Page 13 of Christmas Ransom

“I wonder how much money they got away with,” one of his coworkers was saying. “How much money does the Lonesome bank keep in the vault?”

He listened to them speculate and smiled to himself. He enjoyed this. He kept thinking, wouldn’t they all have a cow if they knew just how much the score had landed—and that he had every dollar of it?

There were five of them busy loading the trucks this morning. Because of the upcoming holidays, there were more packages than usual, which was why he’d been hired. The only time he felt uncomfortable was when they talked about the deaths of the robbery accomplices.

“Pretty cold-blooded to kill them all like that,” one of the men said.

“Greed. You know that’s all it was,” another said.

Jud bit his lip to keep from saying anything.

Their only female coworker added her two cents. “Bet he was the one who almost killed Carla Richmond. He was the kind who would kill his accomplices.”

Jud had never liked the fiftysomething know-it-all Cheryl. “What makes you think it was a man? Could have been a woman.”

That got a burst of laughter and put his female coworker on the defensive.

“Well, now he has all the money,” she said.

“Wonder what he’ll do with it,” someone said.

“Spend it,” another said.

“If it was a woman, she’d be smart enough to hang on to it and bide her time,” Cheryl said as she hefted a large box onto her truck.

The others scoffed and Jud joined in.

“Anyone heard how Carla is doing?” she asked.

One of the young men spoke up. “My girlfriend’s cousin is an orderly at the hospital. He said she can’t remember anything. She has a concussion. But that doesn’t mean that her memory won’t come back.”

Jud hoped that wasn’t true. “I had one of those. I never could remember what had happened to me.” He glanced up. No one was paying him any mind. They seemed to think that his interest had been in the concussion part of the story.

“She probably can’t help the feds catch the robbers anyway,” one of the men said. “I heard they had on Santa suits that covered everything. Doubt they’ll ever catch the one who’s left.” Jud could only hope.

“I heard the robber who hurt her had tried to take her hostage,” Cheryl said. “Wonder what he had against her?”

“Or what he had against his accomplices,” another added with a laugh.

“He might have just been having a bad day,” Jud said and wished he hadn’t, although that didn’t stop him. “Or maybe they turned on him, pulling a gun with a plan to kill him. It could have been a double cross that ended with him being forced to defend himself.”

Their boss had come out then and everyone fell silent and kept working. But he could feel Cheryl giving him the eye as if she knew more than she did. It was boring and repetitious manual labor. But it wasn’t hard, and it paid the bills—just barely, and had he not been a temporary employee for the holidays, he would get an extra week’s vacation after five years.

The thought made him laugh out loud, which only made Cheryl squint her eyes at him. He didn’t care. He had a ton of money hidden outside town. He wouldn’t be needing that extra week of vacation. Let these fools break their backs day after day here. Judson Bruckner was putting this hick town behind him soon.

The trucks were almost loaded. He was glad he’d come into work. It was interesting hearing what people were saying, especially about Carla Richmond and what she might—or might not—have told the feds.

“I won’t feel safe until he’s caught,” a coworker said as they finished up and he slammed the rear door of his truck. There would be more to load tomorrow and a ton of packages to deliver. “Robbing the bank was one thing, but killing his accomplices?” The man shook his head. “If he’s still around, I’d feel better if he was caught.” The others agreed.

“But why would he stay around?” Cheryl asked.

“I agree,” another said. “I’m sure he’s long gone from here.”

“I know I would be,” one of the men added. “I’d be anxious to spend all that money.”

“Which would get you caught,” Cheryl said in that annoying tone of hers. “Some of that money is marked. I had a friend who worked in a bank. You know they keep marked money at every bank just in case they get robbed.”

“I didn’t know that,” one of the men said. “So he can’t spend that money? That would really suck.”

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