"Used to be. I had fourteen years with the NYPD, finished up as a detective, second grade, at the Nineteenth Precinct, working homicides, mostly."
"You seem young to have retired."
"Medical disability; I took a bullet in a knee."
Holly nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Barrington; you've been a very big help."
"Please call me Stone."
"Stone it is."
"There's something else."
"What?"
"There was something familiar about the robbery."
7
Holly's pulse quickened. "Familiar? How so?"
Stone wrinkled his brow. "It was six or eight years ago, when I was still on the force. My partner at the time, Dino Bacchetti, and I had lunch with an old acquaintance of his who was with the New York State Police. There was a bank in some little town in the Hudson River Valley that had two or three local industries that had the same payday for their workers each week. It was hit by a group who worked with almost military precision, wearing identical outfits and masks. That's about all I remember about it."
Holly turned to Hurd. "You know about this payday thing? Was the bank especially cash-rich today?"
Hurd stood up. "I'll find out." He left the room.
Holly turned back to Stone. "Can you remember anything else about this robbery in New York?"
Stone shook his head. "Not really; it was a long time ago, but when I saw these people this morning, I remembered that much."
"Could you have a word with your state cop friend and see if he has any other details?"
"I don't even remember his name, but Dino will; I'll call him tonight. He's out of the office today."
"I'd appreciate that." She gave him her card and wrote her home number on the back. "You said you were buying an airplane from Piper?"
"That's right, a Malibu Mirage."
"Big single, six places, pressurized, right?"
"That's right."
" Jackson loved that airplane. I think he might have gone for one in a year or two."
"I'm on the step-up program for the new Meridian, which has a single turboprop engine."
"When will you get that?"
"Another year. I'm pretty far down the delivery schedule."
Hurd returned. "I talked to the bank. Three of the big citrus growers had today as payday. The bank ordered extra cash for the workers who come in to cash their checks."
"Inside job," Stone said.
"Sounds that way," Holly agreed. "Hurd, I want you to set up interviews with every single employee of that branch; start with the people on the floor today. Figure out exactly how many of them knew about the big cash order, who's new on the job, and we'll go from there."
Hurd nodded and jotted something in his notebook.