Mark (Mallick Brothers 3)

"Got a name at least," Collings said, sounding flat, unenthusiastic. He likely assumed or confirmed what I had thought. The camera lines were cut and eye-witness accounts were shit. "Did you catch more than that? Other than tall, fit, dark-haired?"

"I'm not convinced any of their hair was that dark," she said, drawing my attention back to her, seeing her squinting hard like she was trying to remember. "I think light or medium brown would be more accurate. I think I actually might have seen two of them in the store before the lights went out. He just reminded me," she said, waving casually at me. "In the heat of the moment, that Scott thing didn't factor in. But now that he brings it up, I saw two guys walking around and one of them called the other one Scott. They were both tall and fit, like he said. But their hair was lighter. And they had light eyes too. Maybe green or blue?" she asked, looking at me with scrunched up eyes, like asking me for confirmation. But I hadn't seen them. And I was pretty fucking sure the three I saw out front had dark hair. But maybe there was five of them. Who knew.

"Any other distinguishing marks? Scars? Tattoos?" Collings asked, sounding a little more hopeful.

"One of them had a tattoo on his hand, right here," she said, bringing out her own hand, touching the top of her hand with the long, fine-boned fingers of her other hand. "A, ah, skull, maybe? There were flames around it. I didn't get a good look."

"Anything about the other man?"

She shook her head, "Sorry, I didn't really see his face well, and there didn't seem to be any tattoos."

"No worries, honey. That was more than anyone else had to go on. I appreciate it. And our boys should be able to find those men on the cameras before they were cut. So you just made our jobs a little bit easier. Here, can you go with Lloyd here to give your official statement?" he asked, snapping Lloyd over. "We just need it in writing with some contact information."

"Think you have all my info," I said as she was led away to one of the registers to fill out paperwork along with two dozen others, employees and shoppers alike.

"Armed fucking robbery," Collings said, shaking his head. "As if we don't have enough shit to contend with in Navesink Bank. Did you hear about that body?" he asked, talking like we were old friends because in a way, we were. There were many-a-times Collings was forced to come and question me about someone who was beaten up in the area. It didn't go anywhere. It never did. We usually just bullshitted for a while and he went back to the station.

"Lex Keith's doing, I assume," I said, sighing. I wasn't much for murder, but some people didn't deserve to keep breathing. Lex Keith was one of those people.

"Fourth woman this year," he agreed, round face getting red with his indignation, and it was a bit ruddy to begin with. I figured it had to be hard at times to see that level of brutality, the absolute worst things human beings could do to one another, all the while knowing who did it, knowing there was even evidence, but having to acknowledge the level of corruption, and the fact that it meant there would never be justice. It frankly amazed me that Collings and the few other straight cops on the force didn't gang up and dole out some vigilante justice.

"You're a fucking saint, Collings. Don't know how you face up that shit daily."

He snorted at that. "Know who amazes me? Dr. Fenton. I mean, we see the bodies too. But it's brief. He's there cataloging every cut, every bloodied nail, every bruise and bump. Don't know how he does that shit. I mean this," he said, waving a hand out to the store. "This is almost like a goddamn vacation. Who else but a detective in Navesink Bank can say that about an armed robbery? But all things said and done, no one was hurt. The company, quite frankly, could use to lose a couple billion bucks, but they're insured anyway. No harm, no foul in a way."

I couldn't exactly disagree with that.

Like I said, they were practiced and professional.

That being said, what if a security guard got the idea to play hero? What if a private citizen had a conceal carry permit? What if an off-duty cop had a gun on him?

There were a lot of variables that could have altered the outcome, could have fucked with a perfect system.

And, quite frankly, it was only a matter of time before one of those situations happened. Could these robbers keep their cool? Could they keep their promise to not hurt anyone?