“So where’s your car?”
“Hell if I know.”
Caitlin rolled her eyes.
“You gonna ground me, Mom?”
Caitlin smiled again, begrudgingly. “Anyway, we did so well that we were out of product by Sunday. Everybody’s crazy busy, with school starting. I’m not the only mom who’s stressed out. Look.” Caitlin slipped a hand into her purse and passed Bennie a stack of wrinkled bills wrapped with a pink scrunchie. “This is three thousand dollars, and we already took our cuts, like I said, and you have to trust me we didn’t take more, because you know we wouldn’t. We had a great weekend, one of the best ever.”
“Good.” Bennie tucked the money into the cheap brown purse she’d gotten from Tiffany.
“You need to get us a new supplier. This business is too good to let it go, and it’ll only get better come the holidays, with all the shopping and cooking. A visit from the in-laws will drive anybody to Xanax.” Caitlin laughed at her own joke. “Also, the Lexapro was gone by noon on Saturday, and I think we should increase the price on the Norco, the hundred-milligram, when we start up again. These women have money, and we can get $45 a pop.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Fine.” Caitlin pulled a cell phone from her purse, flipped it open and pressed a button. Into the phone, she said, “Kendra, I found Alice. Yes, she’s fine. Meet us in ten minutes at her place. Get the key from the super, would you? See you.” Caitlin hung up, looking over. “By the way, how did you end up at Tiffany’s?”
“What’s the difference?”
“You’re not going to take her on, are you?”
“No.” Bennie looked out the window as they sped in silence onto the highway, whizzing past immense warehouses blanketed with ads. They got off, took a left onto the main boulevard, and navigated a warren of well-kept apartment buildings. Finally they pulled up in front of Pembroke Arms, a new brick low-rise that was presumably Alice’s. Caitlin handed a twenty to the cabbie, and Bennie got out of the cab just as another attractive young woman walked toward them, her sleek ponytail swinging.
“Alice!” It was Kendra, but she could have passed for a fitness model, tall and lean in a black stretch top that read PERSONAL TRAINER, which she wore with bike shorts and bouncy Nikes. Her brown eyes were wide-set and animated, her nose small, and her smile dazzling. “I was so worried about you! What happened?”
“Tell you another time.”
“We sold out this weekend, but we had a problem with Q.”
“So I heard.”
“Can you hook us up with somebody new?”
“Yes, I have it covered.”
“Hey, I saw you on TV at the gym, when I was with a client. What were you doing at your sister’s office? I missed what you said. We had it on mute, and I couldn’t stop to read the closed captioning.”
Caitlin turned around, surprised. “You were at your sister’s?”
Bennie shrugged if off. “I asked her for a loan and she said no, so I embarrassed the hell out of her.”
“I’ll say.” Kendra waved a key. “Your super would do anything for me. Whose apartment do you want to see next?”
“Let’s go.” Bennie fell into step behind Kendra and Caitlin, so they wouldn’t realize that she didn’t recognize her own apartment, and they entered the lobby, let themselves into the main door, then walked beyond the elevator bank and down a plush carpeted hallway, passing 1-C, 1-E, 1-G, and stopping at 1-I, where Kendra slid a key into the doorknob and twisted the lock.
Bennie figured it was Alice’s, so she pushed on the door, and it swung open into the apartment.
The women froze at the sight.
Chapter Seventy-five
Alice grabbed the messenger bag, tucked the bright yellow DHL envelope inside, and hurried around her desk. She had to get that envelope to the Bahamas, and according to the DHL website, the closest drop-off box was in the lobby of Mellon Center, eight blocks away. She checked her watch. It was three thirty, and the last pickup was four. She’d have to hustle.
She left her office, glancing over her shoulder, but Grady wasn’t at his desk. She hurried ahead and heard talking in the coffee room, so she avoided that doorway, jogged toward reception, and gave Marshall the high sign.
