Love, Money, and Lies

by Olivia Saxton

  “But, on your Facebook page–”

  “Mom– wait. What about my Facebook page?”

  “One of the pictures, you have a picture of that girl on your Facebook page.”

  “What girl?” he asked with confusion.

  “The one I told you, your father, and Daryl about at Christmas. The girl who had quit without notice because I suspected she was being sexually harassed.”

  “Small world. What was her name?”

  “Honey, I don’t remember, but I think she had something to do with the robbery. That’s why I’m calling you.”

  “No way. That’s crazy,” Bruce stressed. Ninety-five percent of the girls he had dated in the past weren’t smart enough to rob anything, much less work for the Federal Reserve. He had a habit of posting pictures on Facebook with himself and his ladies – before he started seeing Margo.

  “I was on my phone during break — on Facebook. You know I like to check out your pictures once in a while to see . . . well, to check out any possible daughters-in-law.”

  Bruce rolled his eyes. He wished she get to the point. “Uh huh.”

  “There’s a picture of you and that girl on your page. It looks like you’re in a bar or something. It’s the girl who looks like Elizabeth Taylor.”

  He quickly leaned forward as his eyes popped out. “What!”

  “I said–”

  “No, Mom, I heard what you said just– Hold on. Do you still have the page up?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Go to the app, copy the picture, and send it to me. I need to be sure we’re talking about the same person.”

  “How am I going to do that without hanging up on you? And how do you copy a picture on a phone?”

  It took all of Bruce’s patience, but he walked her through what to do. After a few seconds, his phone buzzed. “Okay, Mom, hold on. I’m going to look at it now.”

  “Okay.”

  He opened the text message. It was him and Bobbi. They had taken the picture one weekend at a bar in Palm Beach. He got back on the phone. “Mom, are you sure?”

  “Positive, with the exception of the hair and change in makeup, she looks exactly the same.”

  “What about her hair?”

  “When she worked at the reserve, her hair was red, and she didn’t wear lipstick, but I remembered her face because she was so pretty.”

  Bruce blinked rapidly as he thought. Margo had gone to Texas twice during the last few months. One time was to visit Bobbi, and the other was to see a client, supposedly. If his mother’s suspicions were right, then Bobbi had something to do with the robbery . . . and Margo did, too. “Shit! That’s why she had to leave!”

  “What? Who?”

  The memory of them fighting about her working on New Year’s Eve flashed in his mind. Oh God, no!

  “Son? Are you still there?”

  He forced himself to focus. “Mom, if you’re right . . . geez,” he groaned like he was in physical pain.

  “Will this information help?”

  “I believe so, but . . .” He didn’t want it to be true. He hoped to God he was wrong. Either way, he had to do his job. “Mom, you need to take this information to the bureau in Dallas.”

  “Why can’t you investigate? That’s why I called you.”

  “It’s out of my jurisdiction. I’m going to give you the phone number of a guy named Brad Tully. He is a field agent like me. I worked with him for two years when I was working at the headquarters in DC. Tell him everything that you told me and show him the picture. He might want to get the Dallas tech team to run facial recognition on it.”

  “Okay, honey, if you think it’s best.”

  “Oh, and tell him to call me as soon as possible after you talk to him. Give him my cell number.”

  “Okay.”

  Chapter 39

  Morris Mandel had been cruising on the interstate with the top down on the Mustang before he was pulled over.

  The cop said he had a taillight that was out. Instead of giving him a ticket and letting him go about his way, the cop detained him. Morris didn’t get bent out of shape until a blue SUV pulled up with two white dudes in it.

  His eyes widened when he got a look at the shorter man with brown hair. He was the guy that pulled his piece on him and Anthony at Margo’s house. He said he was FBI. The big guy looked familiar too, but he couldn’t remember from where.

  Oh, shit. What is this?

  “Thanks, girlie,” the big guy said to the cop.

  “Any time,” the cop said and got back into her cruiser. However, she didn’t go anywhere.

