Chapter Ninety-eight

Bennie, Grady, and two cops, Officers Stern and Rigton, crowded onto the front step of the Society Hill town house, and the door was opened by a tall, bald man in a red plaid bathrobe, whom they’d clearly gotten out of bed.

“I’m Ron Engel, folks,” he said, extending a hand. “Officers, good to see you. Please excuse my appearance. Do come in.”

“Ron, hello.” Bennie had spoken to him on the phone but he’d insisted on seeing her in person. “Do you remember me? We met a few months ago, and I’m a private client of yours.”

“I remember you, yes. Come on in out of this weather.” Engel let everyone in to a well-appointed anteroom with a cherry console table, a sculptural ceramic lamp, and a Persian rug. “I made some calls to my team in private banking, in reference to this matter.”

“What’s happening?” Bennie asked. Grady stood next to her, but she didn’t pay him any attention. She wasn’t the woman he remembered anymore, anyway. “Ron, is Alice moving my money and how can we stop her?”

Officer Stern looked over, frowning under the wet bill of his cap. “Miss Rosato, we agreed we’d handle this.”

“You are,” Bennie shot back. “So am I.”

“To begin, I spoke with Legal about it.” Engel glanced at Officer Stern. “Officer, are we sure this is the real Bennie Rosato? I wouldn’t want to expose the bank to any liability.”

Officer Stern nodded. “This is Bennie Rosato. We expect to have Alice Connelly in custody tonight. At this juncture, she’s a fugitive from a charge of attempted murder, among other things.”

“Murder?” Engel’s graying eyebrows flew upward, and Bennie ran out of patience.

“I need to stop her from transferring that money.”

“We can’t. I’ve checked, and all of your accounts were already wired to BSB on Nassau.”

“All my accounts? Everything?”

“Yes.” Engel’s lips set. “The bank is not liable in this matter, because, as you know, Miss Connelly presented all the proper identification and she-”

“I’m not going to sue you,” Bennie interrupted. “Can’t we call the Nassau bank and prevent the transfer? Right now?”

“No. No one’s there, and the transfer is electronic and instantaneous. It goes through, regardless. It already has.”

“That’s impossible. I don’t have an account there.”

“Yes, you do. She opened one. It will be opened automatically the first thing tomorrow morning, and the money’s already in it. We do it all the time for private banking clients.” Engel cocked his graying head. “USABank is merely a stakeholder in this matter. We had no choice but to transfer the money when properly instructed to do so-”

“Ron, there has to be some way to undo that transfer.”

“Please.” Engel held up a hand. “We can’t undo the transfer, but we can freeze the accounts. We’ll send an email that will instruct BSB, the Bahamian bank, not to permit any withdrawals or transfers from any of the accounts. I’ll follow up with a phone call personally, first thing on Tuesday morning.”

“Will that prevent her from withdrawing it, for sure?”

“Yes. BSB is our partner bank. If we instruct them that the legality of the transfer is in question, they’ll put a hold on the accounts.” Engel frowned. “No one pushes millions of dollars across a counter that easily. That’s not how it works. She can only transfer the money by presenting herself at the bank, and after we freeze the accounts, the funds won’t be available to her.”

“If she shows up there, what will she be told?”

“That the accounts are frozen.”

“Alice will go down there, anyway. She’ll try to find a way to withdraw the money.”

Officer Stern said, “No, she won’t, Bennie. We’ll pick her up tonight. She won’t get on that plane.”

Engel gestured. “There you have it, Bennie. Your ultimate solution is with the authorities. That’s what Legal tells me, too.”

Bennie thought something felt wrong. Her brain stalled, and she wondered if it was the pill working, or if she needed another. She looked at the cops, from one to the other. “What if you don’t stop her?”

“We will.” Officer Stern was confident. “We’ll leave right now. She won’t get past us. She can’t.”

“Then let’s go,” Bennie said, on fire.

Chapter Ninety-nine

Alice handed the cabbie back his phone and perched on the edge of her seat. The car wasn’t going any faster than a crawl, and it was making her crazy. She had to get to the airport. “Can’t you go any faster?” she asked, again. “I told you, rock this crate!”

“Rain’s terrible. Can’t see a damn thing. Doin’ my best.”

“Do better.”

The cab lurched forward, and Alice thought ahead, taking a mental inventory. She had an ID, passport, and money, but she was pretty sure her gun hadn’t survived the swim.

“I need to buy a gun,” she said.

“There’s a gun shop, but it’s not on the way.”

“No good. You know anybody who could meet us on the way with one? There’s a hundred bucks in it for you.”

“Lady, you can’t take a gun on the plane, anyways.”

“Let me worry about that. You know anybody or not?”

“Matter o’ fact, I do.” The cabbie looked in the rearview. “I got one.”

“Of course you do!” Alice almost cheered. “Let me see it.”

The cabbie seemed to stall, his eyes on the road.

“I’m not gonna shoot you, grandpa.”

The cabbie reached under the seat, straightened up, and passed her a revolver, its dull muzzle glinting in the darkness.

She pushed out the chamber and gave it a slow whirl. Six round gold circles smiled back at her. “I’ll give you two hundred bucks.”

“S’worth three.”

“Okay.”

“You expensin’ it?” the cabbie asked, chuckling.

“You’re a funny guy, you know that?”

“Tell my wife, would ya?”

The bright lights of the airport lay ahead, in the distance. “We almost there?”

“Sure enough.”

Alice smiled. Home, free.

Chapter One Hundred

Mary’s emotions came rushing back at the sight of Anthony. His eyes were troubled and his expression dark with concern.

“ANT, HOW YOU DOIN’?” Her father gave him a bear hug, and her mother waddled after, clucking.

“Ant’n’y, what’s a matta, you no love my Maria no more? You no happy no more?”

“Ma!” Mary’s head exploded. “Please!”

“It’s… not like that, Mrs. DiNunzio,” Anthony stammered, and Judy waved from the bed with a weak grin.

“Yoo hoo! I’m over here and I’m fine, thanks.”

“Hiya.” Anthony walked to the bedside. “So you’re alive. Way to go.”

“I know, right?” Judy smiled. “Nice of you to come.”

“It’s all over the news, did you see?” Anthony gestured at the TV in the corner, but it was off. “Anyway, how are you?”

“I’ve been better.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Not yet.”

“They said you were shot. When do you get out of the hospital?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Not really. The troops are here, and Frank’s on the way.”

“Great.” Anthony shifted his feet, plainly uncomfortable. “Well, I guess I’d better go. On the news they said you were critical.”

“I am,” Judy said, and everybody laughed except for Mary’s mother, who couldn’t follow the conversation.

“Okay, well, see you all.” Anthony gave Judy a peck on the cheek, then turned awkwardly away. He went to the doorway and paused on the threshold. “Judy, hope you feel better soon.”

“I will, thanks.”

“Good-bye.” Anthony left, closing the door behind him. Everybody fell quiet a minute, and all the heads turned to Mary.

“They got a cardiac unit here?” she asked.