Дэвид Балдаччи - The Collectors

“What is going on here?” a low voice said sharply. “Excuse me.” The woman pushed Tony out of the way and confronted the teller. She was tall and plump with blond hair and dark roots. Her glasses were slim designer models hanging on a chain, and she was dressed in a purple blouse and black slacks.

She spoke quietly but firmly to the young woman behind the counter. “I’ve been standing here for ten minutes while you two play cutie-pie with each other. Is that the kind of service this bank provides? Why don’t we get your manager over here and see?”

The clerk took a step back, her eyes wide. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, I was just—”

“I know what you were just doing,” the woman interrupted. “I could hear it, everyone in the bank could hear you two flirting and discussing your love life.”

The clerk’s face reddened. “Ma’am, we were doing no such thing.”

The woman put her hands on the counter and leaned forward. “Oh, really, so when you were talking about boyfriends and Vegas and he was telling you how gorgeous you were, that was what, official bank business? Do you do that with all your customers? Would you like to talk to me about who I sleep with?”

“Ma’am, please, I—”

“Forget it. I’m done with this place.” The woman turned and stalked out.

Tony was already gone. Leo had steered him out a few seconds after the woman had appeared.

Annabelle joined them in the back of the van a minute later.

She called out to the driver, “Let’s roll, Freddy.” The van immediately pulled away from the curb.

She wrenched off the blond wig and put the glasses in her pocket. Next she took off her coat and stripped away the padding around her middle. She tossed Tony’s ID to him. He caught it, shamefaced, and then exclaimed, “Omigod, they have the check—”

He stopped talking as Annabelle held up the check, neatly folded.

“I’m sorry, Annabelle, I’m really sorry.”

She leaned close to him. “Little piece of advice, Tony. Don’t ever hit on the mark, especially when you’re pretending to be someone else.”

Leo added, “It was a good thing we decided to back you up on that one.”

“Why did you?” Tony asked glumly.

Annabelle answered. “Because you walked out of the van way too cocky. Cocky kills cons. That’s another good rule to remember.”

“I can go to another bank and pass it,” Tony said quickly.

“No,” she said. “We have enough for the long con. And it’s not worth the risk.”

Tony started to protest but then slumped back and said nothing.

Leo and Annabelle exchanged glances, each of them letting out a sigh of relief.

Two days later, at the rental condo, Leo knocked on Annabelle’s bedroom door.

“Yeah?” she called out.

“Got a minute?”

He sat on her bed while she put some clothes in a carry-on bag.

“Three mil,” he said reverently. “You know, you called ’em shorts, but to most cons those were longs. Things of beauty, Annabelle.”

“Any con with decent skills could’ve done them. I just upped the ante a little.”

“A little? Three million cut four ways isn’t little. ”

She glanced sharply at him.

“I know, I know,” he said quickly. “You get a bigger share because it’s your game. But still, my share could last me a few years living high on the hog. Maybe even take a real vacation.”

“Not yet. We have the long con, Leo. That was the deal.”

“Right, but just think about it.”

She dropped a stack of clothes in her bag. “I have thought about it. The long con is next.”

Leo stood, fingering an unlit cigarette. “Okay, but what about the kid?”

“What about him?”

“You said we were going all-star on this. Now, I’ve got no problem with Freddy, his stuff is first-rate. But the kid almost cost us everything. If you hadn’t been there—”

“If I hadn’t been there, he would’ve thought of something.”

“Bullcrap. That teller had him made all the way. He gave her the wrong freaking ID. Talk about your bonehead moves.”

“You’ve never made a mistake on a con, Leo? Let me think for a second. Oh, how about Phoenix? Or Jackson Hole?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t on a multimillion-dollar scam, Annabelle. I didn’t have that handed to me on a damn platter when I was still in diapers like Tony.”

“Jealousy doesn’t score you any points, Leo. And Tony can hold his own.”

“Maybe he can and maybe he can’t. The thing is I damn sure don’t want to be there to find out that he can’t. ”

“You let me worry about that.”

Leo threw up his hands. “Great, you worry about that for all of us.”

“Good, I’m glad we have that settled.”

Leo prowled the room, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

“Is there anything else?” she asked.

“Yeah, what’s the long con?”

“I’ll tell you when you need to know. And right now you don’t need to know.”

Leo sat down on the bed. “I’m not the CIA. I’m a con. I don’t trust anybody.” He eyed her bag. “And if you don’t want to tell me, then I’m not going wherever the hell it is you’re going.”

“You knew the deal going in, Leo. You quit now, you get zip. Two shorts and a long. That was the arrangement.”

“Yeah, well, part of the deal wasn’t babysitting some punk who almost landed us in prison either, so maybe we need to renegotiate the deal, lady.”

She stared at him contemptuously. “What, you’re shaking me down after all these years? I gave you the best action you’ve ever had.”

“I don’t want more money. I want the long con. Or I’m not going!”

Annabelle stopped packing while she considered this. “If I tell you where we’re going, will that be good enough?”

“Depends on where it is.”

“Atlantic City.”

All the blood seemed to drain from Leo’s face. “Are you out of your damn mind? What, the last time wasn’t bad enough?”

“That was a long time ago, Leo.”

He snapped, “It’ll never be long ago enough for me! Why don’t we do something easier like hitting the mob?”

“At-lan-tic Ci-ty,” she hissed, forming five words out of two.

“Why, because of your old man?”

She didn’t answer him.

Leo stood and pointed a finger at her. “You’re certifiable, Annabelle. If you think I’m walking into that hellhole with you again because you got something to prove, you don’t know Leo Richter.”

“The plane leaves at seven a.m.”

Leo stood there nervously, watching her pack, for a couple more minutes.

“Are we at least flying first-class?” he finally said.

“Yes. Why?”

“Because if it’s my last flight, I’d like to go out in style.”

“Whatever floats your boat, Leo.”

He walked out the door while Annabelle kept right on packing.

Caleb Shaw was in the Rare Books reading room working. There were several patron requests to see some material from the Rosenwald Vault; that required a supervisor’s approval. Then he spent a good deal of time on the phone consulting with a university professor writing a book on Jefferson’s private library, which he sold to the nation after the British had burned the city during the War of 1812, forming the basis for the present-day Library of Congress. After that, Jewell English, an elderly woman and a regular in the reading room, asked to see an issue of Beadle’s Dime Novels. She was very interested in the Beadles series and had a nice collection, she’d told Caleb. A slender woman with powdery white hair and a ready smile, Caleb assumed she was also lonely. Her husband had died ten years ago, she’d confided in Caleb, and her family was scattered around the country. It was for this reason he engaged her in conversation whenever she came in.