The Heist

Elise Forester opened the door and a cheery chime filled the air. Wall-to-wall clear glass cases full of sparkling jewelry jammed the store's interior. A slender older man with silver hair, dressed in a dapper black suit approached and held out his hand. "You must be the detective."

Elise shook the proffered hand, trying not to cringe at the man's clammy grip. "That's right. I understand there's a ring missing?"

"Yes, I'm the owner, Jim Tosh. One of our sales staff met with a gentleman who asked to see our engagement rings. Sabine, can you come here please?"

A slim, dark haired young woman emerged from a back room. Her eyes were rimmed in red and her porcelain skin flushed. She held a wadded-up tissue in one hand.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Elise asked, pulling out a pen and a small notepad from her back pocket.

Sabine took a deep breath, sniffled hard, and began in halting, broken sentences. "He looked normal. He came in like everyone does. He walked the room. Asked to see our one carat and larger rings. We talked about budget. He didn't really tell me about the woman he was buying the ring for which now seems strange."

"What was his budget?"

"That was the other strange part - he said he didn't have one, it was more about the quality of the ring."

"Did he look like he could afford it?"

Sabine stopped and looked to the right. "I think so. He wore a nice suit. Expensive shoes. Gold cufflinks. He flirted with me a little bit."

"Do men do that often when shopping for engagement rings?"

Sabine cocked her head, her piercing green eyes staring into Elise’s. "Sometimes."

Elise studied the woman. She was attractive, if a little waif thin. "What happened next? What rings did he see?"

"I showed him five rings, ranging from one carat to five carats."

"Which one's missing?"

"The five-carat ring. It was almost perfect, nearly flawless."

"What’s the value?"

Jim spoke up. "It's our most expensive ring. $150,000."

"Is it insured?"

Jim nodded. "They all are."

Elise looked around the store and then toward the back room. "Anyone else around in the store? Did you turn your back for a moment? Maybe walk away to get another ring?"

Sabine shook her head and Jim spoke. "Our policy is if someone needs to step away for something, we call another team member over to assist. The client is never unsupervised with jewelry."

"What about surveillance?"

Jim pointed to the ceiling. "A full HD system."

"Let's see the video."

They left Sabine and went into the back room to a computer monitor. Jim navigated the menus to bring up the video. Multiple views showed different angles in the store. Jim rewound the video.

“I’ll need a copy of this.”

Jim nodded. “I’ve already reviewed it, didn’t see anything strange. I made a copy as well.”

“Was there ever a time when the rings weren’t visible?”

Jim looked at Elise. “Yes, actually, when Sabine puts the tray back, her head blocked the camera.”

“How long has Sabine worked here? How was her background check?”

“Almost a year. Passed a background check and drug screening.”

“Ever have any issues with her?”

Jim shook his head. “She’s a model employee.”

“What’s her pay rate?”

“$10 an hour plus commission.”

“Does she sell well?”

“Not as good as some of my staff but she does okay.”

“Any money troubles you know of?” Did her boyfriend ever come to visit her during lunch?”

“I don’t really know anything about her personal life.”

“Have you ever seen the gentleman before?”

“Not that I recall.”

“Did he seem familiar at all? Could he be a former employee?”

Jim shook his head.

“Let’s see the video.” Jim pressed play and Elise sat in the chair in front of the monitor, watching closely. After a few moments, she straightened.

“Where has Sabine been since that time?”

“She went to the break room and the bathroom.”

“Did she leave the store at any point after the man left?”

“She went to grab some lunch at Subway in Walmart right after she finished with him. She brought back a sandwich. Now that I think of it, it was a bit early for lunch, around 11 I believe.”

Elise almost laughed. “That’s perfect. Walmart has tons of cameras.”

Jim looked confused. “Why does that matter?”

“I have a hunch Sabine did more than get lunch.”

“I don’t understand,” Jim said.

“I’ll be right back.” A few minutes later her hunch was confirmed. On the Walmart surveillance system Sabine and the gentleman from the store met, she pulled something small from her pocket and handed it to him. He examined it, the overhead lights sparkling brightly off the stone. Elise collected a copy of the video and returned to the store.

Jim greeted Elise at the door. Sabine stood a short distance away, eyes downcast. Elise walked over to her. “Tell me again about the man who came into the store.” Sabine’s eyes flew to meet Elise’s.

“What do you mean?”

“How do you know him?”

Sabine swallowed. “I don’t know him.”

“Is he a boyfriend?”

