The Bank Robber Jericho Brown Conclusion
My name is Henry James and I’m a writer for Dark Sides of the Truth Magazine.
Part I, Part II, Part III, Conclusion
Jericho Brown just revealed his reason for trying to rob the bank. While the reason driving his actions made sense, the fact he thought he could pull this off was really stupid. I guess desperation makes us all a little loony tunes from time to time.
“Hey Miss Alexander I love your stuff by the way.”
“Well thank you Jericho.”
“You don’t suppose I could get your autograph on that story you did about that ghost?”
“Hang on. We wrote that story together Jericho. Me and Sunny Alexander remember?”
“Oh yeah, okay you can sign it too if you want.”
“Don’t pay any attention to Mr. Grumpy Jericho. He’s just jealous I’m the better writer.”
“You two wanna get on with it?”
“Right so after mamma died it was just me and Ruth. I had to leave school and work the farm and take care of her. She’s always been kind of fair if you know what I mean.”
I was about to reply when Sunny jumped in.
“We do, I was the youngest of five. It was just me and four brothers. They protected me like I was expensive china.”
“Well, that explains a lot.”
“Shut up Henry and let the man finish. Go on Jericho.”
“Yeah, so last year Ruth started getting sick a lot. One day she’d be fine, the next she’d be down with chills and fever like she had the flu. She was always tired. Didn’t matter how much sleep she got.”
“Did she suffer from nosebleeds and bruising?”
“Yes ma’am. How’d you know that?”
“Classic symptoms of Leukemia.”
“Yes, ma’am that’s what Doctor Richter said she had.”
I made a mental note to ask Sunny how she knew so much medical shit. First with Baxter Huntley and the O positive blood and now she’s diagnosing a cancer patient?
What the hell?
“James are you not paying attention?”
“Sorry what?”
“Jericho ask him again.”
“Do you know where the free clinic on Grafton avenue is?”
“I know where Grafton avenue is sure.”
“Well we ain’t got any insurance so I was taking Ruth to the clinic on Grafton at least two maybe three times a week. That’s when we met Doctor Richter. He took one look at her and said she had leukemia. Told us both not to worry ‘cause he had a cure for it. You should have seen the look on Ruth’s face as we sat there in that waiting area. She was so damned happy.”
“Whoa back it up Jericho. I’m hearing a couple things not adding up. This doctor came up with this diagnosis while you two were sitting in the waiting room?”
“Yes sir.”
“What about blood tests Jericho? Did he take any blood samples from Ruth?”
“No ma’am. He said he knew what she had and knew how to make her better. He told us if we kept coming to the clinic she would just keep getting sicker and sicker and die. He told us it didn’t have to be that way. That he’d even come to the house and give Ruth the first of three shots.”
“Let me guess. Three shots at ten thousand bucks a shot. That’s why you needed thirty thousand dollars right?”
“Yes sir. I didn’t have that kind of money. We ain’t never had that kind of money. This was the only way I could figure to keep Ruth alive.”
“Henry are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Yeah I think we’ve got us a bunco artist running a medical scam.”
“What does that mean? What’s going to happen to Ruth?”
“Hang on Jericho. Sunny, where are you right now?”
“Where do you think?”
“Don’t have time to play guessing games Miss Alexander.”
“Chill James I’m sitting in a strip center parking lot across from the bank. I just watched everybody come out. My guess is they’re going to let you two simmer for awhile.”
“I think we need to stir the pot. The name of the dude in charge is Manual Hermanos. He goes by Manny. He’s a bureau guy. Get this info to him and see if you can get his help.”
“So why don’t you just tell him what’s happening?”
“I think he’ll believe this better coming from anybody outside this bank right now.”
“Okay give me ten minutes.”
I hung up and slid my phone into my shirt pocket.
It’s pretty amazing the things people will do for family and it’s just as amazing what some assholes will do for money.
I smiled at Jericho and gestured at his shotgun.
“Well as long as you’ve got that and I’m here I’m guessing they’re not going to rush the place any time soon.”
“Good thing, ’cause I don’t think I could do much with it.”
“That bad of a shot?”
“Na, nothing like that. It ain’t loaded.”
Oh holy mother of God.
I patted the young man on the shoulder.
“Okay, how about we keep that in our back pocket for now?”
“Sure thing.”
My phone rang and when I saw it was Sunny I punched the speaker icon.