  “Mr. Mandel,” the big guy said. “Do you remember me? I’m Bruce Styles, and this is my partner, Alec Peterson. We’re FBI.”

  Morris thought he was going to crap in the middle of the road. He remembered Bruce from a club he, Anthony, and Margo were at in the summer.

  “You’re probably wondering why you are being detained,” Agent Styles said.

  “I am.”

  “We need to know how you came in possession of this vehicle,” Agent Styles said.

  “I bought it off of a friend of my cousin’s. It isn’t hot, is it?”

  “Hot is a strong word,” Agent Peterson said. “We know you paid for it. The officer said you showed her the registration.”

  “Okay, so what’s the problem?”

  “You tell us,” Agent Styles said. “Why do you think there’s a problem?”

  “Uh, because I was pulled over by a cop for a taillight that was out and then she kept me here for thirty minutes just so you guys could come talk to me. I’m no expert, but FBI agents aren’t usually interested in traffic stops.”

  “We need more information about how you got ownership of this vehicle,” Agent Styles said.

  “I told you. I bought it off of a friend of my cousin’s,” he repeated.

  What the hell is this?

  “Does your cousin have a name?” Agent Peterson asked.

  “Anthony . . . Mandel”

  “Where is he now?”

  “I don’t know. I hadn’t seen him since New Year’s Eve. He left town.”

  “To?” Agent Styles inquired.

  “I don’t know. He said he’d be gone for a while though. Didn’t give me a day.”

  “What was the friend’s name?” Agent Peterson asked.

  “Margo St. John. Look, we went right to the DMV—”

  “We know. But we also know that you know more than what you’re saying,” Agent Styles said.

  “Actually, I don’t.”

  “SunBeam Savings and Loan,” Agent Styles said as he stared at him.

  Shit!

  “Huh?”

  “Let’s take a walk,” Agent Styles said as he grabbed the back of his neck.

  “Hey man, take it easy,” Morris cried. The agent had him in a vice grip.

  They walked him over into the woods.

  “Yo, man, there could be alligators out here,” Morris said nervously.

  “Well, I guess you better tell us what we need to know,” Agent Peterson stated.

  “I told you how I got the car.”

  “No, about the robbery of SunBeam Savings and Loan.”

  “What makes you think I know about any robbery? A brother in a nice car minding his own business, and—”

  “We’ve seen your rap sheet. Granted, you hadn’t been run in for almost ten years, but back in the day, you could work a lock faster than a mouse can go into a hole in the wall,” Agent Peterson said.

  “That was then, and this is now,” Morris said seriously.

  “Now, you’re in the big leagues,” Agent Styles said. “Restaurant owner and bank robber.”

  “I ain’t no bank robber.”

  “Look, you tell us what you know. We’ll talk to the officer about letting you go with a warning . . . for the taillight,” Agent Peterson said. “If not, then the officer will have no choice but to run you in.”

  “For a taillight?” he asked angrily.

&nb
sp; “For dealing drugs,” Agent Styles answered. “Think hard before you answer.”

  “I don’t deal in drugs. I’m a restaurant owner and entrepreneur.”

  Agent Styles rolled his eyes. “Sargent Dakota, looks like you have to put him under arrest!”

  Two hours later, Morris was sitting in an interrogation room at the police station with his wrists cuffed.

  Two cops in plain clothes walked in. “Well, Morris, finally got your ass,” one of them bragged.

  He had never seen the guys in his life.

  “You don’t know us, but we know you,” the other cop said. “We’ve been tracking you for two months.”

  “Yeah, a little birdy told us about you.”

  Fuck! Morris’s head slumped forward.

  “I’m Detective Harris, and this is my partner, Detective Menendez. Maybe we can do a deal. See you’re small potatoes considering the big fish we want,” the cop with the light brown hair began. “We want your supplier and . . . we also need information on the bank robbery.”

  “I don’t know nothin’ about a bank robbery,” he mumbled.

