Robbery In Progress

*Emma*

By the time I made it over to Kelsey's precinct the sketch artist was already there. I would have been here earlier but I had to attend the Monday briefing with my team. There's a few cases on our plate that we divide and conquer so every Monday we meet to update everyone. It's a very helpful system, especially when we've got cases like mine where I spend most of my time with police officers and detectives instead of with my team.

"His chin was rounder," Kelsey already had the makings of a sketch put together but it seemed they were still working out the more minute details, "yeah like that. And his nose was slimmer with a slight upturn at the end." They sat silently while the artist fixed his nose, and I quietly watched from a few steps behind Kelsey. I couldn't help but notice her hair was down today, she usually had been wearing it up in a ponytail holder every time I've seen her in a professional capacity. I don't think I've seen her hair down since the night we met, and that was definitely something I shouldn't be thinking about. But I'm doing it anyway.

"Yeah, that looks pretty close. Okay, his eyes were blue. And his hair was a reddish-brown color."

I leaned over a bit more to see the sketch coming together before I spoke, "how did you get such a good look at him?" After I asked it became clear that I should have spoken sooner because Kelsey jumped right out of her skin. Hm, even when she was startled she was breath-taking. That didn't seem fair.

"Jesus Christ! When did you get here?" Her hand was over her heart like she was trying to slow it down.

"Sorry, I only got here a few minutes ago and I didn't want to interrupt. So this is him?" I took the sketch from the artist when they offered it and thanked them. And he looked...like a guy from Boston. Completely normal guy, with maybe some Irish heritage. Which makes sense, because Boston.

"That's him," Kelsey confirmed as she stood to look at the picture with me. She got close enough that I could smell her perfume and I had to fight to stay focused on the present.

"This will really help narrow down the search. While I am still unsure about why he visited you or how he found you, this is a huge break in the case."

Kelsey dismissed the sketch artist before turning back to me and leaning on her desk. "That's the part I don't get. He let me look at him. He just sat there and waited while I took him in. It's like he wanted me to have a good chance to see him. He should know it's a risk to let me see him and then confirm that it's him, yet he did it anyway."

"I think it was a risk. But I don't think it was a risk the way we thought in the past. He has now thrown up multiple signs that lead me to believe he isn't doing this because he wants to." I looked around finding Matty nowhere to be found. "Where's Matty? We should go to the conference room."

"He's getting coffee." She was starting to make me wonder when I would be considered during the coffee runs. Thankfully, I had already picked up a cup on my way here, but I was still feeling a bit left out.

I sat down where the sketch artist was previously instead of heading for the conference room and just jumped straight into the questions that had been floating around in my head all night last night.

"What aren't you telling me about your run in with Joe yesterday?" Her expression turned guilty and I decided in that moment that Kelsey was a terrible liar.

"What do you mean? I told you he gave you his regards." I wanted to force her to tell me the information but I knew that wouldn't be the right move so I changed tactics.

"Okay, what did you put in your pocket? Did he give you something?" She sighed at that and opened a drawer in her desk.

"I knew if I showed you this yesterday you would spend the whole day thinking about it. I already got it dusted for prints but I don't know if it will turn anything up." She handed me a picture that was in an evidence bag now. I took it from her and examined it.

Joe had time in the middle of a bank robbery to walk towards one of the windows and take a picture of us? That seemed like a weird thing to do. I turned the photo over and saw the writing on the back.

"This guy has been waiting for us to reach out to him and you didn't share it with me because you didn't want to ruin my Sunday?" I asked her, conflicted about how I felt about that. On one hand, we were working a case and professionally this was infuriating news. On the other hand, it was very sweet of her to be concerned about my work-life balance.

"Well, when you say it like that it just sounds rude. I'm sure he knew we would want to take this in and talk about it before making any moves. He seemed like a very reasonable person."

*This woman was driving me nuts.* I took a deep breath before answering her, "so now that we've got the sketch, what do you want to do with it?"

"We could broadcast it, but I think that would just cause them to go into hiding." She wasn't wrong, sending the picture to the public would help us locate Joe. Until Joe saw it and disappeared. But, I could feel that there was more happening here.

"I agree, that's too great a risk. But, the fact that he's asking for help...that just doesn't add up for me. We should tread as slowly as possible without being behind the ball. I want to find Joe, but I don't want to put anyone in danger in the process." I paused for a second to mull that over, "do you think your CI would talk to you again? Maybe you can show them the sketch and get the word out to a more specific audience?"

"That could work. I'll reach out to them and see when they can meet up. In the meantime, did we want to try and contact Joe?" I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth while I thought about that. I also tried not to notice her noticing that; it was too distracting.

"Might as well see what he wants." Since I knew he already had my phone number from the time he called me after they left the bank, I pulled mine out. "What's the number?"

I typed it in quickly as she rattled it off and then tapped into the draft.

"What are you going to say?" She asked me, trying to lean over to see my screen.

"I think we know Joe too well at this point to say anything too professional. Plus that might tip off whoever he's working with if I say something like 'hi this is FBI Agent Emma Harrison'." She nodded like she was agreeing with me so I continued, "I think I might casually reference his weekend. He'll know what I'm talking about, no one else should if he really did sneak away on his own."

"That makes sense. And if someone he's working with does see, 'weekend' is broad enough to cover it up as something else." I smiled at that, the way that she could just completely understand what I was trying to say made me feel so connected to her, inexplicably so.

"Yeah, exactly." For a minute there we just stared at each other but when I saw Matty coming into view with coffee in both hands I broke contact and leaned back in my chair. I hadn't even recalled leaning towards her. "Hey Matty, I'm about to text Joe."

"Emma! Good to see you again. Joe the bank robber?" I wanted to chuckle at that but I refrained, instead choosing to look down at my screen and start my message.

"Yes, Joe the bank robber." After I finished typing out my message since it wasn't all that long, I turned the phone over so that Matty and Kelsey could read it.

*I heard you met a mutual friend this weekend.*

It was Matty that spoke first, "I like it, now we just wait until he answers."