“That’s pure speculation. Maybe the guy busted in and didn’t find anything. The duffel might have been empty.” I began to rearrange the items on the shelf, placing one of the quarters over Lincoln’s face on the five-dollar bill. On the quarter, George Washington looked naked, while on the bill, Lincoln was all dressed up in his Sunday suit. They must have caught George in the sauna with his hair pulled back.
Chester, sounding cranky, said, “I don’t get this. Why call me just to lay out a line of horseshit like this?”
“I thought you should get an update. It only seemed fair.”
“Fair? You think it’s fair I spent all that money flying you to Dallas for nothing? I expected results.”
“Wait a minute. So far you haven’t spent a dime. I’ve spent the money. You’re supposed to pay me back.” I uncapped my ballpoint pen and gave Lincoln a mustache, which made his nose look smaller. I’d never paid attention to what a hooter he had.
“Pay you back for what? Air and sunshine? Forget it.”
“Come on. We made a decision that turned out to be wrong.”
“Then why should I pay? I’m not going to pay for your incompetence.”
“Chester, believe me, I’m earning my keep. I could get my license yanked for half the things I’ve done. I’m not even allowed to do business in this state.” I put the two quarters over opposite corners of the five-dollar bill to anchor it.
“That’s your problem, not mine. I wouldn’t have agreed if I’d known you were off on some wild goose chase.”
“Well, neither would I. That’s the chance we took. You knew as much as I did going in,” I said. To amuse myself, I wrote a bad word on the front of the five-dollar bill. It was the only way I could think of to keep from screaming at him.
“To hell with it. You’re fired!” I heard him say, “Goddamn it!” to himself just as he banged the phone down in my ear.
I made a face at the dead receiver and then rolled my eyes. I hauled up the phone book and started looking up the reservation number for American Airlines. It was embarrassing to admit this had all been for nothing, but I couldn’t see what good it would do to stay in Dallas. I’d made a mistake. I’d known at the outset my actions were impulsive. I’d been operating on the best information I had, and if my judgment turned out to be misguided, there was nothing I could do about it now. I noticed I was busy defending myself, but I really couldn’t help it in the wake of Chester’s disgruntlement. Who could blame the man?
I picked up the five and held it closer, looking at the fine details. Paper currency has a baroque assortment of shaded names and numbers, lacy scrollwork, and official seals. Now that was weird. Since when was Henry Morgenthau secretary of the treasury? And who was this guy Julian, whose eensy-teensy signature was so impossible to read? Just to the right of Lincoln’s portrait, it said “Series 1934 A.” I dug in my handbag and pulled out my wallet, checking the few bills I carried. The only other five I had in my possession was a series 1981 Buchanan-Regan. The one-dollar bills were 1981 Buchanan-Regans and 1981-A Ortega-Regan with a couple of brand-new 1985 Ortega-Bakers thrown in. A twenty and a ten seemed to be the same vintage. If I wasn’t mistaken, it meant the five-dollar tip Laura Huckaby had given me was a bill dating back to 1934. Didn’t that indicate she was busy spending money from a cache of old bills? Surely she didn’t simply happen to have a bill like that in her possession.
I put the phone book down, abandoning the notion of getting back on a plane. Maybe all was not lost. I picked up the duffel and moved forward, scanning the expanse of lobby within view. The five businessmen leaned toward each other, passing the pages of some report between them. As usual, in such a group, one fellow seemed to command the attention of the others. Behind me the door opened abruptly, and before I could turn around, I was snagged by the elbow and pulled into the stairwell.
11
“Where the hell have you been?”
I turned, astonished. It was Ray, his badly bruised face about six inches from mine. He’d removed the tape from his nose, but it still looked like his nostrils were packed with cotton. His skin smelled medicinal, the sort of aftershave you’d sport in an emergency room, composed of equal parts rubbing alcohol, adhesive tape, and suturing material. He still clutched me with his injured hand, his splinted fingers held stiffly.
“Where have I been? Where have you been?” Our voices seemed to ricochet up the stairwell like a flock of shrieking birds. Both of us glanced upward and lowered our tones to rasping whispers. Ray urged me into the cul-de-sac formed by the final flight of steps where it dead-ended at the wall.
“Christ, those guys are on to you,” he hissed. “Some yo-yo with a walkie-talkie’s been giving me the third degree. I’m waiting by the house phone and he asks if I’d mind ‘stepping into the office.’ What was I supposed to do? He knows who you are and he wants to know what you’re doing here.”
“Why’d he ask you?”
“He’d been checking around. The waitress must have told him she’d seen us together. I wasn’t hard to spot. With a mug like this? I told him you were a private investigator working undercover on a case I wasn’t at liberty to discuss.”
“Who did he think you were, a cop?”
“I told him I was part of a witness protection program, being moved to another state. I had to talk like this was all very hush-hush, life-or-death stuff.”
“They couldn’t have believed you. How’d you get away?”
“They don’t give a shit who I am. They just want me out of here. I said I’d go up to the room and get my things. They escorted me to the elevator, and as soon as they left, I turned around and came down. Is that the duffel? Give it here.”
I jerked it out of his reach. “Listen, you piker. Do you swear on a stack of Bibles you’ve told me the truth? This is cash we’re looking for, not drugs or diamonds or stolen documents, right?”
“It’s money. I swear. You didn’t find it?”
“I didn’t find a thing. How much are we talking about?”
“Eight thousand dollars, maybe a little less by now.”
“That’s all?”
“Come on. It’s a lot when you don’t have a dime, which I don’t.”
“Somehow I got the impression it was more,” I said.
Our voices had started to reverberate again. He put a finger to his lips.
“Where’d the money come from?” I whispered hoarsely.
“I’ll tell you later. Let’s see if we can find a way out of here.”
“There’s a service corridor below this one, but you can’t access it from here,” I said.
“What about the floor above?”
“I don’t think so.” He started up the steps, but I grabbed his arm. “Wait a minute. Slow down. We need a plan.”
“We need the cash,” he corrected, “before hotel security catches up with us again. Maybe this Huckaby woman left the money with the manager.”
“She couldn’t. I was standing in the same line when she checked in. She didn’t deposit any valuables. I’d have seen her do that.”
“Then where is it? She’s not going to let the money out of her sight. If we figure out where she’s got it, you can snag it and run.”
“Oh, I can? That’s nice. What about you?”
“I’m speaking figuratively,” he said.
“Well, the cash isn’t in her room because I’ve searched.”
“Then she must have it with her.”
“She does not. I told you that. Ah!” I heard the sound an idea makes when your brain ignites, a tiny implosion, like spontaneous combustion at the base of your skull. “Wait a minute. I got it. I think I know where it is. Come with me.”
I knocked on Laura Huckaby’s door. There was a pause. She was probably checking through the spy hole to see who it was. Ray was standing against the wall to the left of the door, with a look of suffering on his face. “I know how Gilbert got my release date,” he said dully. “I didn’t want to tell you unless I had to.”
“Hush,” I said under my breath. I couldn’t figure out what his problem was, aside from the obvious. He’d been curiously reluctant to come up here with me, suggesting all kinds of reasons I should do it myself. I’d been adamant. For one thing, if we were caught, we could act like we were just leaving. For another, now that Chester was pissed off, I didn’t want to take sole responsibility. As before, Laura opened the door a crack, leaving the chain in place.