“Was she acting suspiciously this morning?”
More contemplation. “Maybe. She’s been edgy for a while now, sometimes snaps at me. I just chalked it up to her not really liking me.”
She pressed him. “Was she that way with just you, or with others?”
“I guess some of the others, too. I heard she had some trouble at home, broke up with her boyfriend or something. Maybe it was that.”
“Did you watch her when we were in the storage room?”
“She seemed pretty scared, don’t you think?”
“Yes.” She didn’t tell him about Sabrina’s steady pulse, how physiologically she didn’t act like someone who was terrified about what was happening around her. “What’s her last name?”
“Padilla.” He looked at her. “You’ll talk to her, too?”
She didn’t say anything to that. “Had you seen any of those men in the bank before?”
“The police asked me that, and no. I mean, obviously, we couldn’t see their faces, but I didn’t recognize any of their voices.”
“You’re sure?”
He nodded vigorously. “Yes.”
“What about the tellers?”
“Cameron’s fairly new, and Mandy’s been there about as long as me. I don’t think either one of them would’ve known enough to be able to help the robbers.”
“You know that, or you’re guessing?”
“I’m guessing.”
“How much do you know about either one?”
“Not much.” He laughed bitterly. “I wouldn’t make much of a detective. I don’t pay that much attention to what’s around me, it seems, and I don’t know much about people.”
“What about the two customers—Barbara and Darlene?”
“I don’t know either of them. Hadn’t seen them before.”
“Their names never came up?”
He eyed her. “How could either one of them have been involved?”
“I don’t know, just asking.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “We all need to put this behind us, you know? The detective said the bank will be open tomorrow, and I already got a call from the bank district manager. He told me I could take a sick day if I want to.” His face darkened. “Man, I don’t know if I want to go back. I’ll never walk in there feeling the same way again.”
“That’s understandable,” Jo said.
They sat for a moment, the music loud, the conversations even louder. But Jo wasn’t bothered by that, and Rico didn’t seem to be either.
“Is there anything else that happened today that was unusual?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I told you everything. Will you talk to the police again?”
“I don’t know.”
“If you do, see if you can get them to believe me. I didn’t have anything to do with what happened this morning.”
Looking him over, Jo believed him. She’d been fooled by people before, but not often. Still, she tacked on, “If I find out you’re lying to me, the police will be the least of your worries.”
He wiped his hands on a napkin and pushed his plate away. “I’m telling you everything.”
She assessed him one last time, thanked him, and got up from the booth.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jo didn’t head toward the entrance. Instead, she looked around for the kitchen. Before anybody could object, she walked straight through that door like she belonged there.
Pots and pans banged around, and cooks and dishwashers hollered at each other, filling the room with competing noise. She received a few surprised looks as she hurried between two long metal tables. Spying a back exit, she headed outside before anybody said a word to her.
She jogged around the side of the building and peeked toward the front. Farther down the parking lot, the nondescript sedan was still there. A few minutes later, Rico emerged from the restaurant. He looked around, but in the fading light, he didn’t see the sedan or her. He rushed across the parking lot, and when he disappeared down the street, the sedan slowly followed. Jo waited until it vanished from view, then cut through the parking lot toward Rico’s apartment, hurrying through the alley as she’d done before. She reached his street just as he appeared, and she stayed in the shelter of the building across from his.
No one was around as he crossed to his building, went up the steps, and disappeared into his apartment. The sedan parked in a different place down the street this time, and once its headlights winked out, Jo ran around the block and approached her SUV from the opposite direction, using cars to shield her advance. She waited behind the Escape for a while to see if Rico would leave, and when he didn’t, she got behind the wheel, flipped a U-turn, and left.
She watched in the rearview mirror, but neither the sedan nor any other vehicle followed her.
Jo drove to a Walmart a mile away and parked. Pulling out her phone, she looked up Sabrina Padilla. It took only a moment to find the woman. She lived in a North Dallas neighborhood, mostly ranch-style houses on big lots, with alley access to garages. Jo spent a few more minutes taking in Sabrina’s online presence. She found a LinkedIn profile, which gave her some information. Sabrina had worked at National Bank for several years as a senior loan officer. Before that, she’d worked at another bank. She’d gone to the University of Texas and had received a degree in finance. Jo found a Facebook profile as well, but the settings were private, so she couldn’t see anything Sabrina had posted, just the profile picture. After a few more minutes of hunting, Jo gave up. She started the Escape and headed toward Sabrina’s house.
