Roses Are Red

tagging along.
    Christine Johnson entered the room behind Nana. She wore a silver-gray blouse with dark blue skirt and matching shoes. She must have come to the hospital from school. She seemed a little distant to me, but at least she was there for Jannie.
    I would ask Nana later who was taking care of Alex.
    “Here’s everybody,” Christine said. She never made eye contact with me. “I wish I had my camera.”
    “Oh, we’re always like this,” Jannie said to her. “This is just our family.”
    We talked some, but mostly we listened to Jannie describe her long, scary day. She seemed so vulnerable suddenly, so small. She was brought dinner at five. Rather than complain about the bland hospital food, she compared it favorably to her favorite dishes prepared by Nana.
    That got a laugh out of everybody except Nana, who pretended to be miffed. “Well, we can just order out from the hospital when you get home,” Nana said as she gave Jannie the evil eye. “Save me a lot of aggravation and work.”
    “Oh, you like to work,” Jannie told Nana. “And you
love
aggravation.”
    “Almost as much as you love to tease me,” Nana countered.
    As Christine was getting up to leave, the nurse brought a phone from the nurses’ station. She announced that there was an important call for Detective Cross. I groaned and shook my head. Everybody stared at me as I took the phone.
    “It’s okay, Daddy,” Jannie said.
    Kyle Craig was on the line. He had bad news. “I’m on my way to the First Virginia branch in Rosslyn. They hit another bank, Alex.”
    Nana shot poisoned darts at me with her eyes. Christine wouldn’t look at me. I felt guilty and ashamed, and I hadn’t done anything wrong.
    “I have to go for an hour or so,” I finally said. “I’m sorry.”

Chapter 25
    THE BANK ROBBERIES were coming too fast, one after the other, like dominoes tumbling. Whoever was behind them didn’t want to give us a chance to think, to catch a breath, or to organize ourselves.
    Rosslyn was only about fifteen minutes from St. Anthony’s Hospital. I didn’t know what I would find there: the possible brutalities, the number of dead bodies.
    The branch of First Virginia was only a block away from Bell Atlantic headquarters. It was another freestanding bank. Did that mean something to the perps? Probably. What, though? The few clues we had so far weren’t adding up to anything. Not for me, anyway.
    I noticed a Dunkin’ Donuts and a Blockbuster Video directly across the street. People were going in and out. The suburban neighborhood was busy and operating as if nothing had happened.
    Something had definitely happened.
    I spotted four dark sedans clustered together in the bank parking lot. I suspected they were FBI cars and pulled in beside them. There were no police cars on the scene yet. Kyle had called me, but he hadn’t called in the Rosslyn police. Not a good sign.
    I showed my detective’s badge to a tall, lanky agent posted at the back door. He looked to be in his late twenties. Nervous and scared.
    “The ADIC is inside. He’s expecting you, Detective Cross,” the agent said in a soft Virginia accent not unlike Kyle’s.
    “Casualties in there?” I asked.
    The agent shook his dark, crew-cut, bullet-shaped head. He was trying not to show that he was nervous. “We just arrived, sir. I don’t know the casualty situation inside. I was told to wait out here by Senior Agent Cavalierre. It’s her case.”
    “Yes, I know.”
    I opened the glass door. I paused for a beat alongside the ATMs in the vestibule. Focused. Prepared myself a little. I saw Kyle and Betsey Cavalierre across the lobby.
    They were talking to a silver-haired man who seemed to be the bank’s manager, or possibly the assistant manager.
It didn’t look as if anyone had been hurt. Jesus. Was that possible?
    Kyle saw me and immediately walked my way. Agent Cavalierre stayed close at his side, so close she looked glued to Kyle.
    “It’s a miracle,” Kyle said. “No one’s hurt here. They took the money and got away clean, though. We’re going to the manager’s house. His wife and daughter were held hostage, Alex. The phones at the house are dead.”
    “Call the Rosslyn police, Kyle. They’ll have squad cars there.”
    “We’re three minutes away. Let’s go!” Kyle barked. He and Agent Cavalierre were already headed toward the door.

Chapter 26
    THE MESSAGE FROM KYLE was loud and clear.
The FBI
was in charge of the bank robbery–murders