The Banks Sisters (24 page)

Bunny felt nauseous as she entered the house where she had last seen Tariq alive and dead. She couldn't believe how terrible it felt in her gut as if she were reliving the whole thing all over again. Instead of the bodyguards that she had been expecting Ghostman answered the door himself. Bunny felt her gun rub against her side and wanted desperately to take it out and blow this asshole away.

“So nice of you to come, and right before our little deadline at midnight,” he smiled as if they were about to sit down to a lovely dinner.

“Not like you gave me a choice. The way I saw it either I get you the money or you shoot me and my family is dead,” she responded in the exact tone he had just used to speak to her.

“There is always a choice,” he reminded her.

“Yes, well, I don't exactly see death as a choice. It's more of a sentence imposed onto you or an unlucky kind of fate.”

“So, is that my money?” he asked reaching out for the bag she handed over to him.

“It's not groceries,” she snapped back.

“Normally I'm not okay with smart-asses, especially women. I prefer my women silent, naked, and submissive at least when I am about to fuck them,” he said leering at her as if he were imaging her in his ideal scenario, naked ass up bent over his coffee table.

“I wasn't trying to be a smart-ass. I brought you the money now can I go?” she asked knowing that this was not the kind of man who honors his word; at least not unless, he wasn't given a choice. He walked into the dining room and spilled the contents of the bags onto the table. A huge grin began to spread across his face.

“So you're happy?” she questioned him.

“Happy? No, but I'm relieved for your sake that you brought my goddam money that your thieving bitch of a friend stole from me.”

“Aren't you going to count it?” she asked him trying to figure out how to accomplish what she needed to do.

“No, I don't need to count it. Unless you have a death wish, you better have made sure every dollar is there. I know where you live and you know first hand that I make good on my threats,” he shouted, the saliva from his mouth spraying Bunny as he moved closer to her.

“I would never ever try and con you. You told me what I owed and gave me a deadline and here I am. That's all.”

“Yes, here you are little Bunny rabbit.” Ghostman ran up on Bunny and pressed her against the wall. He took his hand and rubbed it over Bunny's breast. She did not even flinch as he moved his hand lower rubbing between her legs. But she did begin to imagine him dead. “You like that?”

“Please, I have to go,” she told him her voice quivering.

“Go? Bitch, you owe me for allowing you to live. Yes, you brought the money, but now you have to give me something for being generous by sparing your life. By allowing you to live I am taking a risk. What guarantee do I have that you will not try to rob me the same way that your ‘friend' did?” he asked with a negative emphasis on the word friend. Bunny had to work overtime to keep from freaking out.

“Take off that jacket!” he growled at her. “I want to see what is under that?” As she began to remove her jacket he snatched it off of her. “Now spin around!” He motioned for her to twirl and she knew that if she did he would spot the gun sticking out of the band of her tight skirt. Slowly she turned and he was all smiles and bullying until he spotted the gun. He grabbed her by the waist wrestling the gun away. “Is this supposed to be some kind of threat? Were you trying to kill me? You bitch!” He backhanded her knocking Bunny to the floor.

“Nooo! I was carrying a lot of fucking money and nothing was going to come in the way of me getting this money to you. I had to have protection. What if someone had tried to rob me?” she cried becoming hysterical as she lay on the floor constricting her body into a tight ball.

“Get up! Come on get up!” he shouted waving her own gun at her as she slowly stood up to stand.

“I swear I wasn't trying to hurt you,” she pleaded with him knowing it would mean nothing for him to kill her right there.

“You're right. I have a tendency to overreact.” He placed the gun on top of the bag of money basically letting her know that he now claimed it. “It's a personality flaw, my temper, but it's one I hope won't get in the way of us getting to know each other better,” he cooed sounded as if they had just had some lovers spat and not him threatening her life. “Come here!” he crooked his finger in her direction.

“Please. I have to go.” She took a step back pleading with him.

