Chapter 13

 

Fred called Jim Hebert on his intercom. “Jim, is there any information yet on the background of Slivers?” 

“Yes, we have plenty of information but it sure seems inconsistent with the motive of any bank robber that I have ever heard of. Slivers, it turns out, is the head of a local insurance agency located on Fruitville Road. He has owned the agency for almost a decade, and has been married over thirty years. He has four children, all of whom are now grown.” 

Jim added, “So far we can find no history of any arrests in his background; and it appears his marriage is more than solid. His previous home was in Middletown, New York. He had lived there his entire life until he moved here. We’re checking with the local police in that area; but my gut is telling me that his record up there will be clean as well.”

“What about his financial situation; any money problems?” 

Jim had anticipated the question. “No, I did a quick credit check and he’s quite solvent. His house has been paid off for over five years, and he has virtually no debts except for an occasional revolving credit account which is always paid off within a month. He owns a three bedroom rental unit on Longboat Key, right off the ocean, worth about two million, also paid for. His present wife is the only one he has ever had, so he obviously owes no alimony to anyone. Certainly a money problem is that last thing Slivers has to worry about! And Fred, get this, he is a strong gun control advocate, in fact he has in the past contributed thousands to congressional candidates who supported gun control. He’s the last guy I would expect to own an AK47.” 

Fred took it all in. He had hoped that a motive would have surfaced during the background check which would have made some sense to him. “Ok, Jim, then the motive for the killing spree does not seem, at least on the surface to be a bank robbery, not that I ever believed it was. Let’s see if there was any possible connection between Slivers and those in the bank that were killed or injured. Meanwhile, I want to look at the bank video.” Wondering out loud, he said, “It’s remotely possible that Slivers was not the killer and was incorrectly identified. But that doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever.” 

At times Fred wished he could be more like Paul, firmly holding steadfast determinations with a minimum amount of facts supporting them. If he even had a trace of Paul’s questionable ethical base, at least the internal agony over not getting the details right, and arresting the wrong man, would not haunt him.

* * *

In less than an hour the bank video arrived at the station. Fred asked Jan, his secretary, to set up the video projection in the interrogation room. He wanted to observe for himself the entire bank setting from the moment Slivers entered the bank. He picked up the intercom to call the chief to ask him to view it with him. Fred’s finger was still on the intercom when the chief burst into Fred’s office. 

The chief blurted out, “Fred, go to the Globe theater immediately! There’s been another shooting and, God help us, this appears to be much worse than the earlier one!”