Lisa nodded aslYish stepped around to join them in line, leading them to the Special Accounts Desk. It seemed that the room was spinning as she was introduced to George Walsh, the special accounts person, and then she was sitting down at his desk, listening to him give his spiel regarding the early-withdrawal penalties that were incurred when you withdrew your money from an IRA too early. She nodded and told him she understood, then after asking her a few more questions he pushed some forms toward them, and she gave Animal a quick glance before she turned to fill out the forms. Animal smiled and gave her an encouraging nod. Playing the ever-faithful husband.
She filled out three different forms as Animal called Tim again to give him an EI'A, declined to have federal and state income taxes withheld, signed the forms, and handed them back to George Walsh, who looked them over quickly and tore copies out for her. "Right this way, Mr. and Mrs. Miller," he said.
They followed George Walsh back to 'Dish's window and waited while Trish finished tending to a customer. When the customer left, George nodded. 'they're ready," he told her.
Trish smiled. "Great' Lisa and Animal approached her window again while the teller consulted the paperwork George gave her, and Lisa's original withdrawal slip. "Will you excuse me for a moment?" she asked, leaving her post before Lisa could respond.
She's going to call the police! Lisa thought, her heart hammering wildly. She sensed something and she's going to call the police, they're going to catch Animal and Tim and this nightmare will be over and then-
Trish returned with another woman, this one in her late forties, probably a bank manager. She stood by as Trish reached into her cash drawer. "What denominations would you like your money in, Mrs. Miller?'
Lisa opened her mouth to answer, stunned that they still hadn't caught on. She tried to tell the woman how she wanted the money, but she couldn't. Then she heard Animal beside her, saying, "I think we'll take hundreds, Ms. Lynn."
And as Trish Lynn began counting out her and Brad's life savings and her entire IRA contribution minus penalties into Lisa's hands, the whole experience was becoming more and more like some strange nightmare that wouldn't go away.
Lisa didn't remember much of the ride to North Hollywood. She spent the first thirty minutes or so crying as she sat in the back of the van and Tim piloted them along the 405 Freeway, heading north. Animal sat across from her, eyeing her occasionally as he counted the money. He counted the money twice before transferring it to a small duffel bag that Tim had produced from the front seat. All Lisa could think about was a lifetime of work that had just been pissed away, a lifetime of work that she had handed to these two monsters because she'd been stupid enough to-
She wasn't going to go down that train of thought. She sniffed, ran her hand across her face, brushing the tears off her cheek.'IYaffic was already getting heavy as people began to get off work. Tim turned the radio to a classic rock station; Kansas blasted from the radio, followed by Journey and Boston. Tim turned the dial and found an oldies station specializing in R&B. Al Green's smooth tenor crooned from the speakers and Animal smiled, humming along. "Al Green… what a beautiful voice that man has," he said.
Lisa looked at him.'ihe idea that Animal found beauty in something was mind-boggling to her. She couldn't understand it-he was moved by the music of Al Green, thought it was beautiful, yet he was anticipating raping, torturing, and murdering a woman and her infant daughter. What was wrong here?
The drive to North Hollywood took close to an hour, but it felt like four. Through it all, Lisa thought about what could soothe the savage beast that lay within Animal's soul (Jeff, she thought, his name is Jeff), and possibly Tim's. She also tried to think of a way to stave off the inevitable: the abduction of Alicia and Mandy.
'!kinking of a way to save them fared no better than her plans to foil Tim and Animal at the bank. She still couldn't come up with anything plausible. There was still the possibility they wouldn't find Alicia. If that happened, Lisa was fighting tooth and nail to escape and stay alive. In fact, if they didn't find Alicia at the restaurant or along the street she claimed to have parked her car to sleep in, she was going to make a break for it. Come to think of it, why even go that far? Tim and Animal had no idea where Alicia was; they were depending on her to lead them to her. She could lead them to some other restaurant and then, as they circled the parking lot looking for her, she would take that opportunity to make a run for it.
Animal was watching her from the other side of the van, his green eyes studying her. Lisa refused to meet his gaze; it felt penetrating, as if he could see what she was thinking. It's probabty written all over my face, she thought.
One of her scenarios had her telling them where Alicia was, then finding her, then screaming bloody murder as she accompanied whomever it was she was going to be helping lure Alicia to the van. She saw Alicia make a run for it, carrying her baby as Lisa ran after her, urging her to run, goddamn it, run! She saw them being chased and then either a) Animal and Tim catching her and taking her down, but not before being rescued by bystanders, thus spoiling their murderous plans, or b) having Animal and Tim turn tail and run back to the van, escaping back to Al. In both cases, she saw them trying to carry out Al's earlier threat of tracking her down, but she already had plans for that. She and Brad were going to change their identities as she had planned back at the bank. That was the ticket.
She tried to stay calm as 79m reached Interstate 5. She was just going to have to play this one by ear. But she was damned if she was going to let them take Alicia and Mandy without a fight. "You said Burbank Boulevard near the IKEA, right?" Tim asked.
Lisa knew she couldn't lie; she had already told them where she and Brad had run into Alicia. Part of her had hoped Tim had forgotten this. "Yes," she said, with a sinking sense of dread.
"We'll be there in fifteen minutes," 71m said.
They were silent during the remaining fifteen minutes of the drive. Lisa felt her body go leaden as they approached the exit, felt the dread solidify and become a hot, squirming thing in her gut as they exited Burbank Boulevard and headed west. Animal was looking out the windshield, and he pointed ahead of them. "Coco's is on the right," he said. Tim nodded and merged to the right lane, slowing down to enter the restaurant's parking lot. Lisa felt her heartbeat speed up, felt her face grow flush with adrenaline as they cruised through the parking lot. She was trying to look out the windshield to see if she could catch a glimpse of Alicia, but she couldn't be sure. There were people all over the place; the restaurant was housed in a busy strip mall that also included a supermarket, a drugstore, and several smaller businesses. Tim drove the car to the rear of the restaurant and slid into a parking space. He killed the engine. "I thought I saw a woman standing near the restaurant who looked like the woman we're looking for," he said. "I'm going to back up and cruise by slowly so you can get a look at her. If that's the chick, tell me. And don't lie to me, 'cause I'll know. Shit, I don't even know why I'm telling you to ID her for me. She'll probably have her kid with her."
Lisa didn't say anything. Her mind was racing a mile a minute. It's going to be now. It's going to happen now, and I'm going to have to put up the fight of my life.
Tim motioned to Animal. "I want you to go with her. And we'll do what we talked about, okay?"
Animal nodded, his face showing no emotion.
Tim turned back to Lisa. "You and Animal are going to go out to see if the chick I saw standing outside the restaurant is Alicia. If it is, Animal will know-she'll most likely have her kid with her. If it's her, you and Animal are going to go up to her and this is what you're going to tell her." He told her, and Lisa felt nervous. It sounded so perfect, a plan masking altruism at its best. She held her emotions in and nodded as Tim regarded her. "We'll take care of the rest. Got it?"