The American Café

22

147 22 Lance recognized Sadie’s vehicle before he parked in front of the Liberty branch of First Merc State Bank. He could see the lights on inside the building and thought for a moment he may have jumped to conclusions . Sadie was a dedicated worker and was probably just working late. Then reality set in, and he realized it was after ten o’clock. Not even Sadie was that dedicated. “Where’s your gun?” asked Red. “Stay here,” ordered Lance as he opened his truck door. He reached behind his seat, pulled out a .357 revolver, slid it inside the waistband of his jeans at the small of his back, and clipped his badge to his belt. He entered the bank through the unlocked door and searched the entire building. He felt like a rock dropped in the pit of his stomach when he found Sadie’s purse sitting under a desk and her keys sprawled on top of it in full sight. Where was she? “Hello?” Lance yelled. “Anybody here?” Nothing. “Sadie? Are you here?” Suddenly he thought he could hear something. He stood completely still and listened. Then he heard it again. Someone was in the vault. He leaned against the vault door, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted. “Sadie, are you in there?” The reply was muffled, but he knew in his heart it was her. He returned to his vehicle and called Maggie again. In less than an hour he had rousted both the chief of police and Polly Gibson out of bed and contacted the head of security at the main office of First Merc State Bank in Oklahoma City. They would send someone named Walker out from Sycamore Springs to open the vault. No alarms had been tripped, and 148 Polly Gibson swore Sadie was closing up when she left the branch a little after five o’clock. Lance forbade anyone from entering the bank until he could determine if he needed to take fingerprints. He thought the cash would be gone and expected soon to be working a robbery. While he continued to wait for Walker to arrive, a thought occurred to him. He walked back to where Polly Gibson was sitting inside her car and leaned down to her open window. “Polly, are you sure you don’t know how to open that vault?” “No, sir. They keep the combination a secret because I have the vault key. You know, dual control. I didn’t do anything wrong by leaving before she did. She told me to. And Chief Stump says I don’t have to say anything . I’m just here as an employee of the bank.” Stump heard his name and walked over to Polly’s car. His hair was wet and he smelled like Ivory soap. “What’s the problem, Smith?” “I just thought perhaps Mrs. Gibson might be able to open the vault and we wouldn’t have to wait for the banker from Sycamore to arrive. I’d kind of like to make sure the other employee is all right.” “Well, if you ask me, when a woman is dumb enough to get herself locked in the vault, she ought to have to wait until morning to get out,” sneered Stump. Lance turned on his heel and reentered the bank. He cupped his hands against the vault door and yelled again. “Sadie, can you hear me?” He could hear her answer, but her words were inaudible. It sounded like she said she was “cursed” and it was “funny.” He laughed to himself and tried again. “You are not cursed, Sadie. Where’s the combination to the vault?” It sounded like the same muffled words were trying to escape the heavy door. “Hang on,” he said. “Someone’s on their way to get you out.” Poor girl. When it came to bank robberies he was beginning to think she was cursed. He scanned the small office, trying to figure out this strange scenario. “Okay, Smith,” he mumbled to himself. “This can’t be that hard.” He sat at the manager’s desk, looked at every item on it, and thought. He took the pen out of his pocket and carefully pulled out each desk drawer, searching. 149 If I was filling in for a bank manager, he contemplated, I would need to write down the combination somewhere. Where would I put it? His...