“What? You're not going anywhere?” He grabbed her and began groping her body, his hands moving in different directions, feeling her breasts with one hand, his other palmed her ass. “Damn, you could make some real fans if you got up on the pole, baby.” Bunny felt ready to throw up, but instead she pulled away from him and violently kneed him in the balls sending him flying backward onto the floor. She knew that if he caught her he would torture and then kill her so she took off like a bat out of hell flying to the door. She flung it open and raced outside and down the street. By the time he recovered and reached his front door he didn't see any sign of Bunny.

“I'm ready! Gooooooo! Go! Go!” Bunny told Simone as she got into the car. Simone immediatley grabbed the phone that was on the passenger seat and dialed the number she already dialed on the burner phone.

“I need to speak with Detective Dugan?” Bunny spoke into the phone using a strong southern accent. A man answered with a deep voice.

“Detective Dugan.”

“Hello, I would like to report a man with a gun. He's been bragging that he held up the Metropolitan Savings and Loan National Bank. The address is 777 Palm Drive. Hurry, he's armed and dangerous!” she screamed into the phone as she slammed it shut.

“Now we wait.” Simone smiled at her sister, as they stared into the rearview mirror at Ghostman's house.

Chase hung up the phone and raced out of his office into his partner's where Franklin sat staring at the computer. They'd been checking out all the bank robberies in the area within the last year trying to find some kind of pattern. With the FBI breathing down their necks they desperately needed this call.

“We got a lead,” he informed his partner, who looked up with questions spilling out of his mouth.

“Viable? I mean do we trust it?” he asked standing up and getting his gun and equipment.

“I don't know, but it's the only lead that we have. The caller said that apparently this guy is armed and dangerous. We should take at least two cars with us to check this out just in case.”

“Let's go!” The two headed into the squad room.

“Captain,” Franklin called out as he came into view. “We got a lead says it's our guy and that he's armed. Not sure if the other perps are there or even if this is real, but we need to follow it.”

“I agree,” the Captain glanced around at his room, “Take Manfred and Douglas, Turner and Reilly, and O'Brien and Anderson. And Palley and Hopper,” he called out igniting the officers who all hurried and grabbed their things.

“I sure hope this is it,” Dugan said sharing his concern with Franklin who nodded letting him know that he was right there with him.

“This thing between you and Marks it's getting old. That guy he has such a hard on for you that its become a real problem.”

“Tell me about it,” Dugan agreed as they got into their car. The four standard cop cars led by the detectives' Chevy formed a convoy as they sped in the direction of the address.

The whole thing had taken seven minutes to organize and already Simone and Bunny were worrying that Ghostman would somehow get away. The women were parked a block away with a pair of binoculars watching the house.

“There they are,” Bunny shouted to her sister excited when she saw the caravan of cops fanning out in front of the house.

“I want four of you to spread out in case anyone tries to run. Franklin and I will go to the front door, the other four of you follow us,” Dugan led them up the steps where he rang the bell. Usually this is where the threats began in order to convince a perp to open the door, but Ghostman made it so easy for them when he swung the door open thinking that Bunny had come back.

Ghostman was so relaxed because in his mind, women usually begged to be with a man of his influence and he didn't expect her to be any different, so imagine his surprise when he opened the door to the cops.

“Hi, can we come in?” Detective Dugan waved his badge at Ghostman who reacted quickly by trying to slam the front door in their faces. Dugan and Franklin caught the door before he could close it. Ghostman turned and ran to the table grabbing Bunny's gun and aiming it at the cops.

“Come any closer and I will shoot,” Ghostman hollered as he stood across the room with his gun pointed at them.

“Let's talk about this?” Dugan spoke in that calm voice under pressure that took many years to perfect.

“Fuck you! I don't want to talk to you,” Ghostman cocked back his gun.

“Blam! Blam! Blam!” It sounded as if fireworks were going off inside the house from where Simone and Bunny were located.

“Blam! Blam! Blam!”

