Robbery In Progress

*Emma*

I met with my team right away this morning to go over the case. It turns out the phone Joe called me with was a burner so that was a dead end, which was frustrating. At least Jamie was back from his honeymoon, so we were fully staffed again. I wish I had more information to bring to Kelsey and Matty today, hopefully our crime scene investigators would have more information in a few days.

I walked into the station and surveyed the area. There was a reception desk right in front of me that I should probably check in at; police officers weren't huge fans of strangers walking into the precincts and roaming around. I approached the desk and did my best to smile at the person sitting across from me.

"Hi, I'm here to meet Detective Collins and Lawson? I'm Agent Harrison," I told them while trying to seem as unthreatening as possible as I held up my badge. Police officers also weren't big fans of the FBI, and the surly look on their face wasn't boading well for me.

"Do they know you're coming?" They asked me without looking up. *Sigh* But before I could answer I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"Yes, they do," Kelsey walked up so she was standing next to me and leaned over the desk to grab a guest badge. "Be nice, Tammy," she teased and Tammy waved her off.

"If I let in every kook that said they were looking for you, you'd never get a break," they replied. Kelsey shook her head affectionately, obviously trying to hold back a smile.

"Well this kook is going to be around for a while, we are working on a case together," she swiped a badge from the desk and clipped it to my waist. My skin warmed at her contact, branding the spot on my waist with her, as my gaze dropped to her lips. Boy, was I in trouble with this one.

"Mhm," Tammy replied suspiciously, "she a friendly?" Kesley and Tammy regarded me for a minute before Kelsey answered her.

"TBD." She waved goodbye to Tammy and motioned for me to follow her. "I wasn't sure what kind of coffee you'd like, or if you would even want coffee. I also didn't have your number so I couldn't ask." She got to the top of the stairs and turned to me before continuing, "the place is kind of a mess but we can use the meeting room in the back."

"Okay, but before that, could we just talk for a second? We haven't spoken about, um, everything and I think we should probably clear the air." I wasn't sure if this was just her normal attitude or if she was specifically upset with me. Not that I would blame her, there was a lot to be upset about.

"Alright, we can still do that in the meeting room. I'll just ask Matty to hold off on coming over." I nodded in agreement and headed towards the room she indicated to before she walked over to where Matty was sitting. While I waited, I set my stuff down and started to pull out the maps and case files from the other robberies to keep myself busy. When I heard the door open I looked up and stopped setting everything out. "So you wanted to clear the air?" "Yeah...sorry I ran out like that on Saturday. That's not usually my thing," I started to explain.

"Leaving while the other person is showering isn't usually your thing? So you usually stay? Or do you try to wake up before them?" I guess that answered my question as to whether she was mad at me or not. "That's not what I meant. One night stands in general, aren't my thing," I tried to clear that up before it got away from me.

"Ah, so it was a love 'em and leave 'em situation." Oh boy, how is it that I actually made this worse by trying to apologize? "Look, we're working together now. So how about we just pretend the whole thing never happened and focus on these robberies?"

I so did not need this right now, my sister still wasn't answering my texts and now my one night stand that I have to work with for who knows how long is mad at me because, I don't even know why. My life is a mess right now. Emotions suck. *Get it together, Em*, I yelled at myself.

"Yep, sure. Just forget I even said anything. Totally professional from here on out." I agreed, hoping that would fix things. How is it that people skills are my job and yet still not my thing?

"I'm going to go get Matty now," she replied and left the room. While she was gone I pulled out my phone to text my sister again. After sending another message I read through all of the unanswered messages I had been sending her since Saturday before I got called on to this robbery case.

*Hey, I'm sorry about our fight. Can we talk?*

*I know you're mad, I didn't mean to say that stuff about death and everything. I know you're still pretty upset about mom. I'm so sorry, can you forgive me?*

*Please answer me, I want to fix this.*

*I have a story to tell you that I know will make you laugh. I'll tell you all about it if you message me back?*

*Okay, I'll probably tell you anyway. But please call me. It's probably funnier in person?*

*Meg, if you don't answer me I'm going to start to think you've been kidnapped or something. I'm going to send someone to kick your door down.*

*I'd love a sisterly chat and a pick me up right about now. Love you, sis.*

I sighed and put my phone away just as Kelsey came back with Matty in tow.

"Okay, so I brought the case files from the New Jersey robberies. I figured that would help. My team is going through them too but so far we haven't found much. Mostly, we've just confirmed what we already knew, which was Saturday was the first time the police arrived on scene before they could make their exit. Honestly, we have more questions than we did this weekend."

"And what are those questions?" Matty asked as he sat down and grabbed one of the files I'd laid out.

"They started in New Jersey, and then moved into New York. Why the change? And if you look at this map of all the banks they've hit, they seem to be moving in the same direction. On top of that, they consistently only pulled $100k every time, until their second New York robbery, when that security officer was shot and killed. They have been perfect, every time. Except that one, and then Saturday of course. I don't know, it just seems like they want to get caught." "Or maybe they want the attention?" Kelsey provided. I shook my head and sat down.

"I don't know, maybe. Joe didn't seem like someone who wanted attention just for attention's sake though. He told me he would hold me to my offer to help after they were already gone. Why would he need my help if they were already home free?"

"Well, we have some informants we could talk to, see if they know anything. But we need to know what to ask them to keep an ear out for otherwise that's not going to turn anything up," Matty offered, pushing the file away and taking a look at the map I set out.

"These guys are from Boston, right? And they started in New Jersey?" Kelsey asked. I nodded my head in confirmation. "Maybe we should just stay simple for now, ask them if there's anyone new hanging around. Anyone who's not from around here that seems to know what they're doing."

"Okay, let's start there and see what it turns up. I'm hoping the crime lab will have some more information in a few days. Maybe we should meet up on Friday and see what came of everything? If I hear anything major before then I'll reach out." I slid my card over to them so they had my number since apparently I hadn't shared that earlier. "Does that sound like a plan?"

"You got it, boss." Kelsey replied, she didn't say it in any specific tone but I could tell she was frustrated with me and with how I was acting. She's the one that wanted me to forget about it, so that's what I was going to do. *Even if it killed me*.