Aristocrats On Bottom Street

News of the liquor store robbery travelled faster than gossip. That's the first time I heard of an occurrence that wild go viral in less than 2 minutes. The robbery unfolded at 8:56 pm. Closing time was 9 pm. The two brazen thieves knew the police response time would be at least 10 minutes, knowing that traffic was going to be crazy between 8:30 and 9:00. It was a Friday night and the beginning of a long weekend. 

My girlfriend and I were just leaving the supermarket when she looked at her phone screen with her eyes wide open. "What is it?" I asked her.

"Oh my god."

"What?"

"There's a live feed of a robbery taking place. One of my friends is there right now recording the fucking thing!"

"Holy shit. Where?"

"At the World!"

"World of Liquor? No way!"

She turned up the volume and I could hear the two robbers shouting at the clerks and customers. I looked at the screen and saw one of them had a handgun and the other brandishing a long blade, like a dagger or machete. They both had balaclavas on, one of them was bright pink. Odd, I thought. He looked silly, but he seemed to be the one calling the shots. Maybe he wanted to compensate for his less-than-manly headwear. They both wore gloves, but the guy with the girly headgear on had fingerless gloves. Now why would a guy robbing a liquor store with a gun, touching everything he came into contact with, be wearing fingerless gloves and expect to get away clean? This was starting to look like a total disaster. 

Julie and I got into the car and continued to watch and listen to the video. We were engrossed in it. I pointed out to her what I'd seen. "Notice the guy with the gun is wearing fingerless gloves? What kind of robber does that?! He's leaving his fingerprints behind once they're gone. IF they get away."

"They're screwed. They might as well take their balaclavas off and smile at the surveillance cameras."

"Who's recording this? How can the robbers not see the phone?" I asked Julie. 

"Paula's recording. She's standing behind some lady. They're focused on the clerk and the customers at the counter."

"She's taking a big risk. Once those guys see what she's doing, she's in trouble. You should tell her to stop."

"I can't do that. They'll hear the notification."

"How do you know she hasn't turned off the volume?"

Julie looked at me, shaking her head.
"Duh, we can hear them, can't we? Audio goes both ways."

"Okay. But, what are we doing? We're just watching and listening to this crazy shit going on like a couple of dumbass kids at a drive-in movie."

Just then, we heard sirens. Police sirens, accompanied by screeching tires. The flashing red and blue lights from the tops of squad cars set a somewhat enticing, beautiful scene. We counted four cars. World of Liquor was just two blocks away and that's where they were racing to. 
"Let's go there!" said Julie.

"Let's." I replied, in a sort of James Bond manner.
I drove out of the parking lot in like fashion, onto the busy street narrowly missing an oncoming bus. 
"Take it easy! Who do you think you are? Burt Reynolds?" Julie chided.

"The name's Bond. James Bond."

"Crazy ass."

"What's happening now?" I asked her.

"Okay, everybody's down on the floor now. The robbers are talking with the clerks. They're on a computer, holding cards."

"Cards?"

"I think so. Paula's moving around, trying to keep her phone out of sight. Now she's whispering. Shhh."

Julie turned up the volume and we listened close.
"Cops are out there now. The phones are ringing. Maybe it's them calling. Right now the clerks are on computers. They're activating credit cards. They got all the money from the registers, the office and everyone in the building."

"Credit cards?" I asked.

"Temporary ones." Julie answered.

"Now isn't that genius. They're not just leaving fingerprints behind, they're gonna use credit cards and get tracked. This gets better and better!"
(TBC)

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