  “That’s not what the FBI thinks,” Detective Menendez said. “You bought that Mustang off of a woman who is suspected to be involved in the Federal Reserve Bank robbery. The FBI believes that this woman has ties to the SunBeam Savings and Loan job, too.”

  Morris didn’t say a thing because his mind was reeling. When he had heard the news about the Federal Reserve being robbed, he had nearly shit himself. He figured Anthony might have had a hand in it considering the time of the heist and when Anthony disappeared. But it was only a feeling. Morris didn’t know for sure.

  “If you don’t tell us who your supplier is and what you know about the robberies, you will go down for dealing drugs.”

  “Considering what we have on you, you could serve up to twenty years. Plus, a lot of your people will go down with you when we raid the warehouse,” Detective Harris said.

  Morris didn’t doubt it. More than likely, vice had followed him to meet his supplier and to the warehouse where his people cut up and divided the goods. Vice probably had pictures and God knows what else as evidence. He had to think about the family. If he went down, money wouldn’t be coming in to take care of anyone. Plus, he had six kids and four baby mommas of his own to think about. He didn’t want to miss his kids growing up. “I would like to consult with a lawyer before I agree to anything.”

  I’m sorry, Anthony. Family comes first, and you’re family, but you’re not here anymore.

  Chapter 40

  When Margo first disappeared, Bruce had called a girl he used to date who happened to be a cop. He had given her the make, model, and license plate of Margo’s car and asked her to keep an eye out. Sargent Ann Dakota had seen a motorist driving a red Mustang with the taillight out. When she had gotten a look at the license plate, she had called Bruce.

  Alec and Bruce had a secretary run a quick background check on Morris Mandel as they had traveled to the pull-over location.

  Bruce and Alec’s gamble had paid off. They had been bluffing about knowing that Morris had something to do with the SunBeam robbery. But they did know that he had bought the car off Margo, and they used the association to insinuate that Morris was involved. They had gotten a lucky break when they found out Tampa Vice was watching Morris.

  They waited in Detective Menendez office. Morris was talking to his lawyer. The assistant district attorney had been called in to make a deal concerning Morris’s drug dealings.

  “Bruce, are you all right?” Alec asked.

  “Yes, Alec. I wish you would stop asking me that.”

  “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  “I appreciate your concern, but I’m okay. I’m . . . just not trying to think about it too much.”

  Alec looked at him. “Bullshit. You’re hoping that this is all a mistake, or Margo was forced to do these things. I know you, Bruce, and I know what being in love with a woman who isn’t . . . conventional is like.”

  Bruce sighed. He was right. “Is it wrong for me to think there might be a reasonable explanation for her doing this? Or she’s just guilty by association?”

  “Not wrong.”

  “Dumb then.”

  “No. Everyone wants to believe the best of those they love.”

  At this point, Bruce wished he didn’t love her. It would make all of this easier. “Frank St. John said I deserve to be screwed over because of my actions with women in the past.”

  “Fuck him,” Alec said flatly.

  “You’ve told me for the past year that my . . . philandering might catch up with me. Well, take a good look, my friend. Payback doesn’t get any worse than this.”

  Alec looked at him. “No man deserves what you are going through, buddy.”

  Someone tapped on the door and then opened it. It was Detective Harris. “Hey, we got a deal on the table.” He walked in.

  “Did you get what you wanted?”

  “Yeah. The ADA offered him five years of community service. In return, he gave up his supplier, and we’re going to shut down his operation tonight. He’s all yours now.”

  “Great, thanks a lot,” Alec said.

  “No problem.”

  Two hours later, the agents had Morris and his lawyer at the FBI Tampa Field Office. Vic, Bruce, Alec, and Tommy were in the interrogation room along with the US Attorney for the Justice Department for the Middle District of Florida. William Blanchette and Neil Rolls were watching and listening behind the glass. Rolls was assistant special agent in charge, Blanchette’s boss.

