Chapter 91: The Robbers Are NYPD?

When August heard what Lacey said and looked at the video, he quickly realized what was happening, clapped his hands, and cursed loudly with a word starting with "F."

“What do you mean?”

Seeing that Mona still didn’t get it, Roan pulled up all six videos and played the brief footage of the robbers before they entered the bank in slow motion, showing them one by one in front of her:

If the way the robbers in the first four cases walked outside the bank could be considered normal, then the two robbers in the fifth and sixth cases had a noticeably different gait compared to the first group—their knees angled outwards more as they stepped forward.

Only after they barged through the front doors into the bank lobby did the robbers in the fifth and sixth cases begin to walk in a manner similar to the earlier four.

In simple terms, the robbers in the fifth and sixth cases deliberately disguised their walk to make their appearance on the bank’s surveillance footage resemble the previous robbers.

After watching the footage, Mona immediately covered her mouth, staring at Roan in shock.

She never expected Roan to genuinely find evidence of copycat criminals, and in less than two seconds of video, no less.

Beside her, Lacey, having finished cursing, also looked at Roan with astonished eyes. Unlike Mona, Lacey was amazed by Roan’s meticulousness and keen observation.

August patted his large belly, his wide mouth splitting into a grin.

He knew Roan would never let him down.

“What do we do next?”

After a moment of silence, Mona instinctively tilted her head toward Roan—she was already used to relying on him when unsure.

“Even if we know there are imitators, I doubt we can find them, right?”

The surveillance footage was too short. Except for the third case, the other videos were barely ten seconds each. Even knowing that the fifth and sixth cases were copycat crimes, there was little to go on in the footage.

Unless they started checking eyewitness statements from the scenes.

But those witnesses had been traumatized, their statements vague at best. Even if someone mentioned a detail or two, it was impossible to tell if it was true.

Lacey frowned beside her.

“If these are copycat crimes, doesn’t that mean the group knows the specifics of the earlier cases very well?”

“You’re right,” Roan said, pointing at the video still playing on the computer.

“For the imitators to pull this off, they’d need to know the robbers’ height, weight, clothing, and methods. The time between the fourth and fifth cases was less than a week—very tight. For them to mimic so closely in such a short span, they must have practiced a lot.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. After a moment, Lacey spoke in a low voice:

“To know the specifics of the first four cases so clearly, aside from the agents in the Fourteenth Investigation Unit, only the NYPD would have that information.”

After a bank robbery, once the alarm is triggered, the FBI is notified, but it’s always the NYPD who arrive first—they have patrol officers on the streets, and maintaining the scene is part of their job.

“What?”

August, who had been grinning, suddenly shut his mouth and looked at her seriously.

“Are you sure?”

Accusing the New York police was a very serious matter. There were more than thirty thousand NYPD officers, and their funding was massive—the largest of any department in the federation. What’s more, the police were remarkably united, especially when dealing with agencies like the FBI. Unless there was direct, irrefutable evidence, the FBI would never move against them lightly.

“The NYPD is just one possibility,” Roan interjected, shaking his head. He thought it was very unlikely the NYPD officers were involved in the last two robberies.

“Besides the police, during the first four incidents, there were witnesses trapped in the banks, bank employees, security guards, managers—all of whom could be suspects.”

At Roan’s words, August’s frown relaxed a little, and Lacey nodded after a moment’s thought.

Mona tilted her head toward Roan. Roan picked up the statements from the fifth and sixth cases, quickly flipped through them, and continued:

“So our next task is to thoroughly vet these people. See if any of them have had unusual changes in their financial situation recently. As for the first four cases, we’ll investigate them after we sort out these two.”

“OK.”

After Roan’s analysis, August’s dark face broke into a smile. He got up, belly leading the way, and waved grandly at the tech team seated behind them, shouting:

“Time to do the IRS’s job! Check the finances of every single person at the scenes of the first four cases! I need to know exactly what’s been happening with their money lately!”

At the same time, August didn’t let go of the NYPD lead. After a moment’s thought, he turned to William.

“Check the case logs. See which NYPD officers accessed the files from the first four robberies. If you find anything suspicious, report back to me immediately.”

“OK.”

William nodded gravely and left the investigation unit.

With August’s orders, the whole team sprang into action, while Roan…

Sipped his coffee and continued reviewing the surveillance footage.

More than two hours later, the tech team produced a list of suspects.

The list included all those whose height and weight matched the robbers from the first four cases, and who had no alibi during the fifth and sixth robberies.

There were eyewitnesses, relatives of bank staff, and bank security guards.

“Hm?”

Noticing a bank security guard from the first robbery on the list, Roan frowned slightly.

The record showed that Freddie, the bank security guard, was a former soldier. His bank salary was average, and his standard of living had always been modest. Recently, although he hadn’t bought a new car or house, he had started frequenting a high-end strip club after work.

And on the days of the fifth and sixth robberies, he’d taken leave from the bank and hadn’t come to work.

This was something Freddie had never done before.

Lacey, reading the record, frowned as well, but still looked to Roan.

“Should we check out this security guard?”

“Of course,” Roan nodded, put away the list, and got up to head to the armory with Lacey.

“Let’s see if Mr. Freddie’s been moonlighting at the strip club as a bouncer for extra cash, or if he’s just there to enjoy the city’s nightlife.”

——

The first robbed bank.

A black SUV rolled to a stop. Roan and Lacey, fully geared up, stepped out and entered the bank. An older Black security guard with a prominent belly immediately greeted them.

“Hello, agents,” the guard said, shaking Roan’s hand and leading them to the lobby’s reception area. He smiled and asked, “Is there anything I can help you with?”

After shaking his hand, Roan got straight to the point.

“Is Freddie here? Didn’t he come to work today?”

“He went out for coffee, should be back any minute,” the older guard replied, nodding toward a café across the street.

Just then, a middle-aged white man in a security uniform walked into the bank, holding two cups of coffee. The older guard called out,

“Freddie! Someone’s here to see you!”

At these words, Roan and Lacey immediately turned their gaze to Freddie.

At the sight of the two armed agents, Freddie’s smile froze. Without hesitation, he tossed his coffee aside and bolted.

“Fu-k!”

Seeing Freddie turn and run without a second thought, Roan and Lacey both cursed under their breath and sprang up to chase him.

Between the bank and the café was a wide street. By the time Roan and Lacey burst outside, Freddie was already dashing across, heedless of the traffic, risking his life to reach the other side.

“You go left, I’ll go right!”

Watching Freddie’s fleeing figure, Lacey didn’t hesitate—she called out to Roan and sprinted after him.

“OK!”

Roan wasted no words and charged off in the other direction.

(End of chapter)