Below that, Patrolman Bastian had written his case summary:

On December 12 at approximately six p.m., Mason Falls Police responded to a 911 call on the 2000th block of Pike Street of a potential 211 in progress at the Golden Oaks liquor store. I arrived at the store at approximately 6:14 p.m. and found no suspects present.

Per Christian Pelo, the store clerk, an unknown male had entered the package store armed with what appeared to be a bolt-action rifle. The suspect approached the checkout register. He held the weapon to the right temple of Pelo. Then the suspect demanded all the money in the store.

Pelo opened the cash drawer, revealing the contents as thirty-three dollars, broken into the following denominations: one twenty-dollar bill, one ten, and three singles. The suspect struck the clerk in the head with the butt of his rifle and quickly ran to the clerk’s side of the counter. The suspect told Pelo he knew there was a “fuck-ton of cash in this joint” and to “give it up”—tapping the butt of the rifle on a safe that was obscured behind a series of liquor bottles along the back counter.

Pelo opened the store safe, but it was empty, as his manager had one hour earlier headed to the bank. At this point, the suspect became irate and struck Pelo a second time, knocking him to the floor behind the counter. The suspect grabbed a plastic drink cup from behind the register and told the clerk to stay down.

Taking the thirty-three dollars from the cash drawer, the suspect asked the clerk if his fountain machine dispensed Cherry Coke, to which Pelo, from the floor, affirmed that the machine did. The suspect then filled the cup with the beverage and left, telling Pelo to count to fifty before he got up.

Pelo reported the suspect wore a black ski mask over his face with one oval hole for the eyes and nothing where the mouth was. From the skin he could see, Pelo reported that the suspect was white and about his height, which was five foot ten.

The report was signed by Bastian and dated December 12, the day of the robbery.

I sat back, noticing that Purvis had settled atop my right foot. A line of drool hung from his mouth and across my sock, ending on the hardwood floor.

“I don’t know what you’re expecting, here, buddy,” I said to him, looking from the file to my bulldog.

Just work the details, Purvis said.

I flipped to the next page, but I remembered well what happened after that, because that’s when I came onto the case.

Dispatch called robbery, who said they were backed up, and a request went out to Miles Dooger, who was the police chief at the time.

Miles called me at my desk and asked if I could help.

The next page contained my interview with Pelo from the day of the robbery.

This was the only time I’d spoken with the clerk, since in subsequent visits, I had instead spoken to the day manager, John Adrian, who insisted that the establishment didn’t want the incident followed up on, and that Pelo had abandoned his job in distress after the robbery and left no forwarding address.