“Yes, he has.”
“Hello! I’m in the office next door. I would know.”
Corbin shrugged his shoulders. “What do you want me to tell you?”
“How about the truth?”
“You won’t like the truth.”
Molly spun around. “Let’s hear it!” she demanded.
“The truth is he’s been in and out all day. Every time his rear hits the chair, someone calls him or e-mails him, and he takes off. The only break he’s had, that I know of, came when we went to lunch.”
Molly shook her head. “No.”
“I don’t know what else I can do to prove it to you?”
“Habeas corpus counselor, produce the corpse.”
“What is it with the big words today? Did you swallow a dictionary last night?”
Molly waved her finger at Corbin. “I know he hasn’t been here, and I’m going to prove it. You can let me in on your little secret now, or I’ll expose you later.”
“There’s nothing to expose!”
“Yes, there is,” she said, rising from Beckett’s chair. “The more you deny it the more I’m convinced. You won’t get away with it, whatever it is, so you might as well tell me now.”
“Go away.”
“I’m warning you. Just when you think you’ve gotten away with it, there I’ll be, and you’ll be sorry you didn’t let me in on your little plan.” Molly slammed the office door.
Beckett stood in the middle of 30th Street Station. A towering statue of the Archangel Michael, lifting the body of a dead soldier, looked down on Beckett from the entranceway to the cavernous room. Beckett felt relieved. They’d gotten away with it, so far at least. The money still had to be collected, but that was up to Corbin and Alvarez. Beckett’s role was over, so he planted himself on a wooden bench and let his eyes roam the room, enjoying the artwork and watching the passersby. As he sat there, all of his muscles relaxed and he nearly fell asleep.
Alvarez joined him after buying a Coke.
Beckett ran his hand along the heavy bench. “This bench has probably been here at least a hundred years.”
“Could be.” Alvarez felt more drained than relaxed.
“I wonder how many thieves sat on this very spot during those hundred years?”
“Whatever it is, add two more.” Alvarez rubbed his eyes and popped the top on his Coke. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Don’t let me stop you.”
“Corbin wanted me to take the duffel bag.”
“To the can?” Beckett asked facetiously.
“You know what I mean.”
Beckett waved his hand toward the bag. “All yours.”
“Is everything in there?”
“Yep.”
“Your pockets are empty?”
Beckett raised an eyebrow. “Yes.”
“Do you want to check again.”
“No.”
Alvarez grabbed the bag. “I’ll see you on the train. Remember, we agreed to board separately.”
“I remember.”
Alvarez pulled the duffel bag over his shoulder. He looked up at the station board. The train was running late.
For the past hour, Corbin fended off several waves of well-wishers, many of whom were repeat visitors who wondered why Beckett had yet to come see them. So far, everything ran smoothly, but Corbin knew Beckett needed to make an appearance soon or things could unravel. Before Beckett could make his appearance however, Corbin needed to pick him up. To do that, he had to get rid of Molly. This was proving to be difficult. As the day progressed, her suspicion level increased. Beginning an hour ago, she started making spot checks in Corbin’s office. Now she tried a new tactic.
Molly entered the office without knocking and made her way to Beckett’s chair. “Fancy meeting you here, too bad I can’t say the same thing about your roomie.” She was shaking something between her fingers.
“What’s shakin’?”
Molly showed Corbin a small glass bottle containing a liquid that matched the dark-red color on her nails. “I was sitting all by myself in my office, thinking about doing my nails. Then I remembered you were all alone, so I thought I’d come over here and keep you company. I brought plenty of polish, if you want to share.”
“I’ll pass.”
“How are things?” Molly set the nail polish down and began filing one of her nails.
“I’m actually kind of busy, Molly.”
“Don’t let me interrupt you.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Corbin waited, but Molly didn’t respond. “Ok, let’s be blunt. Please leave.”
“No.”
“I don’t want to throw you out, but I will.”
“Doubt it.” Molly concentrated on her filing.
“I can make you want to leave.”
“Not until I find out what you two are up to.”
“If you don’t leave, I’ll start making lewd comments until you do leave.”
“You wouldn’t know how.” Molly still didn’t look up from her work.
“Fine, you asked for it,” Corbin said reluctantly. He slowly examined her up and down, as if he were a computer conducting an electronic scan.
Noticing his silence, Molly looked up to see what Corbin was doing. “What are you looking at?”
“I understand that one of the hardest things for strippers to deal with are guys who show up just to nitpick their bodies. I’m going to put that to the test. First, I’m going to guess your weight, then I’m going to move on to guessing other measurements.” Molly was by no means fat, but she wasn’t exactly thin either. And while Corbin found her figure quite attractive, he knew her weight was an issue for her, as he’d seen the much slenderer Theresa score direct hits on this point several times in the past.
Molly’s smile vanished instantly. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“If you’re still here after that, I’ll start cataloging defects. Last chance to leave.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she repeated.
“Let’s see, you’re certainly north of 150 pounds.”
Molly’s face flushed.
“I’d say you’re probably north of 160 as well.”
Molly’s face turned bright red and her eyes bulged.
“Maybe as much as 164, though I wouldn’t rule out 170.”
Molly’s jaw dropped. Not only had Corbin guessed, but he’d guessed somewhat accurately. “Bastard!” she spat out.
“Are you leaving?”
“No,” Molly said resolutely.
“Those are some mighty big feet you got there, Molly, not to mention some saggy-”
“Stop!” Molly jerked herself out of the chair. As she stormed out the door in a huff, she cursed Corbin over her shoulder.
Corbin breathed a sigh of relief. Now he could get Beckett.
When Beckett and Alvarez boarded in Philadelphia, their car was nearly empty. By the time they reached the outer suburbs, they were alone. With no one to overhear them, they began arguing and accusing each other of making the entire trip unnecessarily difficult. This continued until they reached Baltimore.
Alvarez rose as the train rolled to a stop. He grabbed the duffel bag. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I never want to see you again.”
“Ditto.”
Without another word, Alvarez left the train.
Beckett watched him leave. “Idiot.”
Chapter 12
Beckett climbed into Corbin’s car. Corbin had already spoken to Alvarez and knew the trip had been successful. He also knew Alvarez and Beckett had not gotten along and that Beckett would need to blow off a lot of steam. He took the long way back to the office.
“You’re late,” Corbin tweaked Beckett, as Beckett had tweaked Alvarez earlier.
“Talk to the train.”
“Sure, blame an innocent train. How’d it go?”
Beckett wasted no time unloading. “I don’t know where you dug that guy up, but what a freakin’ loser! He kept panicking! If I wasn’t there, he’d be in jail right now describing you and me in detail.”
“I take it you two didn’t get along?”
“That’s the understatement of the century.”
“But you got it done.”
“Of course, we got it done! I told you we would do it, and we did it, but that’s not the point. I’m not in this for the adventure and I don’t get off on the adrenaline. I’m only doing this because I have no choice. I need to support my family, and my boss made sure I couldn’t do that within the system. .”