Mind Switch by Lorne L. Bentley Read Free Book Online Page B

personnel? After all, at that point he was nowhere near the area where the cash was held. So what did he gain by killing bank patrons?”  
    “Because this guy Slivers panicked, it’s as simple as that. C’mon, Fred, don’t try what you always do, make a case more complex than it really is!”  
    Fred didn’t want to continue the discussion; but the pure idiocy of Paul’s comments forced him to respond in as rational a tone as he could muster, “Bank robbers might panic, especially ones that have had no prior experience, but they would logically panic in the middle of a robbery; this guy never even made it to the teller’s cage. He was at least 25 feet from the nearest teller when he started firing. In fact, according to witnesses, he started firing shortly after he entered the bank’s front door.”  
    Paul did not verbally respond but his negative facial expression provided clear evidence that he thought Fred had no idea what the hell he was talking about.
    Now exasperated, Fred said, “If you will excuse me, I have another murder case here to solve.”
    At that moment emergency medical personnel entered the theater and started to work on the wounded. Fred approached a middle-aged male still seated in the second row. The man didn’t appear to have been hit by any of the flying bullets. Fred asked him to describe the gunman.  
    “I had a chance to see him when he left the theater. He was a big guy, not heavy you understand, but very tall. He was wearing a suit—now who in this town would wear a suit to the movies?”
    Fred agreed with the guy’s take on the relaxed dress code of Floridians, but this was no time for that type of discussion. “Okay, wearing a suit – but did you get a look at the shooter’s face?”
    The man said, “Sorry, it was too dark. I didn’t really see his face.”  
    Fred gained no additional information when he interviewed other patrons. He suspected that, in the darkened theater and with the heat of emotion, no one would be able to make any type of detailed and accurate identification. To complicate matters, no one realized that the man was actually shooting until patrons started to fall over in their seats.  
    Apparently the gunman had been seated in the upper row, and from that perspective, he must have casually aimed his weapon directly at patrons seated below. The movie was a documentary based on the war in Iraq, so initially the audience likely believed the gunfire was simply a component of the movie. Too bad, Fred thought, had they realized what was happening, more of them might have escaped or at least ducked for cover.
    Witnesses’ names were taken, and for the second time in less than two hours, police photographers took extensive photographs of the crime scene. On his way out Fred asked Carl, the ticket taker, if he had noted any strange behavior from any of the patrons?  
    “I sure did,” he responded eagerly, “But at the time I didn’t know what it was about. About twenty minutes ago, a tall thin man ran by me and then bumped straight into an usher. Both he and the usher fell over. But the man got up, he offered no apology, and continued running. I yelled at him but he ignored me and exited through the front doors. I thought about running after him but he was a lot taller than I am. And they don’t pay me enough to take that kind of chance.”  
    “Did you see his face?”  
    “Yes, I got a fairly good look as he passed by me.”
    Fred took the ticket taker’s full name and address. He directed him to stop over to the station and look at some photos and provide a description of the man’s features to the police artist.

 
    Chapter 15
     
    The marvel had watched from a distance of not more than fifty feet, witnessing Lieutenant Harris in the process of being almost crushed by two men frantically exiting the County Bank. Not part of my plan, the marvel thought, but at the same time certainly not an undesirable, unanticipated consequence. A broad smile