  “My client is willing to give you the names of the accomplices in the SunBeam robbery. Plus, this information can give you clues about who stole from the Federal Reserve,” Morris’s attorney, Blake Gaton, stated. “Complete immunity for everything he knows.”

  “He has to return the money he stole from SunBeam Savings and Loan, pay a five-hundred-thousand-dollar fine, and then he’ll have immunity from federal charges,” the US attorney, Trent Michaels, countered.

  “Make it a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar fine, and we’ll have a deal,” Blake said.

  “Fine.”

  “No talking until we get it in writing, and my client signs,” Blake said.

  Trent grunted. “All right. I’ll need to make a few phone calls. It should take no longer than forty-five minutes.”

  Everyone left the room with the exception of Morris and Blake. It took an hour and a half, but Trent got the deal in writing. Then they had to wait for Blake Gaton to look over it to make sure everything was in order.

  Everyone reconvened in the interrogation room. As soon as Morris signed the paperwork, Vic cut on the recorder.

  “Start at the beginning,” Trent said. “When and who approached you about robbing the SunBeam Savings and Loan?”

  “My cousin, Anthony Mandel. He asked if I was interested in making a lot of money fast. I said yeah. That’s when he told me that it could be dangerous. I told him what isn’t? That’s when I learned he was part of a crew across town. The nice part of town. They needed a fourth guy to help them steal cash from SunBeam Savings and Loan’s vault. I met the head guy, the planner of the job, Aaron.”

  “Aaron what?” Vic asked.

  “I never learned his last name. Hell, Anthony didn’t even know his last name. Aaron liked it like that way. Anyway, we met, and he went over the details and who needed to do what.”

  “This was your first meeting with him?” Alec asked.

  “Them, actually. I met the whole crew at that first meeting.”

  “What were their names?” Trent asked.

  “A brunette who looked a lot like Liz Taylor — when she was young. Her name was Bobbi Bennett. Fancy lookin’ chick. The other was Margo St. John. I had hung out with her a few times along with my cousin. Before the meeting, I just thought she was a rich chick who liked hanging out with the brothers every once in a while. I was pretty surprised when she was sitting in the room. Anyway, I picked up o
n everyone’s specialty. Aaron was the scout. He did background research on potential places to rob. My cousin was the fake ID, boost man, and gun specialist.”

  “Boost man?” Tommy inquired.

  “He stole cars for a getaway if needed,” Morris explained. “Bobbi is the case person. She would case out a joint in person to see what kind of security and computer system they had. Margo is the hacker. She does some crazy stuff to alarm systems so they won’t go off.”

  Bruce’s gut wrenched.

  “Where did the meeting take place?” Alec asked.

  “At the old sewing factory in the industrial district. The one that burned down.”

  They were all taking notes.

  “Everyone had their marching orders. Anthony, I, along with two street kids, stole four Dodge Chargers from a dealership in town. It went easy enough. Anthony shot out the security cameras. We hot-wired Chargers and drove off the lot.”

  “Who were the street kids?” Trent asked.

  “Don’t know.”

  “Bullshit,” Vic said.

  “I’m telling the truth. Anthony didn’t want to get the guys he knew involved, so we scouted some kids that hung out around the railroad tracks. They were in as long as we paid them after the job was done. We didn’t tell them our names, and they didn’t tell us theirs. Anthony had wanted to keep as much secrecy as possible since the cars were going to be used in a robbery. Anyway, we drove the cars to the factory and parked them under the overpass that was across from it. We paid the kids, and they ran off. I didn’t see the crew again until the night of the robbery. Aaron went over the plan again. I offered to jimmy the lock open on the door since I was good and fast at it. He agreed. I have to say that was the most top-notch thing I had ever seen. Aaron gave us all burners and Bluetooths so we could stay in communication at all times. They had rules, too. No one was called by their first name. First initials or code names were used. Mine was Mo. We got to the bank and waited for Margo’s signal. She stayed behind at the factory to hack the security system.”

  God. Bruce wished he was anywhere but in the room right then.