The Moon Belt (2nd & Last)

 The Moon Belt (2^nd & Last) 

By Len Morgan 

They returned to the 29^th Precinct, booked both perps, and took the evidence and perps to the lockup. 

“We could be in for a hard time if they call a brief, where’s our proof Sarge?” Cheu asked. 

Mell held up Two Trump masks, and Sherry held up the belt over her shoulder. 

“This is a really weird device Sarge, almost out of this world…” 

“What, a crappy leather belt?  Bet there are dozens just like it on ebay,” Cheu snorted. 

“Can they do this Sarge?” she turned the half-moon on it, but nothing happened.

“Get it booked in as evidence, and get it and the masks checked for prints.” He shook his head; it’s gonna be one of those days… 

 “Let’s get them to interrogation,” said Mell “you can take the man Proby.”

.-…-. 

“Name?” the man didn’t reply. “Where did you stash the loot?” ~ no reply.  “Who are the other two and where are they?” ~ Silence.

“You do know they will be away with the loot, They’ll fence it, and be off, leaving you to carry the can, They’ll cut you out…” 

“This one’s not speaking sarge, not even to lawyer up.”

“Don’t feel so bad Reed. Mell didn’t fare any better with the dame…  Take em back to the cells, and keep them separated.  We will get to the bottom of this!”

The phone rang.  Sarge I have the manager of the store, he wants to speak to you.”

“Mr Zaglioni?  Sergeant Covax here, yes… yes… but that’s crazy, why would they plan and carry out a heist, and leave with nothing?  Is this a prank?  Don’t reopen the store yet, I’m sending two investigators to take your statement…”

“Another call on line three Sarge, they’ve found the car, with the guns in the boot…”

“Covax here…  What?  Bring em in…”

“What gives Sarge?” Amellio asked. 

“Listen up everyone!  It seems they were firing blanks, the store has done an inventory for insurance purposes and nothing is missing…”

“That’s ‘Looney Tunes’ Sarge, what was it all for, a publicity stunt?”

“Officer Reed, you and Mell go back to the store and do what your good at; investigate.”

.-…-. 

“Mr Zaglioni, we’d like to take another look around before you reopen, it’s not every day we attend a non~heist!” 

“Are all your staff here?” Mell asked.

“Yes officer, the thieves made a terrible mess, but when we did our check none of our stock was missing…” 

“Is that door behind the counter locked?” Sherry asked. 

“Yes, except when we accompany clients to their lockboxes or we need to go to the safe.” 

“It isn’t locked now,” Mell noted.  “Who are the key holders?” 

“That would be me, and my deputy Miss Hanson, and of course the security officer.” 

“What’s in there?” 

“Safety deposit boxes and our day safe, but we have a state of the art security system. None of the boxes or our safe could be opened without the alarm going off and the security firm being alerted.” 

 Sherry looked up at the ceiling “Mm no bullet holes and the scene of crime photos didn’t include that.  Have you opened any of the boxes, or the safe sir, to confirm they were not accessed?” 

“The boxes require two keys, mine and the one held by the leaser of the box. Miss Hanson and I both have a key to the safe, and the combination code which is changed monthly, in fact it was changed three days ago.” 

“Would you open it in our presence please sir?”

“Certainly officer,” he took out a bunch of keys and selected one…

“Show me the key,” said Sherry. She examined it and returned it. Miss Hanson, your keys please?” She examined them and showed them to Mell who nodded.  “Have you recently had a copy cut?” 

She looked surprised, “No?” 

Mell gave her a look of disbelief…  “Do you have a partner?” 

“Yes?” 

“A live in partner?” 

“Yes.”

“Name of?”

“Lance Frobishire, he’s a nice guy, we’ve been going out for about two months.”

“Would you unlock the safe please. Not you Miss Hanson.” 

Zaglioni opened the safe, it was empty!  Both their faces turned white… 

Zaglioni fell to the ground and lay still.  Sherry checked his pulse, then started compressions, “call an ambulance Mell, he’s having a heart attack.  She continued compressions until the emergency services arrived and hooked him up to a defibrillator.  On the stretcher, he began to slowly come around. 

“What was in there sir?”

“Three million in uncut stones Rubies, Emeralds, Sapphires & Diamonds. Plus a package of low grade, as yet unidentified, stones with a silica like luster, probably worthless, but could be of interest…  Our syndicate  can’t sustain a loss like this, we are ruined!” 

“Whose we sir?” 

Zaglioni relapsed into unconsciousness. 

She raised her cell phone, “Sarge, Their safe has been cleaned out.  It contained $3 mil in uncut stones now it’s empty!  We suspect Jane Hanson’s live in partner name of Lance Frobishire.  Miss Hanson is coming down to the 2-9, and the store premises have been secured by their own security firm.  We have the keys to Hanson’s apartment; So, we are on our way there.  I’m sending you the address, we may need assistance.” 

.-…-. 

Mell rapped on the door “Police; Open up!”  There was a faint scuffle from within. He rapped again, harder. 

Sherry took up station at the rear door, it opened and a shadowy figure emerged. Sherry inverted the half-moon on the belt she was still wearing, and the man materialized. She drew her sidearm, “Lance Frobishire.  We have Jane Hanson in custody, don’t move.” 

He gazed at her, a look of disbelief on his face.  He bent down, picked up a rock and threw it at her.  She discharged her weapon, as she easily dodged his missile, both the rock and her bullet seemed to be moving in slo-mo.  She ran at him and forced him to the ground.  He fell heavily under their combined weight.  She cuffed him, turned him over and reversed the half-moon stud on his belt then her own, just as Mell rounded the corner. 

