The man in black - chapter 2 (short story)

chapter 1 | chapter 3 | chapter 4

There was no doubt about it, this was a robbery. Jake appeared to have noticed what was going on as well, but Dany held his hand. He stopped. Lex and Bella stopped their discussion immediately. Cassie remembered that Bella was a bit serious about martial arts. Would she attack? Cassie didn’t know a lot about fighting, but the chairs were light, and she could use it as an emergency weapon if she had to be Bella’s backup.

Bella stood up. “Hey, is everything alright over there?” she asked.

The robber turned and pointed a pistol at them, while keeping the cashier in range as well. Cassie also saw the paper.

“Put all your money into the bag. Do not call the police.”

Pretty brazen, pulling this off in the middle of a crowded mall. All the cashier had to do was to stall. Someone would walk in. Unfortunately, the inside of the shop was not visible from all sides of the shop, due to a sticker on the glass, though they could see everything on the outside. There were also no cameras inside the shop.

The cashier continued stuffing the cash in the register into the bag. The waiter was also frozen on the other side of the counter. The robber folded the paper in two with one hand, displaying the message ‘hurry up’.

Was the pistol real? Cassie couldn’t tell – she had never seen a real one up close, and she suspected it was the same for the others with her. She didn’t dare move. The cashier finished stuffing all the money from the cash register into the bag. The robber grabbed the bag with one hand and backed out slowly, still aiming the pistol at them. Then, the robber turned and ran, straight through the mall.

Lex recovered first.

“After him!”

A look passed between him and Cassie. Both understood. Lex ran after the robber. Bella followed. Anna immediately placed a call to the police, as she was the only person from around there. Cassie walked up to the cashier. She had collapsed back into her chair. She looked shaken, but Cassie couldn’t afford to dawdle.

“Do you know who that was?”

The cashier shook her head. The waiter was also trying to take a call. Phil took his phone out of his shirt pocket. That was when Cassie noticed what he had done.

“Can you identify the guy?” asked Dany.

“I don’t think so,” said Phil, “you might be able to work out his skin tone around his ears and neck, but that’s about it.”

“Wasn’t wearing earrings,” said Cassie, “that might be useful. About average skin tone, couldn’t see whatever they were wearing under the coat, probably a man because those shoes would be odd on a woman, trousers were surprisingly baggy – will probably be thrown out. Average or slim build – hard to say. Height’s about 170 cm unless they were wearing lifts in their shoes. Did anyone smell perfume? Or deodorant or aftershave?”

Cassie looked at the cashier. She shook her head. That wasn't surprising, as most people wouldn't notice that unless the smell was offensive or they were wearing too much of it.

“The police is on the way,” said Anna.

Then Cassie’s phone rang. It was Lex. She answered.

“We chased him into the men’s bathroom,” said Lex, “I ran in, but dude had disappeared into a stall. The coat is on the floor, as is the hat. I don’t know which stall he ran into, but three stalls are occupied.”

“Where’s Bella?”

“She’s outside. She can’t come in here, can she?”

“Good point. The police are on the way, so try to hold them there. And stand guard outside the door because you won't stand a chance if it's not a one man job. We’ll join you as well.”

“I was about to do that. Bring the waiter or something. No one’s going to take a bunch of foreigners seriously.”

“Good point.”

Cassie, Jake, Dany, and Phil ended up leaving for the bathroom with the waiter, leaving just Anna and the cashier in the shop. The cashier agreed to close the shop immediately.

It took them a couple of minutes to get there. Bella was waiting outside, directing people away from the bathroom. Clearly, she wasn’t doing a good job of it. The waiter intervened immediately. Then a security guard joined them and helped them out once the waiter explained the situation. Jake and Lex went inside. The rest of them waited outside and kept others away from the scene. They heard arguing from the inside. The waiter went in as well. Cassie figured they were trying to detain those inside.

That was when the police arrived, along with Anna and the cashier. A police officer went inside immediately, and another, a woman, listened to their version of the story. Then the other policeman came out with three men in tow.

Two were wearing the same sort of shoes as the robber, Cassie noticed. Cassie didn’t think anyone would have a change of shoes with them. Shoes would be too bulky to hide under someone’s coat. If it had been in the bag, the cashier would have noticed it. It could have been hidden in the bathroom, but disposing of it once used would have been a problem.

Cassie also noticed that none of the men were dressed like the robber. Sure, the hat and coat were discarded. The gloves and mask could have been cut up and flushed. That was possible with the bag as well, as it was a drawstring bag. The trousers – well, that would be on the possible side, as they didn’t look too thick either. It would be more difficult to flush the sunglasses. There was a problem with this strategy though, as Cassie was sure that flushing that much fabric would create an epic clogging problem.

So where were the rest of the clothes?

There was another problem. Build and height wise, any of these three men could have been the robber. Cassie had hoped that would give the robber away immediately, but clearly, they had no such luck.

The policeman asked the security guard to lock that bathroom. Then he turned to the cashier.

“I’m Mark. Can you tell me your name?”

“Liv,” she answered.

“Alright, let’s go talk somewhere else. You too, Ed.”

The two employees of the shop followed him away. The other officer turned to the three suspects.

“Alright. Let’s go sit on a bench over there. Please tell me all about yourselves. I’m Selene, by the way.”

The first to speak was a man of about average height, wearing a beige short-sleeved shirt and a dull green cap./

“Darrell. I’m a painter, here to buy supplies. I’m not very successful or well known.”

The next to speak looked almost like a teenager. He was wearing a grey polo shirt, blue jeans, a baseball cap and fairly plain sneakers. He also wore glasses, but they didn’t look too powerful. Cassie couldn’t help noticing the dark circles under his eyes.

“Adam. I work at the laptop repair shop that’s over there.”

Looking at him more closely, Cassie judged it was likely. He was the sort of guy who didn’t really look his age. Or maybe he really was barely older than a teenager but a genius with laptop repairs.

The last to speak was wearing a light polo shirt and black jeans. He, too, wore glasses.

“Hal. I’m a freelance writer. I’m moderately successful. I mostly write online.”

Cassie could see they had their work cut out for them. All three men had the same height and build. All three had short black hair. All three had about the same skin tone. Their voices were different, but the robber hadn’t said a word during the robbery. And if their shirts were seen by an eyewitness, well, their shirts were about the same colour too.

END OF CHAPTER TWO

Previous chapter: chapter 1

Next chapters: chapter 3 | chapter 4

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