but she’ll always be out of reach.”
“Do you categorize all women according to Greek mythological punishments?”
“Doesn’t everybody?”
Alvarez laughed.
“Don’t get me wrong. She’s a fun girl, but she’s only interested in being pursued. She has no desire to be caught.”
“What about the other one, the older one?”
“Listen, I gotta go. I need to finish these packets,” Corbin said, dodging the question.
Alvarez laughed again. “All right. Let’s meet tomorrow and go over the maps one more time.”
“No problem.”
When Corbin hung up the phone, he heard his doorbell ring. Looking through the viewer, he saw Mrs. Tuttle’s white hair. “Mrs. Tuttle, how are you?”
“I’m fine, Alex, just fine.” As Corbin opened the door, Mrs. Tuttle pushed passed him into the apartment. She was carrying a large silver pot. “I made soup and I wanted to bring you some. It’s chicken noodle. I know how much you like my chicken noodle.”
“That I do, Mrs. Tuttle.”
“Besides, you’re all by yourself over here.” Mrs. Tuttle set the pot on Corbin’s countertop. As she did, she noticed the assortment of wallets, bags, papers and twenties spread across the floor. “Work keeping you busy?”
“You know the way things are, Mrs. Tuttle, their time is their time and your time is their time too.”
“It’s always been that way, Alex. Mr. Tuttle used to say the same thing when he worked for NASA. Did I ever tell you that we lived in Florida when they sent Mr. Aldrin to the moon?”
For the next ten minutes, Mrs. Tuttle regaled Corbin with stories of the places she and Mr. Tuttle had lived and the things they had done. Finally, Mrs. Tuttle returned to her own apartment, leaving Corbin to return to his packets.
It was obvious the moment Beckett stepped through the office doorthat his nerves had suffered a relapse. Corbin set down his book and prepared for the fight he knew was coming. He suspected for several days that Beckett would need to be shored up one last time because Beckett seemed increasingly more nervous lately. To Corbin’s surprise however, Beckett didn’t launch into a tirade. Instead, he sat at his desk, tapping his thumb against a notebook as he stared at the wall.
“You nervous about something?” Corbin finally asked.
Beckett let out a disgusted laugh.
“Let’s try this again. Are you nervous about something?” Corbin repeated.
“I’m fine.”
“Doesn’t look that way from here.”
“You must be mistaken.” Beckett chuckled ominously.
“Oh, I doubt that. What’s the problem?” Corbin was becoming annoyed.
“There’s no problem,” Beckett countered, still without turning to face Corbin. They sat in silence for nearly a minute. Beckett stared at his computer, tapping his pen against his desk. Corbin stared at the back of Beckett’s head.
“So there’s nothing I need to know.” This was a statement, not a question.
“Nothing comes to mind.”
“You’re ready for tomorrow.”
“Yes,” snapped Beckett.
“You’re not going to back out on us in the morning?”
“I’m not backing out on anything. I don’t have a choice at this point,” Beckett said snidely.
Corbin’s lips took on an angry curl. “Why don’t you just drop the theater and say what’s on your mind?”
“You know what’s on my mind? This whole thing is immoral. It’s wrong.”
Corbin let out a single, derisive laugh. “There’s no denying that. So what?”
“So I don’t like doing things I think are wrong.”
“Then back out,” Corbin said calmly, even with a hint of enthusiasm.
Beckett was shocked. “What?!”
“Hey, if you’re gonna back out, there’s nothing I can do about it, and frankly, I’d rather we just get it over with now, so Nobody and I can move on without you.”
“You know I can’t back out. I need the money. I’ve already quit my job.”
“Then man up, friend. You stepped up to the plate. The bat’s left your shoulder. Stop worrying about whether or not you like baseball.”
Beckett faced Corbin. “I said before that I’m not backing out. So drop it.”
Corbin waited several seconds before responding. “All right, you’re in. You wanna talk about tomorrow?”
“Yeah, let’s go over it one more time.”
The tense atmosphere in the room cleared significantly.
“You arrive at your usual time, o’ dark thirty. Bring your stuff up here. Turn on your computer and head down to the dumpster in the parking lot. No one can see you there. I’ll pick you up and take you to the station, where you catch the train north. I’ve got your ticket in the duffel bag, which will be sitting in the backseat of my car.”
“I meet Nobody in Baltimore.”
“Right, he’ll have the seat opposite you. He’ll be wearing a blue button-down dress shirt and gray slacks, no tie. He’s got black-brown hair and brown eyes. He’ll answer to ‘Joe.’ I told him you’d answer to ‘Jeff.’”
Beckett looked at his watch. “Shouldn’t we be going to lunch?”
Corbin checked his own watch. “Yep. Don’t forget, we make that funky order today, the one that looks like only one of us is eating.”
“I remember. It’s a good thing I’m not very hungry.”
“Just stick with the order we discussed and don’t say anything unusual to the waitress. Treat this like a normal lunch.”
Chapter 11
As he pulled into the deserted parking lot, Corbin saw Beckett pacing in the dark by the dumpster. Beckett wore his navy-blue suit pants and a white shirt. He kept beating his palms together. When the car stopped, Beckett flung the passenger door open.
“We have a problem! We can’t use this information!” Beckett screeched.
Corbin squinted at Beckett. “Why not?”
“We work with these people! I can’t believe I didn’t see this before. All it’ll take is for one of them to spot us on a security video and we’re done!”
Corbin let out a hissing sound through his gritted teeth. “Joe Nobody will be the only person who ever appears on video because you aren’t going inside. No one knows Nobody, so no one can identify him from a videotape. And let me remind you, there won’t be any videotape by the time they finally figure out something happened,
Beckett bit his lip and climbed into the car. “Oh man, I feel like an idiot.”
Corbin didn’t respond.
As they drove in silence to the train station, Beckett kept looking over his shoulder at the duffel bag in the backseat. His mouth was dry. When they neared the station, Beckett pulled the duffel bag onto his lap. It was heavier than he’d expected. Before them stood Union Station, with the fifty state flags displayed proudly along the semi-circular road that ran past the station. Behind them to the right stood the Capital Building, just beyond a stand of trees.
Corbin nodded toward the crosswalk at Massachusetts Avenue. “I’m gonna let you out at the corner. Don’t forget to give me your wallet.”
