“Who’s left to give us one?” Vanessa shot back. “Every cop in Seattle is at the boat.”
“That’s still no reason to go asking for trouble.”
She had headed westward on the south side of the Ship Canal not with any particular destination in mind, but simply to put distance between them and the Lake Union area. In fact, they would more likely want to end up going the other way, either to get on the Interstate or carry on across to Bellevue or Redmond. Not wishing to retrace her route now, she got into the lane for the Ballard Bridge in order to circle back on the north side. She drummed her fingers impatiently on the wheel while a Volvo dawdled in the approach ramp ahead of them, finally putting her foot down and cutting around it.
“For Christ’s sake ease up!” Payne snapped.
“Martin, why don’t you try thinking about what we’re going to do, instead of carping at me all the time? If those fools of yours had known how to run a security business, none of this would have happened.”
“My people? Hey, don’t you go blaming them. You’re the one who told them to bring her back to the firm.”
“Did you expect me to wait until she threw a fit out on the street? There was no problem with that. What on earth possessed Phil to bring those things back with him to the boat?”
“That wouldn’t have been a problem either, if you hadn’t made them a present of the van.”
“How was I supposed to know they’d just let Corfe walk in and take it? God, Martin, you call that security?”
“You were there; you were supposed to know what they were doing. If I was there, I would have known.”
Vanessa gripped the wheel tight and released a long, exasperated sigh as she strove to control herself. They came off 15th onto Market, going east.
“Martin, this isn’t doing any good,” she said curtly. “We need to decide where we’re going. What do you want me to do?”
Payne dropped the sodden handkerchief that he had been using to mop his hair and neck down onto the floor. “Get far away, of course. We’ll need papers, some cash. . . . I need a change of clothes.” He took his phone from his coat pocket, looked at it oozing water, and threw that on the floor too. “Take 520,” he said as he reached to unhook the vehicle’s phone. “We’ll go to Bellevue and do it now, while everything’s still up in the air. We’ll probably have to get your papers and things too.”
“Harriet will probably be there—the housekeeper.”
“Well, it’s not as if you need to ask her permission, Vanessa. Just take what you need and go. In fact, you could mention something about having to go up to Canada at short notice—that’s what everyone will be expecting. Instead, we get an evening flight to El Paso, pick up a rental, cross into Mexico. Or we could make it Miami, hire a boat, and head for the islands.” He looked over at her. She didn’t speak. “Well, got any better ideas?” he challenged. Vanessa shrugged, shook her head. Payne punched in a number.
“Oh, Vogl, it’s me. I’m on my way now, and I’ll be needing some things in a hurry. First, a change of casual clothes and a weekend bag packed. Passport, personal documents, and ten thousand in cash. Spare pocket phone and the laptop. Got all that? . . . Yes. . . . No, I don’t know how long for. And if anybody calls, you haven’t heard from me, okay? . . . Ten minutes at most. . . . Fine.” He hung up.
“I still don’t understand how he—the boy—got out of that coupler,” Vanessa said. “I had it locked out. There’s no way he could have decoupled from the inside.”
Payne made a face. “Why ask me? That’s your department. Those Japanese must have gone there and gotten him out.”
“The same question applies. How could they have known he was there? He had no way of communicating.”
“All I know is that somebody must have got in the way of the two guys that Andy sent down there.” Payne waved a hand. “What were they looking for in Phil’s office? If it was the codicil, how did they know about it? How does Eric show up here instead of where he was supposed to be? There’s a whole lot been going on that we don’t know about, Vanessa.”