“Be right back,” Alice said, then punched the elevator button and ducked inside when the doors slid open. They were almost closed when a hand popped between them and bounced off the black safety bumpers. The doors sprang back immediately, and Judy was standing there, out of breath.
“I caught you!” Judy pushed her way into the elevator, and Alice tensed as the doors closed, with the associate inside.
“What do you want, Carrier?”
“Where are you going?”
“I have to run an errand. What is it?”
“Mind if I go along? I want to talk to you.”
“About what?” Alice asked, as the elevator slid downward.
“A case I’m working on.”
“Let’s talk when I get back.”
“I can go with you. I’d like to.”
Alice started to wonder what was up. The kid was never this pushy, and her tone of voice sounded higher and thinner, like she was nervous. “I’d rather you stayed at the office. It’s bad enough that I have to run out.”
“But I can use some fresh air, after today.”
The elevator reached the lobby, the doors slid open, and Alice stepped off the elevator, blocking the way. “Carrier, go back upstairs and mind the fort.”
“The fort is fine.”
“Then mind my boyfriend.”
“I want to go with you.” Judy didn’t budge. The security guards looked over, starting to eavesdrop.
“I don’t want you to. Mommy needs some me time, got it?”
“Okay, but before you go, I want to ask you something, for this brief I need to finish right away.” Judy’s forehead wrinkled. “Remember when we were working on that case with Marta Richter? We were of counsel? It was winter, during a blizzard, a couple of years ago? I forget the case name. Do you remember it?”
Alice had no idea what she was talking about. It seemed like an odd question. “How can it matter what the case name was?”
“I guess it doesn’t, I was just thinking, oh, right, I remember now, it was Steere, that was the defendant’s name. Elliott Steere.” Judy nodded. “Anyway, you told Marta that she was in breach of, like, five ethical canons under the CPR.”
Alice tried to remember what CPR stood for.
“Remember that?”
“Hardly.” Alice checked the ornate clock on the lobby wall—3:45. Now she’d have to run.
“I was wondering if you ever reported Marta to the Disciplinary Board. I wanted to cite you as precedent.”
“That’s hardly good precedent.”
“It’s good enough for me. Did you report her?” Judy looked at her directly, with her clear blue eyes, and Alice realized it wasn’t a question. It was a test, and she was about to fail.
“Carrier, what case are you working on, that you want to know this?”
“Cypress Construction. I have a similar situation. Kind of.”
“Did you check the Steere file?”
“Why? Don’t you remember?”
“Sue me, but I don’t, and I’ve got other things on my mind. We can discuss it later.” Alice crossed the lobby to the exit, but Judy dogged her steps.
“Where are you going? What’s the mystery? You always tell us where you’re going, so we can find you.”
“No I don’t. You just think I do.” Alice was getting worried. The guards were listening. “Now get back to work.”
“Okay,” Judy answered uncertainly, then turned and went back to the elevator bank.
Alice blew out of the building, passed the Rothman guards, and hurried up the street, her thoughts churning. She had to get out of town as Bennie, especially after that scene on the sidewalk, and Judy was starting to be more of a problem than Grady. It was only a few
hours until her flight, but one phone call could blow her cover. And Q would put all the pieces together.
Alice picked up the pace, running like it was a matter of life and death.
Because it was.
Chapter Seventy-six
Mary walked into the reception area, looking for Judy. She hated being in a fight and she had to set it right. She asked Marshall, “Did you see Judy?”
“Yes. She just went down the elevator with Bennie.”
Uh-oh. “Where were they going?”
“I don’t know, I was on the phone. It’s been crazy, between reporters and clients. All I know is I saw Bennie leave and Judy go after her.”
“Were they fighting?”
“No, why would they be?” Marshall answered, with a frown. “No reason.” Mary was already heading for the elevator bank and punching the DOWN button. “I’ll be right back.”
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing, really.”
“So where are you going?”
“To get them.” Mary jiggled the button, impatient.