“I heard a shot, did you…” 

“He’s alive just winded.” 

“let’s get him back to the 2-9.”

She unhooked his moon belt and slung it over her shoulder, like a bandolier.  “Up you get Frobishire,” they led him to their patrol car and secured him in the rear.  They heard the siren from another unit, it stopped and an officer jumped out.

“What kept yuh!” said Mell, “We got the perp in custody, you guys check out the premises. Keys…” He held his hand out to Frobishire, who threw his keys to Sherry.

She caught them in one hand, gave them a cursory look.  Two newly cut keys plus an older but similar one caught her eye.  She removed the three from the ring and showed them to Mell, “These look familiar.”  

“That looks like a safe key, and at a guess, I’d say those are deposit box keys.” 

Sherry nodded and took a pic of Lance on her cell phone. “I’ll show this to Zaglioni, I’ll bet he’s a recent procurer of a safety deposit box.”

“Let’s get this one into custody first.”  Mell handed the keys, ‘minus the three’, to the patrol officer.  “Get forensics’ to check the place over officer.”  They left the scene at speed… 

.-…-. 

They handed over their prisoner at the precinct. Booked the moon belt in as evidence; Sherry retained hers (it could prove useful she reasoned, though strictly against protocol), breaking the chain of custody.  ‘But, there are three already in the custody room,’ she reasoned. 

.-…-.

 

“Do you recognise this man Mr Zaglioni?”

“No!”

“Are you sure?  Take a closer look…”

He shook his head, “but you said you have keys?  Let me see them.  Get me discharged from this hospital at once and take me to my store.” 

.-…-. 

They accompanied Zaglioni back to his premises.  They tried the larger key in the safe, and it opened.  They compared the other two keys with Zaglioni’s key, one was a match.  

The third key had an inscription around its rim, “This is one of ours; a client key.”

“Can you identify the client for us?” 

He unlocked his drawer and took out a journal, “It would be recent you say?”  He thumbed the pages and ran his finger down the entries, after the fourth page he look up.  I’ve gone back two years, but nothing matches.” 

“What about keys not yet issued?” 

“Excellent idea,” he went to a deposit box, put his key in, beside an existing key.  Turning both at once opened the box.  Inside was an array of keys and empty hooks.  “Ah!” He returned to his journal, “You’re key should open box 192, was the last one issued.” 

“193; can we open it?”

“Yes, my dear.” Sherry & Mell stood on either side of him as he put the keys into the keyholes.  He opened it, and began to cry!  “I’ll have to check the inventory but I think all the packets are here… 

.-…-.

Back at the precinct, they asked sergeant Covax if they could interrogate Miss Hanson.  She’d been housed in a waiting area but when they went to find her she was gone. 

“She wasn’t under guard sarge?” 

“She was helping us with our inquiries and was not considered to be a suspect.” 

“That may have been a miscalculation,” said Sherry. 

The desk phone wrung and an alarm sounded then all hell broke loose. 

“What’s happening!” Covax yelled down the phone. 

“The custody area has been breached and certain items of evidence have been removed.” 

“What’s missing?” 

“The three belts brought in earlier today.” 

“There’s going to be an attempt to break the prisoners out of the cells,” Sherry headed for the door with Mell close behind her. 

As she entered, a shadow moved beside one of the cells. The custody officer was down and his keys were missing.  The keys appeared dangling from an open cell door. The cell occupant was in the act of fastening a moon belt around his waist.  Sherry slammed the door shut and locked it. 

“They are secure, in a while Hanson will appear in that cell,” she said. 

“Hand over the belts Miss Hanson, you can’t get away.  The missing stones have been located they never left your employer's premises.” 

“How do you know all this Reed,” said Covax.

She opened her coat revealing her Moon belt.  “I’ll demonstrate how it works she said turning the stud, (She disappeared), she returned the half-moon stud to its original state and reappeared by the door twenty yards away. 

“That’s a helluva trick,” said Mell. 

“It’s a hell-of-a device!  Frobishire is the key, let’s get him to interrogation.” 

Tonni entered the Holding area, “Sarge two FBI agents want to speak with you in private…” 

Two men in slick black suits entered. “Thank you for your assistance in apprehending this gang, they are now under our protection.” 

“What?” Covax exploded, “They carried out a raid, took $3 million in uncut stones, and you want them to get away scot-free?  Not on my watch!” 

A police Captain entered, “afraid they can Sergeant, apparently it’s a matter of National Security.  And, since the stones never left the premises, their bullets were blanks; it seems that no crime has been committed. 

“What about the criminal damage charge?”

“The FBI will foot the bill for all damages.” 

“Wasting police time & resources?” 

“Think of it as a training exercise, sergeant.”

I understand your distaste, it rankles with me also but they have documents from the highest authority to back them up.”

“Turn off your belts,” said Sherry.  The four perps appeared and a squad of FBI agents came in and marched them away.

“Is that it?  Don’t we get an explanation?” 

“Apparently not Sergeant Covax.  This incident is covered by the official secrets act.  Nobody here can ever talk about this, a loose mouth could get you an indeterminate prison sentence.” 

“Thank you Captain,” said Covax, will we receive some sort of explanation for closure?” 

“Apparently, they wanted a packet of rare iridescent stones for a top-secret project.  Personally, I think they could simply have asked to purchase the stones but the FBI knows best…"

“Sherry rested her hand over her moon belt, ‘could prove useful’ she thought.

 

Copyright Len Morgan