The Firm

She was a striking blonde with high cheekbones and a firm jaw that was almost unfeminine, yet strong and attractive. Abby had seen the partial face before. Partial, because the eyes were covered, as before. She looked at Abby and glanced away as she passed and went to her seat somewhere in the rear.

The Shipwreck Bar! The blonde in the Shipwreck Bar. The blonde who was eavesdropping on her and Mitch and Abanks. They had found her. And if they had found her, where was her husband? What had they done to him? She thought of the two-hour drive from Danesboro to Huntington, through the winding mountain roads. She had driven like a maniac. They could not have followed her.

They taxied from the terminal and minutes later lifted off for Atlanta.

For a second time in three weeks, Abby watched dusk from the inside of a 727 at the airport in Atlanta. She and the blonde. They were on the ground for thirty minutes and then left for Mobile.

* * *

From Cincinnati, Mitch flew to Nashville. He arrived at 6 P.M., Wednesday, long after the banks had closed. He found a U-Haul truck rental place in the phone book and flagged a cab.

He rented one of the smaller models, a sixteen-footer. He paid cash, but was forced to use his driver’s license and a credit card for a deposit. If DeVasher could track him to a U-Haul place in Nashville, so be it. He bought twenty cardboard packing boxes and left for the apartment.

He had not eaten since Tuesday night, but he was in luck. Tammy had left a bag of microwave popcorn and two beers. He ate like a pig. At eight, he made his first call to the Perdido Beach Hilton. He asked for Lee Stevens. He had not arrived, she said. He stretched out on the den floor and thought of a hundred things that could happen to Abby. She could be dead in Kentucky and he wouldn’t know. He couldn’t call.

The couch had not been folded, and the cheap sheets hung off the end and fell to the floor. Tammy was not much for housework. He looked at the small, temporary bed and thought of Abby. Only five nights ago, they had tried to kill each other on the bed. Hopefully, she was on the plane. Alone.

In the bedroom, he sat on the unopened Sony box and marveled at the roomful of documents. Across the carpet she had built perfect columns of paper, all painstakingly divided into Cayman banks and Cayman companies. On top of each stack was a yellow legal pad, with the company name followed by pages of dates and entries. And names!

Even Tarrance could follow the paper trail. A grand jury would eat it up. The U.S. Attorney would call press conferences. And the trial juries would convict, and convict and convict.

* * *

Special Agent Jenkins yawned into the telephone receiver and punched the numbers to the Memphis office. He had not slept in twenty-four hours. Jones was snoring in the car.

"FBI," a male voice said.

"Yeah, who’s there?" Jenkins asked. Just a routine check-in.

"Acklin."

"Hey, Rick. This is Jenkins. We’ve – "

"Jenkins! Where have you been? Hold on!"

Jenkins quit yawning and looked around the bus terminal. An angry voice yelled into the earpiece.

"Jenkins! Where are you?" It was Wayne Tarrance.

"We’re at the bus station in Mobile. We’ve lost him."

"You what? How could you lose him?"

Jenkins was suddenly alert and leaning into the phone. "Wait a minute, Wayne. Our instructions were to follow him for eight hours to see where he went. Routine, you said."

"I can’t believe you lost him."

"Wayne, we weren’t told to follow him for the rest of his life. Eight hours, Wayne. We’ve followed for twenty hours, and he’s disappeared. What’s the big deal?"

"Why haven’t you called in before now?"

"We called in twice. In Birmingham and Montgomery. Line was busy both times. What’s going on, Wayne?"

"Just a minute."

Jenkins grabbed the phone tighter and waited. Another voice: "Hello, Jenkins?"

"Yes."

"Director Voyles here. What the hell happened?"

Jenkins held his breath and looked wildly around the terminal. "Sir, we lost him. We followed him for twenty hours, and when he got off the bus here in Mobile, we lost him in the crowd."

"That’s great, son. How long ago?"

"Twenty minutes."

"All right, listen. We desperately need to find him. His brother has taken our money and disappeared. Call the locals there in Mobile. Tell them who you are, and that an escaped murderer is on the loose in town. They’ve probably got Ray McDeere’s name and picture stuck to the walls. His mother lives in Panama City Beach, so alert every local between there and Mobile. I’m sending in our troops."

"Okay. I’m sorry, sir. We weren’t told to trail" him forever."

"We’ll discuss it later."

* * *

At ten, Mitch called the Perdido Beach Hilton for the second time. He asked for Rachel James. No arrival. He asked for Lee Stevens. One moment, she said. Mitch sat on the floor and waited intently. The line to the room was ringing. After a dozen rings, someone picked up.

"Yeah." It was quick.

"Lee?" Mitch asked.

A pause. "Yeah."

"This is Mitch. Congratulations."

Ray fell on the bed and closed his eyes. "It was so easy, Mitch. How’d you do it?"

"I’ll tell you when we have time. Right now, there are a bunch of folks trying to kill me. And Abby. We’re on the run.

"Who, Mitch?"

"It would take ten hours to tell the first chapter. We’ll do it later. Write this number down. 615-889-4380."

"That’s not Memphis."

"No, it’s Nashville. I’m in an apartment that’s serving as mission control. Memorize that number. If I’m not here, the phone will be answered by a girl named Tammy."

"Tammy?"

"It’s a long story. Just do as I say. Sometime tonight, Abby will check in there under the name of Rachel James. She’ll be in a rented car."

"She’s coming here!"

"Just listen, Ray. The cannibals are chasing us, but we’re a step ahead of them."

"Ahead of who?"

"The Mafia. And the FBI."

"Is that all?"

"Probably. Now listen to me. There is a slight chance Abby is being followed. You’ve got to find her, watch her and make damned sure no one is behind her."

"And if they are?"

"Call me, and we’ll talk about it."

"No problem."

"Don’t use the phone except to call this number. And we can’t talk much."

"I’ve got a bunch of questions, little brother."

"And I’ve got the answers, but not now. Take care of my wife and call me when she gets there."

"Will do. And, Mitch, thanks."

"Adios."

* * *

An hour later Abby turned off Highway 182 onto the winding driveway to the Hilton. She parked the four-door Cutlass with Alabama tags and walked nervously under the sprawling veranda to the front doors. She stopped for a second, looked behind her at the driveway and went inside.

Two minutes later, a yellow cab from Mobile stopped under the veranda, behind the shuttle vans. Ray watched the cab. A woman was in the back seat leaning forward and talking to the driver. They waited a minute. She pulled money from her purse and paid him. She got out and waited until the cab drove away. The woman was a blonde, and that was the first thing he noticed. Very shapely, with tight black corduroy pants. And black sunglasses, which seemed odd to him because it was pushing midnight. She walked suspiciously to the front doors, waited a minute, then went in. He watched her carefully. He moved toward the lobby.