Sabine shook her head, her eyes wide.

“Your brother?”

She shook her head again. “I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

“Then why did you have lunch with him and give him the ring?”

Sabine gasped. “I didn’t.”

Elise smiled. “Actually, you did. I have video of you and him getting very cozy at the Subway down the street.”

Sabine’s mouth dropped open and she stepped backward. A pulse raced at the side of her neck and her eyes darted around the store.

The smile vanished from Elise's face. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney...” Elise pulled handcuffs off her belt and grasped Sabine’s arm.

“Wait,” she gasped, pulling on her arm. “Please, wait. I didn’t have a choice.”

Elise paused for a moment. “Explain.”

Tears spilled from Sabine’s eyes. “I will if you promise not to arrest me. I can't go to jail.”

“Depends on what you have to say. Start talking.”

“Please, you’ve got to help me. He said he’d kill my daughter if I didn’t do it.”

Jim stepped forward. “You have a child? You never mentioned her.”

“I didn’t want you to not give me overtime. She stays with my sister while I’m at work.”

Elise let go of Sabine’s arm. “Start from the beginning.”

The words tumbled over each other in a rush. “Two weeks ago, he followed me home from the store. He grabbed me at my door, pushed me inside, and told me I had to steal the most expensive ring in the store and give it to him. He showed me a picture of Sasha and told me he’d kill her. He said the rings were insured, if we did it right, no one would ever find out. He told me exactly how to do it, how to avoid the camera being able to see the empty place on the tray.”

“Did he tell you his name?”

Sabine shook her head.

“Where’s Sasha now?”

“She’s at her preschool until 3.”

“You need to call your sister, have her take your daughter home.”

Sabine looked at the floor then at her boss. “Mr. Tosh, I’m so sorry.”

Elise looked over at the store owner. “You can guarantee he’ll be back. Crooks like him are always greedy.”

Sabine nodded. “That’s what he said when I met with him. He said he’d be in touch.”

“When?”

“Tonight, after work. He’s going to meet me at the house.”

“Do you have a phone number for him?”

“There’s a number he sends me texts from.” She pulled a phone from her pocket and showed Elise.

Elise jotted it down. “We’ll trace the call and pick him up. It’s unlikely we’ll be able to recover the ring. For now, Sabine, I need to take you in for a statement, but I won’t handcuff you if you cooperate. Okay?”

Sabine nodded. Elise put her hand on Sabine’s upper arm and escorted her to the car outside. Once Sabine was in the car, Elise looked down the street. At the corner, a tall man in a jogging suit watched them. Elise's eyes met his for only a moment before he walked in the opposite direction, dropping a small black flip phone in a nearby trash can.

Elise took off running. She rounded the corner, hand on her gun, but the street was empty. She took a few steps forward, looking for any sign of him but he was gone. She ran down the narrow street to the next corner and looked both directions. Looking to the right she spotted the man walking through a small crowd. She followed him for a few blocks undetected. It was a diner window that gave her away on the other side of the street. She knew the moment he recognized her because he took off running through a crosswalk. She raced after him, dodging people who jumped or shouted their surprise.

“Stop, police!” Elise yelled as loud as she could. The man continued to run full speed ahead. He turned toward a nearby overpass and ran to the middle of it. Elise followed him and stopped as he climbed up on the ledge above the highway. Time seemed to slow.

Elise’s breaths came fast. “Sir… please… let’s just talk for a moment.”

“Talk? About what? You’re just a cop, what do you care?”

“I care because I’m a cop. Let’s talk about why you want to jump off an overpass.”

“That’s my business. You just stay there.”

Elise raised her hands but inched forward when he turned to look at the highway below. The rushing sound of vehicles filled the air and made the overpass vibrate.

“Listen, we can work this out. You don’t need to do this.”

The man shook his head and looked at her, grinning. “Yes, I do. I’m not going to jail.”

“Who said anything about jail? I just wanted to ask you a couple questions. You know, about the phone you threw away.”

The man laughed and returned to watching the cars pass. Elise moved forward a couple steps. “Hey, I said stay there!”

Elise froze, now less than three feet away. Could she grab him if he jumped? The jogging suit didn’t look sturdy enough to not rip if she grabbed it so it would have to be an arm. Though the man was trim and fit, he outweighed her by at least seventy-five pounds and was six inches taller.

“Please, don’t do this. Let me help you.”

