Page 47 of Mission: Possible

The name tugged the edges of my memory banks. "Sounds familiar. Why?"

"We were both on a case involving him. He used you to steal jewels from the museum."

My eyes widened in recognition. Of course I remembered Ben Rafferty! Not only was he a charming rogue but also my arch nemesis. Not because he was evil or dangerous but because he got away with a huge theft right under my nose. I came so close to catching him but he slipped away, vanishing as quickly as he appeared. "Is he involved in this? I never figured him for a bank robber. That doesn't seem his style," I mused.

"It's just a theory, Lexi. We got a tip that some jewels were being fenced through an intermediary in Montgomery. When I added that information to a sighting of Rafferty in the area, as well as his knowledge of Montgomery, I figured it was too much of a coincidence to ignore."

"Ben Rafferty came back to the city? I thought he'd never show his face here again!"

"I'm not surprised you didn't know. He's on a federal watch list but usually, by the time we catch wind of his location, he's long gone and the trail goes cold again."

"Is there any chance his presence is simply a coincidence?"

Maddox sighed. "Since I can't tie Rafferty directly to any particular crime, I'll concede anything is possible."

"He sounds like a thorn in your side."

"He is, but he's not even the worst one. If I told you some of the cases I've been assigned since I left the MPD, joined the FBI, and now this taskforce, you would not believe me." Maddox drained his glass and signaled for two more. Ruby returned with fresh glasses and whisked away our used ones.

"Smokin'," she mouthed at me.

"I look forward to hearing those stories some day," I said, trying not to smile.

"They're too fantastic. You'd never believe me." Maddox paused to sip again. "Another name came up. Joe Bagshot."

I shook my head. "Never heard it."

"That's no surprise. Joe Bagshot has many aliases. He's also served a couple of lengthy sentences for high-end theft, and is definitely connected to Rafferty. They worked together more than once."

"And this Bagshot guy was spotted here too?" I guessed.

"Nope. He's been dead a couple months but still has strong links to Montgomery. I've been trying to find out if he ever held an account at First Eastern but even if he did, it could be under any number of aliases."

"If he's dead, he couldn't have anything to do with this."

"Definitely not the heist, but the man could, and did, steal anything to order. He could have stashed something very valuable in there. Might explain why Rafferty was sniffing around, if that’s what he was doing."

"It's kind of ironic that a thief would store something valuable inside a bank."

"I'm sure Bagshot saw the irony in that." Maddox sipped again. "So, the bank manager wants the agency to locate this magical mystery item?"

"Yes. Given your ideas that something less than legitimate might have been stored there, I now have even more questions. What would you do?"

Maddox considered that, his face growing thoughtful. "I'd go back to the scene of the crime. Look for more details. Perhaps not everything was taken from that box?"

"Charlie says the robbers targeted it specifically!"

"Sure, by blowing up a whole wall of boxes to reach it! That's not exactly the kind of safety maintenance I’d trust, although I presume they didn't stick the explosive directly on that one box."

"You think they might have left something behind accidentally," I deduced.

"I saw a lot of things on the floor of the vault. There's a distinctpossibilitythe robbers left something behind."

"We're working on the theory that they knew exactly what they wanted. Surely, that means they would not have left without it?"

"Assuming it's one thing. What if it's not? What if several things were targeted?"

"Like jewels?" I asked, thinking about Ben Rafferty again. "They're small, valuable, easily transportable and quickly fenced if you know the right people. That's Rafferty's wheelhouse."