Joseph sighed. “Oh, pul-ease...” His eyes swayed back to Gabriela. His voice was more reasonable now. “Listen. She’s fine. She’s watching TV. She’s got some toys. She thinks she’s with some friends of yours she hasn’t met. You had to go out of town for a day or two.”
“If you hurt her, I’ll—”
“Movie dialogue alert... Let’s not waste time, okay?”
“I want to talk to her. I want to see her.”
“In a minute.”
“Please.”
“In a minute.” Joseph looked around them. There were no observers. “Now, listen to me carefully. Are you listening?”
“Yes, but—”
“Shhh. All I want is you to listen.”
“All right.” She looked down past her trembling hands.
“Have you heard from Charles Prescott today?”
“No, I swear. I’d tell you if I’d heard from him. Please... What do you want?”
Joseph was nodding. Again he looked up and down the street out the front door. A few passersby but nobody was paying this group any attention. “There’s a list — with detailed information on some clients of Charles’s. Thirty-two of them, to be exact.”
“Thirty-two?” she asked, looking quickly at Daniel.
“That’s right. He called it the October List. These were special clients he did, let’s say, some private work for.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“That’s not really my concern, now, is it? Anyway, I’m one of those clients. And we were involved in an important project — which has been derailed thanks to your boss vanishing unexpectedly. I don’t like derailings and now I need to be in touch with the others. Without him we’re a rudderless ship. Did you catch that word, by the way? ‘Need’ the list? And you’re going to get it for me.”
“But how can I get you something I’ve never heard of?”
“You knew Charles better than most people. Even if you’re telling the truth — I’m not exactly sure about that, by the way — but even if you are, you better than anybody can figure out where it is.”
Daniel said, “But if it was that important, he wouldn’t’ve kept it himself. He’d give it to somebody for safekeeping. His lawyer, his—”
“His lawyer doesn’t have it. I checked.”
Gabriela asked, “Mr. Grosberg? You’ve talked to him?”
Joseph paused, and his thick lips eased into what might have been a smile. “We had a meeting. A... discussion. I’m convinced he doesn’t have the list.”
“Meeting? You don’t mean that at all. What the hell did you do to him?”
“Relax. He’ll be okay in a month or two.”
“He’s seventy years old! What did you do?”
“Gabriela, we on the same page here? I don’t need you to be weird. I need you to be focused, for Sarah’s sake. Now, I heard about the list from a little bird — who’s no longer with us, by the way.”
“What?”
Joseph wrinkled his nose, dismissing her shocked expression. “This Tweetie Pie, I was saying, this little bird told me that Charles was so paranoid he didn’t keep the list on computers. He said if the Mossad could be hacked, then he could be hacked. So he only had hard copies. And he kept one in New York. It’s here somewhere. You get to find it.”
“How?”
Joseph held up a finger. “Maybe you know more than you think you do.”
“I don’t! Maybe some other employees heard of it, but—”
“Elena Rodriguez, his nod to affirmative action? The occasional temps? The bookkeeper? No, you were the only one who worked that close to Mr. Charles Prescott. He told me that. He said there was nobody like Gabriela. So you’ve got to be the little gal who can. I need you to find me the October List.”
He turned his eerie gaze at Gabriela probingly. “And there’s something else I want. The initial fee I paid Charles. I want it back. Four hundred thousand dollars.”
“Fee?” Gabriela asked. “There is no up-front fee at Prescott. We get an annual percentage of the portfolio...” And then she nodded and added with disgust, “But I get it: These’re the special clients you’re talking about. These thirty-two.”
“Exactly!”
“But if you’re secret how would I know where any money for... you people is?”
“Oooo, that stung.” Joseph pretended to pout.
Daniel said, “Listen, Joe. Be realistic. If her boss took off he’d take the cash with him.”
“ ‘Joe’?” The man looked around broadly.
“Joseph.”
“Oh, moi.” He smiled. “Charles left town pretty fast. According to my sources, when Prescott heard there was a warrant he bailed and didn’t get all the money he could have. Maybe the police found some of it. But I’ll bet there’s a lot more. And I’m hoping for your sake — and Ms. Sarah’s — that you can hit the jackpot. Now, Gabriela, let’s get some more ground rules set. First, like I said, no police. And a cone of silence with everybody else: Your ex-husband, your best friend, your hairdresser. Everybody.”
“You’re despicable!”
Joseph turned to Daniel, who looked like he was considering slugging the man. “Sorry you walked into the middle of this. But you get the picture. You don’t seem stupid. You keep your mouth shut too. You agree to that?”
“Yeah.”
Joseph laughed. “If looks could kill.” To Gabriela he said, “Now, it’s nearly noon. I’ll need the list by start of business Monday, so I’ll give you — I’ll generously give you — until six tomorrow to find it. Sunday. But about the money — that’s a different story. In case everything falls apart and the police come knock, knock, knocking on my door, I’m going to need that cash in my hot little hand, so I can jump ship. That I want by six o’clock tonight.”
“Tonight? Impossible!” she said, gasping. “Four hundred thousand dollars?”
“For Sarah’s sake you better figure out how to make it extremely possible.”
Then, with an edge of resolve in her voice, Gabriela said, “I’m not doing anything until you let me talk to my daughter.”
“You can’t talk to her.” Joseph opened his phone and displayed a video. “But...”
Daniel and Gabriela looked down. The cute blond girl was sitting watching TV cartoons. Oblivious to the shadowy forms of two adults in the background.
“How could you do this?” she raged once more.
Joseph sighed, looking bored, and put the phone away. “Time for a pop quiz. Now, what’s the most important ground rule?”
“No police.” The words sounded as if uttered underwater.
“Hooray, you get an A plus.” He picked up the bag containing the doll and the sweatshirt. “Oh, and by the way, somebody’ll be watching you. Every minute. You do believe me? No need to answer. See ya.” And he was gone.
Chapter 12
Childless
NOON, SATURDAY
30 MINUTES EARLIER
Gabriela pressed a tissue to her eyes as she and Daniel were back on the sidewalk, heading for Central Park, silent and digesting the stark news they’d received in the lobby of her building. They were on pavement crosshatched by sharp shadows from the trees overhead. The September sun continued to radiate fierce power, though little heat, like a distant spotlight. Occasionally Daniel’s arm brushed hers and she wondered if he would embrace her for solace.
He didn’t.
“We’ll go to the office,” she said, desperation in her voice. “Maybe the police are finished with it now. I can try to find this October List.”
She caught a glimpse of herself reflected in a window. How like everyone else she looked, how normal — tan stretch pants, tight burgundy sweater, leather jacket, the purse over her shoulder, the Tiffany bag dangling from her hand, a handsome man at her side. On their way to a movie or a health club or brunch with friends.