And with that I hung up.

After my phone call with Denise I went to watch the video tapes. Aidan Joseph was there on the video. He checked into the bank at about 9 am and then went to his office where he was thought to remain, according to some employees. The shooting occurred at 11:30 am. I could clearly see Denise and other employees working but no sign of Aidan Joseph after his first sighting at 9 am. I watched again and again until I was stumped. I had no leads, no more clues, and no evidence for any suspects. I just had a hunch that Aidan Joseph was the murderer. I had to keep searching.

I decided to question Aidan Joseph up close and personal. I asked him to come to the police station. He walked into my office with that same grin and firmly shook my hand again. I was in no mood for games. I was all business.

“Sit down Mr. Joseph.” I said definitively.

“Please, Detective, call me Aidan.” he replied.

“Whatever. I have some questions to ask you. You’re going to answer them honestly, correct?” I asked.

“Sure thing boss,” he had an evil looking leer.

“Alright, Aidan, where were you the day of the murder? Go through your whole day,” I demanded.

“Well, I checked in at 9 am sharp, like I always do. Then, I went into my office, filed some papers, made some calls, and then went for my lunch break at around 11:20, like I usually do. When I came back from lunch, the bank was robbed and somebody had been murdered! I was in shock.” He was a smooth talker. But I wouldn’t let him beat me.

“So you’re saying you went on your lunch break and came back to find a man murdered and the bank robbed?” I was getting frustrated as I spoke.

“Yes sir.” He sat up straight as he said that, his grin still plastered on his face.

“Aidan, what are your thoughts on Denise Walker? Do you think she had anything to do with the robbery or the murder?”

“Oh no, she would never do something like that. She’s an honest person.” He knew the right things to say. For now.

“Alright Aidan, if you don’t admit what you did, I will find out. Which one do you want?” I was being aggressive, but I needed answers.

“I didn’t do anything, Detective! I’m innocent! You have no proof anyway,” he said with a cocky and arrogant tone. I was on to his mind games. I had to get the truth out of him.

Proof, I thought. Yes, the tapes. Joseph was only seen on camera after he checked into the bank at 9 am. He went on his lunch break right before the murder, or so he said. The emergency exit was open. It had to be opened from the inside, which means Joseph opened it. He left through the emergency exit, gathered his disguise, note, and gun from his car, and then re-entered from the emergency exit. The alarm didn’t ring because he had opened the door before. I knew it was him all along. Now it was time to have some fun.

“Aidan, what exit did you use when you went on your lunch break?” I was so close to getting him. Just a few more questions.

“Uh, I used the main exit. Why do you ask?” He was nervous; I could hear it in his voice.

“Oh, no reason. Did you forget to close the emergency exit when you were sneaking in and out? Was that on purpose or accidentally?” I was getting to him now. He looked as if he was going to explode as his face reddened and the veins in his neck grew bigger.

“OKAY, OKAY, I DID IT. I am sick and tired of getting treated like crap here at the bank. No one respects me, and I work so hard. It’s not fair. I just wanted my fair chance, but even after I was promoted to manager, things were the same. I was still treated like dirt. I had to do it. I just had to rob the bank. I was finally in charge. Killing that innocent man showed everybody who had the power.” His evil grin surfaced again. I handcuffed him without any resistance and took him into the holding cell in the precinct. He would be in jail for the rest of his life, where he belonged.

Captain Dale came up to my desk as I completed my report. “Good job on the Grand Bank case, Potter.”

“Thanks, Captain.” I noticed he was smiling for a change. I shrugged as I unlocked my door and went straight to the computer to finish my saved game of solitaire.