Chapter 2 - Lockdown and Interrogation
Panic is a silent virus in a bank. It doesn't always start with a scream; sometimes, it starts with a trembling hand pressing a silent alarm under a desk. Sarah didn't press the alarm for a robbery, but she immediately signaled the branch manager, Mr. Henderson, who took one look at the open bag and nearly fainted. Within minutes, the heavy steel grates of the bank began to lower. The few customers inside murmured in confusion as the main doors were locked. The boy, whose name they soon learned was Leo, seemed entirely unbothered by the sudden shift in atmosphere. He sat on a tall leather stool, kicking his legs back and forth, watching the adults scramble around him. Mr. Henderson had ushered them into his private glass-walled office, the green duffel bag sitting on his mahogany desk like a ticking time bomb.
"Leo, sweetheart," Sarah began, kneeling next to his chair to be at eye level. Her heart was hammering against her ribs. "You need to tell us where you got this bag. This is a lot of money. Did you find it?" Leo shook his head, his curls bouncing. "No. It's my dad's. He told me it needs to go into a savings account so it can earn interest. He said interest is very important for the future." He spoke with the rehearsed precision of a child repeating something he didn't quite understand but knew was vital. Sarah exchanged a desperate look with Mr. Henderson. "Where is your dad right now, Leo?" she asked gently.
"He's playing hide and seek," Leo replied simply. "But he's really good at it. He said he had to hide from the bad men in suits, and that I had to be brave and take the green bag to the bank. He said the bank is the safest place in the world." The innocence in his voice made the hair on Sarah's arms stand up. This wasn't a joke. This wasn't a prank. A father was on the run, and he had entrusted a staggering fortune to a seven-year-old child. Outside the glass office, the flashing red and blue lights of police cruisers began to reflect off the bank's windows. Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder. The situation had just escalated from a bizarre anomaly to a major criminal investigation, and sitting in the center of it all was a little boy who just wanted to open a savings account.