“Go ahead Sunny. I got you on speaker phone.”
“Okay I’ve got Manny here with me. Told him what’s going on. He’s going to run the doctor’s name or any scam like this through URS and see if he gets a hit. If he does, we’re going to send you the information. Hopefully Jericho can ID this guy. Then we can set up a sting using Jericho and the money as bait.”
“Hang on honey, I never agreed to the sting operation. I said depending on the circumstances we would consider it as an option.”
“Did you just call me honey detective Hermanos? Listen up you misogynistic asshole…”
I disconnected the call and grinned at Jericho.
“Let’s give them a little alone time shall we?”
Ten minutes later I received a text message. Attached were three photos. I enlarged the first photo and handed the phone to Jericho.
“He look familiar?”
Jericho shook his head.
I tried the next.
Again Jericho shook his head.
On the last photo he took a long look then shook his head again.
“The last one kind of looks like him, but he didn’t have no mustache and beard and his hair was all white.”
I called Sunny.
“We got a match Henry?”
“Not yet. Can you doctor the last photo and take away the mustache and beard and make his hair white?”
“You serious?”
“Yeah.”
“Give me a minute.”
“How’s Manny? You given his balls back to him yet?”
“Not just yet, but I think we have us an understanding.”
“I’ll just bet you do. Hurry up with the photo. Jericho needs to be back at his house pretty quick. Oh, and see if you can find Bob Stanton. He’s the bank manager. Let him know I need to borrow some of the bank’s money for a bit.”
When my phone buzzed about ten minutes later it was a single photo. I enlarged it and showed it to Jericho. I watched his eyes grow wide. Even before he said anything I knew we’d found our doctor. Jericho handed my phone back to me and I dialed Sunny’s number.
“Well?”
“It’s a match. Who is this guy?”
“Clinton Wade Struthers. He’s wanted for questioning in the deaths of three patients supposedly under his care in Oregon, plus there’s warrants for operating without a license in Arizona and New Mexico. It’s the same M.O. Henry. He hovers around clinics, convinces unsuspecting patients he’s got a miracle cure, takes their money, then injects them with Sodium Bicarbonate, and poof he’s gone.”
“Baking soda? He injects them with baking soda?”
“Yes. Before the patient realizes they’ve been scammed he’s long gone.”
“Not this time. Okay tell your boyfriend we’re tossing the shotgun out the front door. Then they can come in. We need to get Jericho on his way with thirty thousand and the feds need to follow him to his house, lay back and wait for the good doctor as he tries to bug out with the cash.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Really Sunny, we have to go through this now? Just tell Manny we need to move on this.”
I hung up then held out my hand.
“Might as well give me that shotgun. While I’m tossing it out you need to collect what you need from those tills. Stay away from the unbroken packs. Most of them are ink bombs.”
“Ink bombs?”
“Damn son, you really need to get out more.”
After tossing the rifle out the front door I met Jericho in the middle of the bank. His pockets were bulging with cash. Evidently, he’d not even thought about how he was going to carry the money out. I managed to get down on my knees without breaking a hip and then called Sunny.
“You ready Henry?”
“Yeah, send them in.”
After hanging up I slid the phone into my back pocket and looked up at Jericho as I tucked my hands against the back of my head.
“Unless you want those guys to body slam your ass on this floor I recommend you assume the position boy.”
We were both handcuffed and led out and after serious discussion they finally took the cuffs off me, then escorted Jericho to the back of a waiting police van. Sunny and I stood in the parking lot watching as everyone mounted up and sped away.
A lot happened since that day Jericho Brown tried to be a bank robber.
Clinton Wade Struthers was apprehended by the FBI and is currently serving life without parole.
Sunny and I are thinking about sending him care packages of baking soda.
For his help, Jericho’s sentence was commuted to five hundred hours of community service. He also received the hundred thousand dollar reward for information leading to the capture of Struthers.
Ruth Brown is now getting the treatment she needs thanks to some crowd funding efforts by the one and only Shaundrika Alexander.
Both Sunny and I took one hell of an ass whipping from our Chief Editor Rick McDonnell for teaming up on an article again against his direct orders.
But he still agreed to feature this story in Dark Sides.
Oh, and I almost forgot.
I had to take Sunny out to dinner to a place of her choosing instead of meeting her at Johnson’s for a burger.
Damn, how in the hell did that woman know I hate sushi?
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