“Sheesh. This is the strangest day ever.” Marshall answered a ringing phone, and Mary gave up on the elevator. She bolted for the exit stairway, pushed open the door, and ran down the stairs, hitting landing after landing. She was out of breath by the time she reached the first floor and pushed through the door that dumped her into the lobby.
“Did you see Bennie and Judy?” Mary called to Steve, who looked up from his newspaper.
“Yeah. Bennie told Judy to go back up to the office, and Judy got in the elevator. But then she came back down again and went after her.”
“Which way did they go?”
“That way.” Steve pointed, and Mary ran for the door and hustled outside the building and onto the crowded sidewalk. Pewter gray clouds cloaked the sun, and humidity thickened the air. Rush hour was starting, and people streamed toward the subway, PATCO, and suburban trains.
She jogged past the Rothman guards, hurrying down the street and threading her way through the crowd, scanning right and left. Judy was tall and her hair cherry red, so she should be easy to find. Mary was on the lookout for a walking ice cream sundae.
She saw bald heads, fauxhawks, and weaves. Blondes, brunettes, and cornrows, but no Judy. She darted across the street and looked to the right, then spotted a head as red and round as a Tootsie Roll pop. It was Judy, two blocks down the street, waiting at a traffic light as a SEPTA bus rumbled through an intersection. Mary looked one block farther and spied Bennie, who was the only person running through the crowd. From the looks of it, Judy was stalking Bennie.
Mary took off. Up ahead, the SEPTA bus passed through the intersection, and Judy started moving, keeping a half a block behind Bennie.
Mary slid her cell phone from its holster and speed-dialed Judy on the fly. The call connected and the phone rang, but Judy didn’t pick up or break stride.
Mary slid the phone back, put on the afterburners, and took off, pumping her arms. Bennie kept running, way ahead, and Judy reached Market Street, hot on the trail.
Mary ran harder, closing the gap between her and Judy from a full block, then to half. She lost sight of Bennie but Judy stopped at the corner, blending into the crowd.
“Judy!” Mary yelled, huffing and puffing.
Judy turned around at the sound, and Mary reached her at speed, falling into her arms and almost sending them sprawling.
“Don’t stalk Bennie! You’re gonna get fired and I don’t want to work there without you! I’m sorry for what I said, I am!”
“I’m sorry, too!” Judy hugged her and set her back on her feet. “But this is the weirdest thing ever!”
“Why are you following Bennie?”
“She’s not Bennie!”
“She is!”
“No, trust me. This woman cannot be Bennie Rosato.” Judy gripped Mary by the arms, her blue eyes bright with zeal. “She told me she was going to run an errand, but she went into the Mellon Center!”
“So?”
“What errand can you run in Mellon Center? It’s an office building. There’s no drugstore or anything like that.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. There’s Mellon Bank. Maybe she banks there.”
“No, she’s at USABank. We all are.”
“So maybe she’s meeting a friend. Like you said, there are tons of law firms in there. Ballard, Spahr, and plenty of others. She knows tons of people.”
“That’s not it.” Judy shook her head, her mouth set. “She didn’t say she was meeting a friend. If you’re going to meet a friend, you say that. If you’re going to run an errand, you say that.”
“I don’t know—”
“Think about it, Mare. She never goes out during the business day if it’s not billable. And guess what else? I gave her a test and she blew it. She forgot the Steere case. How could you forget Steere? It was one of our biggest murder cases.”
“She forgot the case?”
“Well, the name of the case.”
“Jude, that’s not the same thing.”
“She also said she doesn’t remember if she reported Marta to the Disciplinary Board.” Judy’s eyes narrowed. “A second test, flunked! If she were Bennie, she would have remembered that. Admit it. We all hated Marta. We prayed they’d discipline her.”
Mary could understand how it seemed strange, but still. “When did you ask her?”
“When she was leaving.”
“Oh. Then, of course, she was preoccupied. She’s having a rough day, don’t you think?”
There was a voice behind them, and they both froze.