“Nooooo!” Detective Dugan screamed as Ghostman's body was riddled with bullets sending him falling to the floor. He'd taken the first shot at the detective who returned the hit, but the four officers running in behind them finished it.

“Dammit,” Franklin and Dugan shared a look. This could be bad. Really bad.

“We need to find evidence that this is our guy!” Franklin shouted to the cops. They all fanned out in different directions in the house desperate to locate whatever could tie this man to the robberies.

“We better hope like hell that this guy had something to do with the robbery. Because if this is just some random crazy person we are so fucked,” Dugan said commiserating with Franklin.

“Detectives?” one of the officers shouted from upstairs. They went running upstairs and into the home office. Right there on the table sat a bag containing neat bundles of money. The bag also had side pockets and when Dugan unzipped them he found three Bill Clinton masks.

“Bingo!” Dugan and Franklin slapped their palms together. They were damn near jumping up and down. And this was just the beginning of the haul.

“Wait.” Dugan stopped to stare at a painting. He went over and moved it slightly placing a hand behind it.

“What?” Franklin questioned. He knew his partner and he didn't miss one thing. That's what made him so good at his job.

“It's a safe.”

“We need an entire team.”

“We need to get some forensic specialist, also someone who can break into this safe and should we invite the FBI for shits and giggles?”

“I can't wait to see a certain someone's face when we show him that we've got this case sewn up.”

“That is going to be so damn sweet. I can't wait to see it.” The two men shared a look delighted that their bad luck when it came to solving cases was finally turning around.

Simone and Bunny had just pulled off from watching the drama at Ghostman's place when her phone started to ring. Bunny snatched the phone out of the cup holder and showed it to her sister. Simone pulled over and grabbed the phone as a look of complete fear passed between the two as their worse case scenarios swirled in their heads. Did they find something in that house to tie them to the bank robbery?

“Hello,” Simone answered trying to keep her voice level and normal when every part of her was quaking with fear. Bunny placed her hand on top of her sister's to calm her from shaking.

“Ms. Banks?” Detective Dugan spoke into the phone using a formal greeting instead of the playful one he had used this afternoon. Simone's face registered her worry. Bunny's hand went to her mouth fighting back her own concern.

“Detective?” she responded trying to keep the worry from overpowering her words.

“You will never guess how things unfolded after you left,” he told her, but she was distracted by Bunny's hands moving questioning her. She shrugged her shoulders turning back to the call.

“Really, what?”

“We found him.”

“Found who?”

“The guy who hit the bank. Now we haven't yet identified his accomplices, but it's definitely him.” Simone couldn't help but smile, relieved to be in the clear and touched by the excitement in his voice.

“Did you arrest him?” she asked looking directly at Bunny who pressed herself close to the phone to hear the other side of the conversation.

“No. We had an altercation and he shot at us and my men wound up killing him, which was obviously not what we wanted. If he were alive he could have led us to the others and now we may never find them. But forget all of that for a moment. We had a date tonight?”

“Yes, we did,” she couldn't stop herself from smiling and knew that he could see it through the phone. Bunny moved away watching her sister.

“Can we rain check it for tomorrow?” he asked.

“Really?”

“Yes. I want to come to your door, pick you up, and take you out on a date and not have either of us worry about getting up to go to work in the morning.”

“Oh,” she answered feeling way more girly than she had in ages and really turned on.

“Unless I'm being presumptuous?” he asked.

“No, you're not and that sounds perfect,” she told him then proceeded to give him her address.

“I can't wait and Simone, we really deserve this break,” he told her before hanging up.

“So you're going on a date tomorrow?” Bunny asked fluttering her eyelashes at her sister in jest.

“I guess I am.” She laughed.

“We better go and get our money then,” Bunny cheered.

“I can't believe we did it!” Simone shouted.

“No. I can't believe how badass my sister is,” Bunny boasted as the two hugged relieved to have gotten away with their crime.