Страница 58 из 65
Liz slipped the mobile phone back into Daphne’s purse and spun in the chair, preparing to leave.
“I thought that was you.” A deep male voice she recognized before looking up. Da
“Wouldn’t miss my own party,” she said.
“Who were you talking to just now?” he asked. “Lou?”
How much did he hear? She couldn’t remember what she’d said on her end of the conversation. The manila envelope that contained a disk remained inside the purse. How much does he know? “I don’t remember your name being on the invitation list,” she said.
“Half of Special Ops is looking for you in a movie theater at this very moment.”
“Not you.”
“Not me. I wanted to make sure we still had our understanding. Protect the state’s investment in this investigation.”
If the money went anywhere but the Svengrad account, her children weren’t safe. She thought that by now Da
“I’m here to make sure you get out safely.”
That gave her chills. Lou had warned her no one would want her remembering the account numbers. Her thoughts poured out of her before she could stop her mouth. “It’s not a government account, is it, Da
“You’re at serious risk once this transfer is made.”
“From whom? What’s your plan, Da
“You’re mistaken, Liz. Horribly mistaken. It is a government account. I told you before: We need that money as evidence if we’re going to get a conviction. It’s as simple as that.”
“Simple?” she asked. “Can you actually say that?” She didn’t know how to read him. Half in shadow, Da
“I’m going in with you,” he said. “I’ll input the account number myself. We wouldn’t want your nerves causing you to mistype a number.”
This was completely unpla
“I’m going in with you. Look at it this way: In the event of a trial it will protect us all if I witness your actions.”
“I’ll be lucky to get in there myself, alone. Two of us? No offense, Da
“I’m going in there with you.”
She looked for some way to circumvent him. It dawned on her then-a possible way to lose Foreman, but she would need a head start. She would also need an alternate plan, the answer to which lay with Lou-Lou, and Bobbie Gaynes, a wild card whose presence here remained unknown to Foreman because it remained unknown to Special Ops as well. “Okay,” she said, “you win.”
Foreman first looked surprised, then satisfied with himself, until she spoke again.
“Do you know how to tie a bow tie, Da
He frowned, then caught on to the suggestion.
“We’ve got to get you looking right,” she said. “Let me see what I can work out with the caterer. I’m the one who hired her in the first place.” She had him cornered and they both knew it.
“I’ll come with you,” he said.
She wanted to object but didn’t feel confident lying to him, fearing he’d see through the lie. She nodded acceptance, her mind working to see a way out of this, Da
Thinking more clearly than she, he said, “I’ll take your cell phone.”
She reached into her purse and took hold of the phone, offering it but not yet passing it to him. “Will you? And what will you say to Svengrad when he calls? You need his wire information or you don’t have a case against him. Isn’t that right?”
“You must have that information by now.”
“I do not,” she told him, wondering as his face tightened further if she’d given him too much information. This was Lou’s world, Da
“All the more reason you need me,” he said, pocketing it.
She needed the phone. Special Ops would be watching all calls from and to the bank’s phones; she didn’t want to be “caught” dialing Lou’s cell phone number. She also still expected the call from Svengrad. Not to mention Lou.
“There are security cameras inside this room with the servers,” Foreman said. “Riz has cameras aimed at both keyboards in case the key-tracking software fails.”
Liz realized he was just talking this through. He was right; she’d been briefed on the locations of these cameras as well.
“Lou worked it out, didn’t he?” She waited to see what he was getting at.
“LaRossa gave Hayes a way to monitor your security cameras,” he said, theorizing. “Svengrad hasn’t called you because he knows you’re not in the restricted room yet. He’s waiting for your move.” He paused. “You did or did not use your own ID when you entered tonight?”
Liz had thought her use of Tony LaRossa’s ID had been to hide her from Special Ops, not from Svengrad. Only now did she sense that Lou had this second motive in mind as well. She clutched her purse, as Foreman reached for it. She felt an urgent need to protect Lou’s plan, whatever it was. “There is a security camera in this hall. I do know that. You’ll be on camera if you come with me. This may take me a minute.” She tore herself free from Foreman’s grip.
She turned and stepped out, and Foreman followed. Together they walked down the hall to its dead-end fire-stairs door. Liz’s mind raced to find a way around this. Foreman remained a half step behind her and to her left. She couldn’t turn and outrun him. She needed a break, a way to put even a few seconds between them, seconds in which he would not miss her.
At the galley she introduced Foreman to the caterer as “a law enforcement officer.” Liz explained he needed a cover, and that she’d thought of his taking the place of one of the waiters for just a few minutes.
“He’d need a white shirt and tie,” the woman replied.
“I’m aware of that,” Liz said. “That’s why we’re speaking to you.”
The woman sized up Foreman like a fashion designer. She said, “Let me talk to Michael. He’s about your size.”
A few agonizing minutes later Foreman faced a young man carrying a white shirt and bow tie. “We’ll use the office,” Foreman said, indicating the door down the hall. “Wait here,” he said to Liz.
Foreman and the waiter moved down the hall and entered the office to exchange shirts and let Foreman tie the tie. He left the office door ajar to prevent her from slipping past.
Liz winced a smile. The mouse had walked willingly into the trap, all of his own accord.
Liz drew the caterer close and whispered, “When he asks, you tell him you had your back turned and didn’t see which way I went.”
Before surprise had a chance to fade from the caterer’s expression, Liz gently pushed against the stairway door’s panic bar, then threw her hip into pushing it open and slipped out. Cool air slapped her face. Her limbs and chest went feverish with adrenaline. At the bottom of these stairs was freedom, and for a moment that temptation weighed on her like gravity.
Before she reached the first landing, she heard a flurry of footsteps from below. Someone-security, probably-was coming up. Coincidence? she wondered. A random security check? Or had LaRossa’s ID triggered a full-scale search? If a search, they wouldn’t be busting through the front doors of a formal party but using the stairs, as she now heard so clearly. She debated returning to the relative safety of the twenty-fifth floor behind her. The footfalls continued to climb toward her, and at a pace that indicated someone in shape, reinforcing her belief it was a security guard. At last, with nowhere to turn, she stiffened her posture, took hold of the railing, and descended-walked-one hand on the rail. She was one of the five most powerful people at WestCorp, and this building belonged to WestCorp-at least for a few more minutes.