Parting the foot traffic on the sidewalk, her arms folded, stood a very unhappy Bennie Rosato.
Chapter Seventy-seven
Bennie surveyed the living room in Alice’s apartment, which had been ransacked. A TV lay face-down on the floor. Cushions were flipped over on a corduroy couch. A coffee table had been upended, and a ginger lamp lay smashed on the wood floor. File drawers hung open in a small desk, scattering bills and papers. A surge protector lay on its side, its wires unconnected to anything, and an open Mac laptop had been cracked like a clam shell.
“Oh my God!” Kendra’s eyes widened. “It had to be Q.”
“Oh no.” Caitlin shook her head. “I bet he robbed you.”
“Damn it to hell!” Bennie said, not wanting to say more, yet. She followed Caitlin into an adjoining bedroom, which was also destroyed. Shoes and papers lay scattered around, dresser drawers hung out, spilling clothes onto a blue rug. The closet doors stood open, the clothes shoved to one side on the rack, and the shelf on top held shoeboxes that had been opened, their lids off.
Kendra bit her lip. “He was looking for money.”
“Of course he was.” Caitlin was already on her knees, peering under the bed. When she looked up, her expression was resigned. “He found it, too. It’s gone. Ten thousand dollars, and your gun, too.”
My gun. Bennie masked her surprise.
“Told you so.” Caitlin rose, brushing off her knees in disgust. “You take too many chances, Alice. Not only do we have to find another supplier, we only have three grand to buy pills with. He’s trying to put us out of business.”
“She’s right, what were you thinking?” Kendra frowned, and Bennie reacted, as Alice.
“Quit your whining!” she shouted. “I’m the one who’s a sitting duck here! Q’s trying to kill me, not you!”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it,” Kendra said, instantly putting up her hands.
“Yes, you did.” Bennie eyed Kendra, hard. “How do I know it was Q who robbed me, and not you? You knew where I keep the money. You knew I was away. The super loves you, you said so yourself. Did he let you in this week? Did you take the money?”
“Alice, no.” Blood drained from Kendra’s face. “I would never rob you. I would never rob anybody.”
Caitlin interjected, “Alice, come on. It’s not her, it’s Q. You cheated on him with one of his own guys an
d embarrassed him in front of everyone he knows and everyone who works for him. He’s a thug right, so what did you think was going to happen? You’re lucky to be alive.”
“Screw you!” Bennie shouted at Caitlin, and the words came more quickly than she expected. “Are you working with Q, now? You could be. You talked to him on the phone. Did you tell him I was gone? Did you tell him to come here? Take the money and the gun, then toss the apartment, to make it look like someone else did it?”
“No!”
Suddenly Bennie shoved Caitlin backwards, an explosion of violence she didn’t know was in her, until now. “You didn’t cover for me. You could’ve told him you saw me, that I was sick or something.”
Caitlin backed up, shaken. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think of that. I was worried about you, I just didn’t think.”
“Shut up!” Bennie pointed to the door. “Get out! You’re fired. I don’t need you. I’ll find another, better worker. Suburban housewives are a dime a dozen, and everybody needs Book Sox, right?”
“Alice?” Kendra said.
Bennie turned, and froze.
Kendra was pulling a gun from her purse.
Chapter Seventy-eight
“Walk with me, ladies.” Alice took Carrier and DiNunzio by their arms and got them moving, having mailed the DHL envelope. “We need to talk, since you guys seem to be following me, for some reason.”
“No, we weren’t,” Mary said, quickly.
“I was,” Judy corrected. “I think you’re acting strangely and I’d like to know why.”
“How am I acting strangely, Carrier?” Alice powered them through the businesspeople, who flowed around them in the opposite direction. The sky was darkening, and an older man looked worriedly at the clouds.
“Well, what errand were you running, in Mellon Center?”
“I wasn’t running an errand.”
“You said you were.”
“I lied.”
Mary looked over, in surprise.