The Runner and the Robber by Robert Sells Presents YA Murder Mystery Relates to Actual Brinks Heist

Stand-in Travor Foley

I loved to run. Last year I ran varsity for the track team at South Kissimmee High School in Florida. I was the only sophomore on the team. Back then I was just 5 feet, 8 inches tall. Now I was 5 feet, 11 inches. I might even get taller since my Dad was over six feet. My stride was longer than last year and I was faster. Coach was pretty sure I would have qualified for the State's this year. But, last year in Florida wasn't the same as this year in New York. I wouldn't be running for the much smaller rural school of Conatoga. I picked up my speed and tried to outrace my anger.
When you nearly spring up a hill, you fight both gravity and fatigue. My body became heavier with every step. As I thought about how unfair life was, I welcomed the fire burning in my leg muscles. I wanted pain now. Pain to match the simmering rage. Why did Dad die and my stupid grandfather have to be alive.
Finally up the hill, I easily maintained the same pace along the plateau that led to Granddad's driveway about a mile away. I could just make out the log cabin. Mom now called home.
It wasn't home to me, though. My home was in Florida where all my friends were. It was Monday and right now a bunch of them would be pouring into the cool of the Florida Mall...
Curls of black smoke rose from the cabin's stone chimneys. Gramps had built the house himself. His 'larning' had come from doing this or that, not books. He had been a cowboy, a real cowboy, when he was young...
A hundred yards more and I was about to finish with my print when I heard a car rumbling behind me. I looked over my shoulder just in time to veer off toward the ditch as the car passed closer, too close. The dark green Pontiac trimmed with brown ruse swerved in front of me and blocked my path. A tall, thin man, muscles like thick wires, jumped out. He had a salt-and pepper goatee and wore a wife-beater T-shirt. Up close his pupils were like pin points and angry. The guy grabbed me by my collar and threw me against the trunk of his car.
"Tell your grandfather he damn well better give up some of that money. I want my cut and I'm coming to get it... You understand?"
No, I didn't understand at all, but I figured this was not the best time to ask for an explanation. I vigorously shook my head up and down...

~~~

The RUNNER and the ROBBER

By Robert Sells

See Review for Reap for Whirlwind also!

This book is listed as young adult, but because of the topic of Alzheimer's, I want to highly recommend it for both teens as well as adults. The angst caused by those family members who are affected by this disease is heartbreaking to consider. You love the individuals with the disease, but there are still feelings of guilt that come when family members suddenly become caretakers well beyond taking care of somebody physically ill.

It wasn't surprising then, when, after just losing his father,  Bill Taylor was forced to relocate with his mother to take care of her husband's father, who had developed Alzheimer.  Because his mother was now the only breadwinner, she had to work, which left Bill having to care for his grandfather all of the time when his mother left. 

Now he was in school, but really couldn't get involved due to this personal responsibility at home. Later, he would admit to himself that he'd been so angry that he hadn't really tried to make any friends or try to enjoy his new school activities...

Sarah looked over at me, mud covering
half her face. "Almost there." she said,
then giggled when she saw my face
mottled with mud. I grimaced and
continued slogging through the mud.
Just like Dad said, "the price of love."
Finally, we stopped. Sarah and I peered
over the edge of the shallow gully. We
were at the side of the house where
the bedroom and bathroom her located.
"If they're in the bedroom," whispered
Sarah, "They won't be looking out the
windows." I didn't want to look in
those windows if they were there.
"Let's make a run for it. Toward the
bedroom window."
Those blue eyes were wide open,
alert, and eager. A smile filled her
face...
"Ready?"
~~~

But an eighth-grade student and neighbor had looked up to him, which was alright; but Bill knew hanging around with a young kid wouldn't help getting friends. It did help, though, when his Mom later called the police about the man who had accosted her son on the road, and the officer they sent happened to be his young friend's father...

Finally, Bill did notice a girl in his class--only problem is that she was dating one of the main football players. Still, they connected when she asked him to help her with one of their classes... Interestingly, when she came over to study at his home and met his grandfather, she shared that there was someone in her own family with the same disease. Her being quite comfortable around Bill's grandfather helped greatly in sharing and beginning a relationship.

Of course, not to the liking of her boyfriend...

Gramps had gotten worse when his son died. When Bill and his mother visited him at a local care residence, they were both upset with the conditions in which he was living. Immediately, she decided to relocate and move in and care for Gramps at home. Now she was working as much as she could because the pay scale for nurses in this country area was well below what she'd been making. Bill, of course, had been given no option. He would need to watch and care for Gramps, ensuring that he didn't wander away and get hurt...

Normally, Gramps was no problem. He had a habit of sitting at the table with coins which he counted and separated in stacks, over and over... it was this habit that Bill noticed the most when the investigation got going...when the man who had accosted Bill was murdered... and they learned that he had been a part of the men who had performed a 1992 Brink's Robbery heist!

Brooklyn Theft Brings Robbers $8 Million Cash

By JANE FRITSCH

Published: December 29, 1992

Robbers entered an armored car company's warehouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, late Sunday night and made off with more than $8 million in one of the largest cash thefts in the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said yesterday.

The robbers left more than $30 million behind, probably because they could not carry any more, said Federal investigators, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The investigators said that the F.B.I. was trying to determine whether the robbery was an inside job and that agents planned in the next few days to conduct polygraph tests on several employees of the company, the Hudson Armored Car and Courier Service.--NY Times... read rest of news release...

Remember for a brief time Nancy Drew hooked up with The Hardy Boys? Well, I was reminded of those fun mysteries when Bill, who finally wins over to have Sarah as his girlfriend, start an investigation on their own...mostly led by Sarah! 

Sarah comes from a rich family with a lawyer for her father. But thankfully she has not become spoiled and enjoys the time with Bill and Gramps in their small log cabin. But when she gets interested in solving the case, she certainly takes the lead! And succeeds in getting them into some serious trouble! But with her by Bill's side, he becomes braver and starts using some of the fighting skills he'd been taught by his father...

Even when he's fairly certain that Gramps was involved with the heist in some way...

Even when he meets up with the Mafia...

In many ways, readers will recognize this book as the cozy murder mystery style. We get to know the characters, especially, the three main teen characters, and become invested in their lives. And yet, there is Bill's mother and grandfather who are facing totally changed adult lives that they would never have wanted or planned for. The family commitment and loyalty comes across strong, even while Billy stews about the changes to his life--at least until he meets Sarah!

Even the Mafia characters had recognized that Gramps would be no help to them in tracking the money...but Bill and Sarah succeeded where all others had failed in communicating with Gramps! A triumphant story showing some things are possible when you work harder to find the solutions! I loved it.


GABixlerReviews

Robert Sells has taught physics for over forty years. He has been a story teller for over fifty years, entertaining his children, grandchildren, and students. The Return of the White Deer is his first offering to the public. His second novel Reap The Whirlwind was released late summer 2013. He lives with his wife, Dale, in the idyllic village of Geneseo, New York with two attentive dogs who are uncritical sounding boards for his new stories. He is intrigued by poker and history, in love with Disney and writing, and amused by religion and politics.