“And while you do that,” Corbin said, pulling tax forms out of his drawer, “I’m gonna do my taxes to see how much Uncle Sam plans to sodomize me this year.”
“You need more deductions. You should have kids.”
“Aren’t they expensive?”
“Not if you don’t feed ’em.”
“I tried that once with fish. . they died.”
“Kids are more resilient.” As he fished his phone card out of his desk, Beckett pointed toward a black guitar case leaning against the wall in the corner of the office. “I meant to ask, what’s that?”
“That’s my guitar.”
“I guessed that part. The shape kind of gave it away. What’s it doing here?”
“I play at a local club sometimes. I usually go home before heading to the club, but today I need to get the oil changed in my car, so I don’t have time to stop at home. I didn’t want to leave the guitar in my car.”
“I didn’t know you played guitar?”
“Yeah. I’ve played for years, but I only started playing publicly about six months ago, when I read an article about local clubs letting people play on open mic nights. I was bored sitting at home, so I found one of those clubs and started playing.”
“What songs do you play?”
“It depends on my mood. When I first started I asked around to see what other people were playing, because I didn’t know what people wanted to hear. I ended up with a pretty long list. Truthfully though, the list is a little dull,” Corbin said with more than a hint of disappointment in his voice. He didn’t tell Beckett he had written several songs, but hadn’t yet worked up the courage to play them.
“Are you any good?”
“The manager seems pretty happy with me. He’s even asked me to fill in on other nights once in a while.”
“Wow! Do you have any fans?”
“Not that I know of, but no one’s thrown any produce at me.”
A few days later, Corbin entered the office holding a calendar of upcoming events. “I think I found the day we need to do this.”
“Why? What gives?”
“On June 14th, they’re having a hearing upstairs on amendments to our rules. At the start of the hearing, the recorder will take the names of everyone in attendance. If I sit in, my name will appear in an official United States government record as being present at the hearing on that date and time. Talk about an unbreakable alibi.”
“Are you still going to have time to do everything else?”
“Yeah. The hearing doesn’t start until ten, and it’s supposed to stop by noon. Plus, after the hearing starts and my name is recorded, I’ll just slip out the back.”
Beckett smiled. “Ok, we have a date.”
“I think so. I’ll clear it with Joe Nobody, but I doubt he’ll object.” Corbin tossed the calendar into his inbox. “By the way, Nobody and I are gonna start scoping out houses this weekend. We should know by Monday which of our high earners will make good candidates.”
“Don’t let anyone see you.”
“Won’t be a problem.”
Corbin picked up his book to read, but he saw Beckett staring out the window. Something clearly bothered him. “What?” Corbin finally asked.
“Why are you doing this?” Beckett asked.
“What do you mean?”
“This whole scheme. You’re a smart guy. You make good money. In a couple years, you’ll make a heck of a lot more money in the private sector. You don’t have any lavish spending habits, and I’ve never known you to be greedy. So I can’t see money as your motivation. So why take this kind of risk for something you don’t seem to want or need?”
Corbin set down his book. “I would have thought my motives were obvious.”
“Not really.”
“You tell me, Dr. Freud. I thought I was doing it for the money.”
Beckett shook his head. “No, money’s definitely not your motive.”
“Well, when you find out, you let me know.”
Chapter 4
Monday morning began as most Mondays do. Corbin and Beckett arrived and checked their mail. Various coworkers came by to discuss their weekends and to ease their transitions into the workweek. Around ten, Beckett closed the door. Corbin assumed Beckett wanted an update on the weekend’s research. He was in for a shock.
“You did what?!” Corbin nearly screamed.
“I told Kak I’m quitting. My last day is June 14.”
“I told you we need to think about that!”
“I thought you agreed? You even picked the date last Friday. I just gave him the same date.”
Corbin rested his head in his hands as he struggled to calm himself. His anger raged beneath the surface, but he slowly regained control. They needed Beckett, though this was a huge presumption on his part. Corbin took a deep breath. He spoke slowly and without uncovering his eyes: “We’re going to work around this, we have no choice. . but do not, I repeat, do not ever make another decision without going through me first. There are three of us who need to agree on all actions. Do you understand me, Evan?!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Do you understand me, Evan?!” Corbin hissed.
“Yes, I understand.” Beckett leaned back away from Corbin. “Listen, I’m sorry to drop this on you, but I thought we worked this out,” Beckett said in a pleading tone.
Corbin uncovered his eyes and stared at Evan’s chest. “It’s water under the bridge, let’s not revisit it,” Corbin said through gritted teeth. “Just get me a list of the out processing procedures as soon as possible.”
“How did you and Nobody do this weekend?”
Corbin cleared his throat, still fighting to suppress his anger. “Fine.”
“Anything interesting.”
“No.”
“Have you made any decisions about who we’re going to use?”
“Yes.”
“Who are we going to use?”
Corbin took several deep breaths. “We’ve got a list of candidates. We’re going to check county records this week to make sure they don’t own property we don’t know anything about. We don’t want to use anyone who’s spent their credit on homes or rental property.”
“I’m thinking of running down to Philly this weekend. I could take some pictures of the downtown, maybe steal a phonebook from a 7-11.”
“Steal a phonebook?!” Corbin growled.
“We need a list of banks and mailbox places, right?”
“We can get those off the net.”
“Won’t that leave a record?”
“We’re not going to do it here. We’ve got internet access that can’t be traced.”
“How did you get that?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Corbin clenched his teeth.
“So do you want me to go to Philly?”
“No.”
“Ok, I’ll spend the weekend working on my lawn.”
Word of Beckett’s departure spread instantly. No sooner had Beckett told Kak, than Beckett found himself summoned to a half-dozen offices. As if on cue, Molly appeared at their door the moment Beckett left to make the rounds.
“Where’s your buddy?” Molly asked, as she picked light-blue fluff from her sweater and dropped it past her brown tweed skirt onto Corbin’s floor, where it gathered near her feet.
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”
“I hear he’s leaving our lazy little oasis?”
“That’s what he tells me.”
“When’s the big day?”
“June 14th.”
Molly folded her arms and leaned against the doorframe. “What are you gonna do without your playmate?”
Corbin shrugged his shoulders. “They’ll provide me with another one.”
“Uh huh,” Molly said. She looked around the room, searching for something. “So. . uh, what are you two up to?”
Corbin’s heart jumped. “What do you mean?”
“You guys have been acting suspiciously lately: closed doors, shouting, whispered conversations. You’re up to something.”
“Nothing more than usual.” If Corbin was nervous, he gave no hint of it.
“You know you can’t keep a secret from me. I will figure it out.”