Jo tried to picture the woman. “She remained at her desk. I don’t know what she was doing. Douglas was reading a file, and Rico had just taken a phone call when the men came in.”
“You know the names of the employees?”
She smiled. “We talked in the storage room and introduced ourselves. I was trying to keep everyone calm.”
“Right. How did Rico act when he took the phone call?”
She narrowed her eyes, wondering if he’d been thinking what she had earlier. Had there been an inside person to help the robbers?
“He was frowning as he talked,” she said.
“Anything else?”
She shook her head. “Right after that, those men came into the bank.”
He tapped her notes with his finger. “And you said one of them did something to the door?”
“Yes, but I couldn’t tell what. I’m assuming something to lock it.”
“Could be,” he said noncommittally. “And then?”
She went over what happened next, how the men had gathered everyone in the bank together and searched them, then herded them into the storage room as hostages.
“And where was everyone positioned?” he asked.
She gestured toward the notepad. “I can draw it for you.”
“Excellent.”
Jo took a moment to diagram the storage room, with circles labeled with each person’s name, and he studied that for a moment.
“And Rico was here?” He pointed.
“Yes.”
“How did he act when you all were waiting in the storage room?”
“He was scared, like the rest of us.”
He tipped his head. “You were scared, too?”
She stared at him. “Just because I have a military background doesn’t mean that things can’t scare me.”
“Right. Go on.”
“None of us knew what was going to happen.”
“No one acted odd?”
“You mean Rico?”
His face revealed nothing. “You tell me how everyone was behaving.”
She went over what little the hostages had said to one another when they were in the storage room. When she finished, Holton rifled through more notes.
“Tell me about the exchange between Rico and the broad-shouldered man.”
“The guy wanted the key to the safety deposit box room.” She told him about that, very clinical in her words, very military.
“What did Rico do?”
“He was belligerent, questioning what the hostage-takers were doing. He put Douglas at risk.”
Holton eyed her. “You’re holding something back.”
She thought for a moment. “Aren’t bank employees told to do anything a robber tells them to, that they shouldn’t resist in any way?”
The detective nodded. “That’s true.”
“Then why was Rico fighting back? Was he just being stupid, or was there something more?”
Holton didn’t answer that, but he couldn’t hide a flicker in his eyes that revealed she’d hit on something. She let it slide for now, waiting to see where he went next.
“What else did Rico do?” he asked.
“He was still argumentative with the man when he brought him back into the storage room, and the guy punched Rico in the gut.”
Holton had obviously heard that already, and he looked at her to go on. “And?”
