“Shannon Jensen,” Auster whispered with the sound of a deflating balloon.
Vida’s eyes flashed with fury and disbelief. “The drug rep from Jackson?”
He nodded.
“She’s only twenty-three!”
Before Auster could reply, Vida said, “Of
Vida was turning pale; primal anger was threatening to take over her higher brain functions. Before she could wind up again, Auster said, “I’m sorry, I’m an idiot. She’s history. Just tell me what to do.”
Vida flattened both hands on his desk and leaned over the charts lying there. “I’ve got half a mind to let Biegler clean your clock for you. I could turn state’s evidence, send you to Parchman for twenty years, and walk away rich. They give rewards for that kind of evidence now. Monetary rewards. I’d be getting a massage in Cabo, while you’d be doing research on whether size really does matter or not.”
Auster felt dizzy. “Vida, don’t lose sight of what’s-”
“I could do that,” she went on, as though he hadn’t spoken. “But I’m not. I don’t want Nell getting in any kind of trouble.”
“How can you prevent that?”
“By getting us all out clean.” Her eyes drilled into him like twin X-ray beams. “I just need to know two things, bub.”
“What?”
“One, that you’re done with that sorority slut.”
Auster nodded eagerly. “And?”
“Make the call, Kyle.”
“What call? To Shannon?”
“Who else?”
“But Biegler’s on the way!”
“I can’t think of a better time. Make it short and not so sweet.”
Auster took out his cell phone and speed-dialed Shannon Jensen. She answered with a husky tone, “Mmm, I wasn’t expecting this. I’m on the road between Oxford and Tupelo, and it’s
Auster banished phone sex from his mind. “Shannon, I need to tell you something.”
“What?” Her alert business voice had come online.
“I have some bad news, honey. It’s…it’s not going to work out like we thought. It’s just too complicated here. My marriage, I mean. I have to end it. You and me, I mean.” Shannon gasped, but he pushed on before she could gather herself. “You deserve a lot better than me, you know that. I know you’ll bounce back like nothing ever happened.” The girl was screaming now, and sobbing, but the only word he could make out was “Why?” He started to embellish his excuse, but Vida leaned closer and gave him his cue line.
“You’re in love with someone else,” she whispered.
Auster closed his eyes.
“Say it,” Vida commanded.
“I’m in love with someone else, Shannon.”
“Oh my God,” Shannon cried. “Someone besides your wife?”
“That’s right.”
“I don’t believe you!”
“Tell her who,” Vida ordered.
“It’s Vida,” he said in desolation. “From up front. She’s always been the one.”
“Even when we were together,” Vida whispered.
Auster grimaced, but he had no alternative. “Even when we were together, I was with her.”
The line was dead. He prayed Shannon had hung up before she heard the last of it.
“There,” Vida said with supreme satisfaction. “Doesn’t that feel better?”
He forced himself to nod. “I was telling the truth. You have always been the one. I just…you know me. She made it so easy, and-”
“You’re embarrassing yourself.” Vida leaned back and put her hands on her hips like a drill sergeant. “Are you ready to do what you have to do to save us?”
He nodded.
“Can you grow a freaking backbone for five minutes?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay. I want you to drive over to Dr. Shields’s house and get the stuff you planted there.”
This stunned him. “What do you mean, get it?”
“Retrieve it. Take it out of the safe room and drive it to where I tell you.”
“But why?”
“We need it to disappear. Forget blaming Warren. We need everything in that house to disappear. The second set of books, the coded records, everything. Most of all, the bonds. Biegler may have frozen your business accounts by now. Maybe even the personals.”
“Jesus!”
“Do you understand?”
“Yes, but what if Warren’s at home? He didn’t come in today, which is pretty strange, and…oh, God.”
“What?” Vida asked, her eyes narrowed.
“What if Warren is working
Vida thought about this for a few seconds, then dismissed the idea with a shake of her head. “No. He’d never admit to the things he’s done, not even for a big reward. His reputation means everything to him.”
“He might do it to stay out of jail.”
“I don’t think he’s at risk of going to jail. Not really. Even if they threw the book at him, he could plead out. We’re the ones who could go to jail. But I’ll tell you, there’s something weird going on with our Warren. For five years, he’s a Boy Scout. Then he walks in and says he needs money. Big money. And he starts breaking rules left and right. It doesn’t add up. There’s something fishy about that life insurance he got last year, too. I don’t know what, but I know Warren’s not about to start cooperating with the Feds. He hates the government. And in his eyes, he’s got more to lose than any of us.”
“Okay,” Auster said, calming a little. “But if he’s at home, I can’t just waltz into his safe room and start carting stuff out. He’ll freak out.”
“Screw him, okay? This is life or death, Kyle. If you have to, go in with your key, grab the stuff, and get out. You know the code. Whatever he says or does, humor him, but get that shit out of there. Tell him the FBI planted it there. Or just ignore him. Shields won’t hit you or anything. He’s not the type. Not unless you were fucking his wife or something.” Vida froze, her eyes boring into Auster’s. “You’re not, are you?”
“Hell, no!”
She returned his gaze without the slightest bit of faith. “If you’re not, it’s only because she wouldn’t touch you with three sets of gloves on.”
Vida chuckled. “Yes, I do. Way too much class for you.”
He was surprised by how deeply this assertion stung. “What will you be doing while I’m at Warren’s?”
Vida sat on the edge of his desk and looked at him with a strange light in her eyes. “Burning this office to the ground.”
A bolt of terror went through him. “What? Burning…?”
“You heard me. It’s the only way, Kyle. And we’ve only got a few minutes to do it. Biegler and his guys are probably driving ninety miles an hour from Jackson, which makes it about an eighty-five-minute trip.”
Auster felt sick. “But-”
“They’ve probably got somebody watching the office, too, to make sure we don’t try to cart the files and computers out of here.”
“They’ll follow me when I leave,” he thought aloud.
She nodded. “They will, if they recognize you.”
