CHAPTER 7
The sounds of the tools being used stopped.
Robie looked at Stone. “Think they’re done?”
“Possibly but we need some more information to make sure of what’s really going on here.”
They walked over to the two female tellers who sat on the floor tethered together. Stone and Robie knelt down beside them.
Stone said, “Have you worked for the bank long?”
One of the tellers, the younger woman, said, “About three years.”
The other woman, in her forties, said, “I’ve been here ten. And I’m scared to death. We’ve never had even a hint of a robbery before.”
Stone put a calming hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”
The woman looked up into Stone’s steady, calm eyes and relaxed noticeably. Stone looked like a rock-hard pilot steadying a passenger’s nerves while they flew through a storm.
“Thank you for saying that,” she replied.
Stone looked at the door leading into the room and then at the room itself. “Every time I’ve come here I’ve noticed that the configuration of the lobby is very irregular. And there’s a large pop-out on the wall over there where you lost more space. And it goes all the way into the lobby.”
Robie glanced at him and then at the pop-out. “There’s a corner of dead space in both places,” he said. “On the left side next to the teller stand and then in here, which is a continuation of that dead space from the lobby.”
The older teller nodded. “When I first came here I asked about that. Like you said, it just seemed like a huge waste of space. I wouldn’t have noticed it except my husband is in construction and I’m guess I’m more attuned to things like that.”
“So what was the reason?” Stone asked.
“The way it was explained to me was that when the building was first being constructed an elevator bank was going in there. But at the last minute they changed the location for it. But they’d already built out the shaft and all, and they didn’t want to go back and redo that—an expense issue, I’m sure. So they just did the next best thing.”
Robie said, “They covered it up.”
“That’s right. The bank didn’t mind. They got a deal on the rent because of it. Not only were they not charged for the dead space, but they also got a reduced square-footage rate. Most stores didn’t want this space for that reason and also because it was off the beaten path in the mall. Not enough foot traffic. But banks don’t care about that. They don’t want people to come to the bank. That means they have to hire people like me to service them. They’d much prefer you use the ATMs or bank online. Saves them a ton of money.”
“Does it affect all units on this vertical?” asked Stone. “I mean, do they all have dead space on all the floors?”
“No, I don’t think so. At least not as severe as ours. Where the bank is now there was going to be an anchor store, but the deal fell through. Where the pop-out is located was going to be the location of two elevators. They’d already built some of the support structure for it, which made the space basically unusable. It also had something to do with load-bearing components, which nobody wants to mess with. When the bank leased here they just walled in the shaft. But I remember someone telling me that the shaft had not been fully built out, so they didn’t have to reconfigure the other units, or at least not as much.”
“But does the shaft go all the way up to the top of the building?” asked Stone. “I mean, if they were going to have an elevator here that would make sense. Why build an elevator that doesn’t reach all the floors?”
“I think that it must,” answered the woman after giving it some thought. “I know the elevator bank was going to start in our space, so there’s a solid floor inside the pop-out.”
“What about the private residences on the top floors?” he asked.
“Oh, I know they have their own elevator bank.”
“So maybe this shaft doesn’t go up there?”
“No, my husband put a bid in to do some work here, and that included preliminary site plans and the like. The original plans did not have private elevators. But once it was clear how much the residences were going to cost, the idea of a private set of elevators became sort of a priority. You know, the rich don’t like mixing with the rest of us if they can afford it,” she added huffily.
“Was there something special about the bank’s location?” asked Robie while Stone looked at him intently.
“Like what?”
“Something that made it different from the units above and below it, as related to the elevator shaft?”
“I don’t think so. When my husband was shown the plans I remembered him telling me about the pop-out and what was behind it. He said they’d just drywalled around the shaft at our location. I suppose they did that all the way up.”
Stone said, “But there must be some reason the robbers chose this space over the others on the vertical. Most other stores don’t have armed guards. They had to take that into consideration.”
Robie glanced toward the door to the room. “It’s the entrance,” he said quickly.
“What?” asked Stone.
“Most stores have walls that come down and doors that lock that you can see through. Either glass entry doors or metal link roll-down doors. The bank doesn’t. If they had to work on something in the lobby of the other stores they’d be seen, even with the store closed. But not here. It’s opaque. Complete privacy.”
The older woman nodded. “That’s right. Not sure why they designed it that way. I guess they assumed that even if someone broke in they’d have to punch through the roll-down wall and it would be noticed.”
Stone added, “And the fact is most stores here don’t close at noon on Saturdays.”
“Almost none of them,” said the teller. “I used to be in retail. Weekends are where the money is made and rent gets paid.”
The other teller said testily, “But what does that matter? They broke into the bank. They’re robbing us! Why are we wasting time talking about pop-outs and construction crap?”
“You’re right,” said Stone. “I was just curious. Just try to remain calm. I believe this will all be over soon.”
The young teller glared at him. “Right, with us dead or not?”
“Hopefully not,” replied Stone.