New York, Central Bank, 6:24AM, February 20th, 2008.
The 2 security guards checked the whole bank inside once again, locked the doors, and stood outside, guarding the main entrance.
-Oh, crap. Frank, I gotta go pee man. Will you be ok for 5 minutes?
Haven't read the entire thing yet, but I am guessing the robbery will take place when Rob goes to pee.
-Yeah Rob, go to that small alley across the street, noone's gonna see you there.
Frank told Rob where to go take a piss.
It was a quiet night, not many cars and people were passing by. Frank suddenly heard a small scream across the street, from that alley where Rob went. It sounded like someone was trying to scream but was choking.
Frank herd the muffled screaming all the way across the street, surely Rob would have heard it, there is no way that Rob wouldn't have herd it, he was right there in the alley.
-Rob? Rob? You there? He turned on his flashlight and approached the alley.
It was quite dark, there were some big trashcans, some empty boxes on the side, and then, a door that was half open.
I am having a feeling that Frank is being set up by Rob, there were boxes and trashcans around, plenty enough room and space to hide behind a box and take a piss. That removes the possibility for Rob to be anywhere else as a place to pee was right there. Suspicious that Rob is setting Frank up.
-Rob? Are you in there? He approached it when someone grabbed him from the neck and pulled him inside.
Yep, Frank is killed. Now I am 100% convinced that Rob set Frank up. Could be debunked later if evidence stating otherwise is found.
The Central Bank's door got unlocked. Someone was inside. The safe security was breached. The alarm started ringing. The safe was opened and the money inside were taken.
Was there some signs of force entry on the bank door? I am assuming that since you said 'unlocked' that someone had a key. If so, Rob is my main suspect until now.
-Let's go, let's go! The cops are coming.
I mean to unlock the door, safe was broken into and money taken. Where was Rob at this time? This surely took 5 minutes+? Could Rob be taking a piss for 5 mins? I say no.
Not long after, the police were already on the crime scene. The employees and bank staff were anxious and in confusion.
The police looked around the safe. They searched for fingerprints, any DNA, even a tiny hair, but found nothing. They only think they found was a small piece of paper, but it was torn and erased with a marker and you could only read number "5" in the beginning and number "1" at the end of it.
-Eh, that could be anything, even a client's phone number... Still no clues here.
That number will resurface somewhere, we will see.
They headed to Miss Mandons, the director, who was nearby.
-Miss Nelly Mandons, you are the director, right?
-Yes, that's right.
-Officers Ross Palon and Leland Brooks, we are here with the investigation team, we would like to ask you some questions.
-Of course.
-What exactly happened this morning?
-At about 7AM I was called by Rob Simmons, one of the 2 security guards that were on duty, that the bank had just been robbed and Frank was missing. I, of course, got up immediately, called the police and came here about 20 minutes later.
We know that the robbery took place between 6:24 AM and 7:00 AM, since the scenario here starts at 6:24 AM and the director was called by Rob at 7:00 AM. Now I am 100% sure that Rob is a bad guy. He called at 7:00 AM, what was he doing for the entire 30 mins? Taking a piss for that long? I smell bullshit.
-The bank safe was opened, but doesn't it open only once a day and only gets controlled only by a timer that opens it a specific time in the day and locks it again? How is it possible it was opened this morning for the robbery?
-It is almost impossible to open the safe outside the timer hours, but it can happen. But it would require months of efforts and hacking into the system which is highly protected and can only be accessed from inside the bank.
-So you're telling us it was probably an inside job?
-Possibly, or some employees' account was hacked, but that whole process could even take years. The safe's sytem is monitored from these 5 computers, and there is 1 employee for each that have their own ID. They use it to sign it to the system that monitors the safe's security.
Each computer has a staff member that can access it. So by knowing which computer the 'hacking' took place on, we can tie that to the staff member's ID. OH maybe this is where we see that number we saw on the piece of paper above.
To breach that security is possible only on those 5 computers, and mine.
-I see. Can we have a list of those employees, their IDs, and yours?
-Sure. Here it is.
-Thank you for your time.
The employee list:
Jack Tribson (ID: 57849)
Ronald Cerone (ID: 19004)
Melinda Reiss (ID: 61948)
Kelly Meyson (ID: 91305)
Beck Pole (ID: 53781)
Nelly Mandons (ID: 77150)
Yep here we go, see anything familiar? 'Beck Pole (ID: 53781) that ID number starts with a 5 and ends with a 1. Surely this has to do with the piece of paper found earlier. The inside man?
-Hello sir. You're Rob Simmons, the security guard on duty when the robbery took place.
-That's right.
-Can you tell us what happened?
-It was about half past six, I went across the street, at that dark alley, far inside at the end of it where it leads to a dead end, to.. you know.. pee. I was only gone for a couple of minutes when I heard the alarm.
