Silent Treatment

nine. Thebank closes in another hour and fifteen minutes.' He started pacing again.'We've got to start moving and moving fast. The longer I wait, the more likelyit is the people at the bank will have learned that I'm in the news again. Asit is, I'm not sure how happy they're going to be about forking overtwenty-five thousand in cash. No matter what we decide, I've got to go and getthat money now. Then I don't think we can come back here.'

The call that had upped the ante bytwenty-five thousand dollars had come to the apartment around the same time RaySantana was shooting up Grey 2. When Harry arrived home from the office therewere two messages on his machine, neither of them any more promising than theseveral dozen others they had logged over the past four days. Thinking thatthis call might be the change-of-shift check-in from Maura, Harry preempted themachine.

'Hello?'

'Is this Dr. Harry Corbett?'

The voice was a man's, youngish tomiddle-aged, with an accent Harry couldn't place with certainty — possiblyGerman or Swiss.

'It is, Harry said.

'I am calling about the man in your posterand the fifty-thousand-dollar reward.'

Harry made a face and wished he had leftthe answering machine to do its job. Instead, he opened the log notebook andwrote in the time of the call.

'Go ahead,' he said. 'What hospital areyou with?'

'I am with no hospital,' the man said. 'Ilearned about the flyers and your reward from my employer.'

'And who is that?'

'The man in the poster. His initials areA.P. I will not speak his name over the phone. But you may already know it.'

Harry stiffened at the mention of TheDoctor's initials and immediately wondered if the caller could be Perchek,himself. But the voice was just too different from The Doctor's. Harry trieddesperately to think of any reason why he should deny knowing who Anton Perchekwas. Would he be giving anything away?

'Who are you?' he finally said.

'I handle security at his mansion and workas one of his bodyguards when he needs me to do so. I am on a pay phone rightnow. If you know A.P. at all, you know that he would not hesitate to kill me onthe spot for making this call.'

Harry had opened the spiral-bound notebookand was writing down as much of what the man was saying as possible.

'Go on,' he said.

'I wish to meet with you tonight and tomake an exchange. My information for your money.'

'How much money?'

'I do not intend to remain in this area oreven in this country after we meet. The Doctor and I have had some problemsbetween us. I have reason to believe he intends to kill me. I will settle forhalf of what you have offered. Twenty-five thousand in cash.'

'I don't have it.'

'Then get it. I will not negotiate anylower than that. Twenty-five thousand or no deal. In exchange, I will give youthe location of The Doctor's mansion and a recent photo of him taken withouthis knowledge. I will also tell you what security he has at the mansion. Thereyou will find proof of his role in the death of your wife, and other evidenceagainst him as well. How you handle that evidence will be up to you.'

'But-'

'Dr. Corbett, I have no time for this. Ihave preparations of my own to make. Nine o'clock tonight. If you know TheDoctor, you know why I do not trust anyone. You must do exactly as I say or wewill both lose out. Now, here is what you are to do. .'

Harry's bank was open until six thatnight. He had a total of $29,350 in his savings account, plus another five thousandor so in checking. He also had no personal connection whatsoever with anyone atthe bank. Cursing himself for not making more money, and for not having takenthe Hollins/McCue job, and for not going into ophthalmology, and for evertrusting Ray Santana, Harry took his savings and checkbooks and, with Maura,slipped out the rear basement door. They hurried to his garage for the BMW,stopped briefly at a newsstand, and then drove to his bank. With no idea howmuch space twenty-five thousand dollars would take up, especially in bill sizesof one hundred dollars or less, as the caller demanded, Harry had dumped out abriefcase and brought it along.

He entered the bank half an hour beforeclosing time. It was a moderately large branch and was still servicing a linewaiting to see the six tellers. Twenty-five thousand was more cash than he hadever handled at one time. Was it conceivable the bank wouldn't have that muchon hand?

Outside, Maura sat behind the wheel ofHarry's BMW, the driver of the getaway car. The ground rules Perchek's securitychief had laid down were that Harry was to bring the money to a landfill on theNew Jersey side of the Hudson, not far from the city of Fort Lee. He was tocome alone and to arrive at exactly nine P.M. The directions to the spot wereminutely detailed. The landfill was a dump site at the end of a winding dirtand gravel road. Harry was to drive to the center of the clearing, flash hislights four times, and wait beside the driver's-side door. The caller insistedon knowing the make and plate number of his car. If any other vehicleapproached the landfill, whether it had anything to do with Harry or not, themeeting would be off. . forever.

'The money means a lot to me,' the callerhad said, 'but not enough to die for.'

'How do I know this isn't a trap?' Harrysaid.

'What kind of trap? To what end? If myemployer wanted to kill you, you would be dead. It is that simple. If you knowhim at all, surely you know that. You are much more important to him alive.Besides, he delights in inflicting pain. The permanence and peace of death arehis enemy.'

Harry fought off an involuntary chill.

'I'll have a gun.'

'You would be foolish if you didn't. I canassure you I will.'

'I want a chance to inspect what you havebefore I turn over the money.'

'You will have five minutes. .'

The young teller studied Harry'swithdrawal slip for fifteen seconds. Then she verified his balance and lookedthrough the Plexiglas cage at him, smiling.

'How will you want this?' she said.

This was New York City, Harry remindedhimself, not some boondocks village. A twenty-five-thousand-dollar cashwithdrawal was everything to him, but probably not so uncommon to any of thesepeople.

'Hundreds or less,' he said, knowing thatthere was no sense trying for an air of nonchalance when she had his bankbalance on the screen right in front of her.

'Did you bring something to carry themoney in?' she asked, 'or would you like one of our bags?'

'I have a briefcase.'

He held it up for her to see. Herexpression made it clear that she knew he was not one of the do-it-all-the- timepeople.

'I'll need to get authorization from Mr.Kinchley,' she said.

She left her post and headed out frombehind the cages to the desks where the junior officers sat. Harry followed herwith his eyes and saw her approach a nattily dressed man in his late thirtieswith a sailor's tan and a chiseled jaw.

Come on, Harry thought. Just give methe goddamn money. If the bank withdrawal fell through, he had decided tocall his brother Phil, who lived in Short Hills, about forty-five minutes fromFort Lee. But if he had to go that route, everything would become immeasurablymore complicated.

He risked a glance out the front window.Maura was parked directly across the street. She was wearing dark glasses and awhite, floppy-brimmed hat, which was bobbing animatedly — probably to somethingon the radio. The sight of her that way brought Harry a smile in spite of thetenseness of his situation.

Their relationship was being forged in theintense heat of the events that had drawn them together. But in just a shorttime, they had become friends in a way he and Evie never had. And thatfriendship, in turn, had given their lovemaking an openness and mutual caringthat had never existed in his marriage.

Now, reluctantly, he was testing thatfriendship. Despite the mysterious caller's quite credible story, and his