The man smiled back at her over his shoulder, faced forward, and jumped. For a moment Elise froze in disbelief, then she raced to the ledge and watched as the man fell through the air. Vehicles below passed, some swerving slightly as their astonished owners watched in disbelief. The man missed the back of a tractor trailer by six inches, landing on the pavement. His legs crumpled beneath him and she watched him writhing on the ground, a growing pool of blood on the ground. She looked around for a way down and found a steep decline to the road. She ran for it and rounded the corner to see the man on his feet, limping badly. A semi swerved, narrowly missing him and almost clipping the back of another car. The sound of squealing tires and air brakes filled the air. Horns soon joined the cacophony of sounds as Elise waited for an opening to cross the road.

He made it to the slow lane, his leg dragging uselessly behind him. Elise could see a fuel tanker with a bright CEFCO logo on the side heading for him. The driver’s head was down, a phone in his hand.

“Look out,” Elise yelled at the top of her lungs. The man turned to look but in a blink it was over. The semi brakes squealed a full second after the impact, causing the tanker to jackknife sideways and into a guardrail. All around vehicles swerved to avoid each other. After a few minutes of panicked drivers, people slowed, rubbernecking the accident. The man’s body lay crumpled in front of the tractor trailer.

“It’s going to be such a long day,” Elise murmured to herself and radioed dispatch for assistance. She checked on the truck driver, who was shaken, clearly in shock, and babbling nonsense in a thick Spanish accent, especially when he saw the body.

She guided him a safe distance away to sit on the side of the road, after determining where his emergency gear was. She put out flares and hazard signs, then began guiding traffic away from the area in the other two lanes. Traffic rapidly began to back up. After about ten minutes, several patrol cars, two firetrucks, and a pair of ambulances arrived, typical of Dallas’ overcompensation strategy even for simple accidents.

She left the traffic guidance to a patrol officer and returned to the scene. She grabbed a pair of gloves from the EMT and then stared at the body for a moment. “Damn, I wish you had let me arrest you.” She probed the man’s pockets. All were empty of ID. Not even any keys. Elise sighed. “It was a long shot anyway.”

Elise walked up to the officer in charge, explained what had happened, and then headed back to the jewelry store. She looked at her watch. It had been over an hour since she escorted Sabine to her patrol car. Elise found Sabine sitting inside the store on a stool while Jim helped a customer. Elise gestured toward the back room.

“What happened?” Sabine demanded. “Why did you leave?”

“The man who threatened you was watching the store. I saw him watching us at the street corner and pursued him. He won’t be bothering you or Sasha again.”

“You caught him?” she asked.

Elise shook her head and looked at the ground for a moment before taking a deep breath. “Not exactly.”

“You didn’t arrest him? Why not?”

Jim Tosh entered the room. “Detective Forester, what happened?”

“I was just telling Sabine I followed the thief. Unfortunately, he was hit by a semi and didn’t survive the encounter.”

Jim’s eyebrows rose. “Oh dear. Are you sure it was him?”

“Absolutely. It’s the man from the video.”

Sabine sat in a nearby chair, breathing hard. “It’s over? You mean, it’s really over?”

Elise nodded. Sabine burst into tears, rocking in the chair, arms clutched around her stomach.

Elise and Jim stood and tried not to watch, unsure what to do. Elise cleared her throat. “I was able to recover the phone he threw in the trash. Hopefully there are fingerprints that will lead us to an address. He may not have had an opportunity to contact a fence yet to sell the ring. I will find it if I can and return it to you.”

Jim held out his hand and Elise shook it. “Thank you, Detective, for all you did today.”

Sabine stood, walked over, and without a word, hugged Elise. Her arms trembled from the fierceness of the embrace. Her words came, choked with emotion. “Thank you so much. Thank you for saving my daughter.”

Elise patted the girl’s back. “I’m still going to need that statement.”

Sabine wiped the tears from her face. “Of course. Anything I can do to help.” Sabine looked at Jim. “I will gather my things. I’m so sorry about all of this.”

Jim held out a hand to Sabine. She took it and he covered her hand with his other one. “You are a victim in all of this. You did what any mother would do. I wish you had come to me so I could help you, but I understand why you did what you did. I expect you to take a couple days off, with pay, and enjoy some time with your daughter. Then I’ll see you here bright and early Saturday morning.”

Tears fell once more from Sabine’s green eyes. “Oh, Mr. Tosh, thank you so much. You are such a wonderful man.” She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He smiled at Elise and winked. Together, Sabine and Elise returned to Elise’s car and headed for the police department.