All the way at the end to take a pee? It was 6:30 AM, there couldn't be a lot of people on the street for him to go all the way down the alley. Plus, at the beginning, we know that there were not alot of cars or pedestrians on the street. There was no need for Rob to go all the way at the end. Gone for a couple of minutes before he heard the alaram? There was a 30 minute window when the robbery started and when he called the director. He is lying.
I ran back to the bank, the door was unlocked, and so was the safe. But noone was there, not even Frank. He was gone, I couldn't find him anywhere.... oh god. Soon later, I called miss Mandons and told her what happened.
Soon later? This is a bank robbery, you can't not report the robbery immediately. Soon later does not cut it. By the way, that soon later is almost 30 minutes. Plenty of time for the robbers to open the secure safe and take all the money.
The police went across the street, to that alley. They saw a couple of big trash cans and some empty boxes. They also saw some footprints, as the floor was wet from a recent rainfall. There were probably 2 sets of footprints, but distorted, as the floor was getting dry this morning cause of the sun.
I am guessing that those two footprints belong to Frank and Rob.
The prints suddenly stopped. They looked around and saw a door next to them.
If Rob really did go all the way down the alley, there must have been a third set of footprints to show where he went.
Closed. It had some fingerprints on it.
The door was closed, that means Frank did not touch the door. Because we know that the door was half open when Frank approached it. The killer must have killed Frank and then closed the door. I am guessing those fingerprints must have been Rob's. We shall see soon.
-Take these samples to the lab, if the prints are anyone's that has been arrested before, we'll find a match. Or else, just in case we have a suspect to compare.
Yep we can compare the fingerprints that we have with Rob's, I am confident that we will have a match.
They opened the door, it was a small, dark, dusty old storage room, and Frank's dead body was there, lying on the floor. He was strangled with a wire, as the marks on his neck show.
In the meantime, other officers followed the alley looking for more footprints, until they reached a wall, a dead end, deep in the alley. But no further footprints were found or anything else to indicate someone had been there.
Even more proof that Rob did not go all the way at the end of the alley to take a pee. Since there was no pee and no footprints.
They took pictures of the scenes and collected any evidence possible, but they had 1 last thing to do. Talk to the employees.
-Mr. Tribson, where were you this morning between 6 to 7AM?
-At home, with my wife. We woke up at about 6, had some breakfast, watched some TV before I came here to work.
-Can she confirm this?
-Sure, we were watching an old series on TV, you know, that one called "Secret Affairs".
He is clear.
..
-Mr. Cerone, how about you, sir?
-Was sleeping with my wife and 2 kids next to us. We woke up at about 6.30, they can all confirm this I guess.
He is clear.
..
-Miss Reiss?
-I was at a club, with 2 friends, but they left at about 5AM and I left sometime later, maybe an hour, but you can ask the bartender.
She is clear if the bartender vouches for her. But why would you stay at the club after your friends have left? Can we ask the bartender to give us his statement?
..
-Miss Meyson?
-I was sleeping at my house, alone.
-So noone can confirm this?
-No, I am sorry.
She is not a suspect at this time, but we can always come back to that later.
..
-Mr. Pole, how about you?
-I was at home, watching some TV, I woke up at about 6AM.
-So noone can prove your aliby? What were you watching.
-Eh, you know.. the.. football match. They were showing it again on channel 5.
-Alright, thank you. And.. don't eat your fingernails, sir, it's unhealthy.
-Oh, yeah, thanks. I just do that when I'm nervous.. and you know.. this whole robbery.. any of us could be in danger now.
This is the guy that had the ID matching the piece of paper we found earlier. Also he has no aliby that can be proved by anyone else. He is nervous because he knows he did something wrong. Usually when a robbery or whatever happens and the cops are there, the victims start feeling relaxed as the cops are there to protect them. He was nervous as hell, so even more suspicious that he was the inside man. Can we check what was on at that time on channel 5? To see if he was saying the truth or not?
..
-Miss Mandons, same questions.
-I was at home as well, with my fiance, we had breakfast about about 6.30 and at 7.30 I left home to come to work.
-Alright, thank you for your time.
She is clear.
They returned to the police station with everything they had gathered.
Here is what I think happened and who my suspects are:
1. Rob definitely is my main suspect here as his story does not check out. He did not go all the down the alley as he stated, it took him 30 minutes since the start of the robbery to call the director and inform her of the robbery since she was the one that called to cops.
2. Get a warrant and compare the finger print found on the door handle and that of Rob's.
3. It is either Beck Pole or Mrs Reiss because they are both suspicious. If we can get answers to the questions I asked above, we would get more info on who to accuse of being the inside man.
4. I would suggest charging Rob with murder and robbery. The inside man would be either Pole or Reiss. It all depends on the answers to the questions I asked above regarding each of those supposed whereabouts.
How did I do?