Chapter 23
At eight-thirty A.M. on Tuesday, Nina formed neat piles out of the rubble and debris on his desk.
She enjoyed this early-morning ritual of straightening the desk and planning his day.
The appointment book lay unobstructed on a corner of his desk.
She read from it. “You have a very busy day today, Mr. McDeere.”
Mitch flipped through a file and tried to ignore her. “Every day is busy.”
“You have a meeting at ten o’clock in Mr. Mahan’s office on the Delta Shipping appeal.”
“I can’t wait,” Mitch mumbled.
“You have a meeting at eleven-thirty in Mr. Tolar’s office on the Greenbriar dissolution, and his secretary informed me it would last at least two hours.”
“Why two hours?”
“I’m not paid to ask those questions, Mr. McDeere. If I do I might get fired. At three-thirty, Victor Milligan wants to meet with you.”
“About what?”
“Again, Mr. McDeere, I’m not supposed to ask questions. And you’re due in Frank Mulholland’s office downtown in fifteen minutes.”
“Yes, I know. Where is it?”
“The Cotton Exchange Building. Four or five blocks up Front at Union. You’ve walked by it a hundred times.”
“Fine. What else?”
“Shall I bring you something back from lunch?”
“No, I’ll grab a sandwich downtown.”
“Wonderful. Do you have everything for Mulholland?”
He pointed to the heavy black briefcase and said nothing.
She left, and seconds later Mitch walked down the hall, down the stairs and out the front door.
He paused for a second under a streetlight, then turned and walked quickly toward downtown.
The black briefcase was in his right hand, the burgundy eel-skin attaché was in his left. The signal.
In front of a green building with boarded windows, he stopped next to a fire hydrant. He waited a second, then crossed Front Street. Another signal.
On the ninth floor of the Cotton Exchange Building, Tammy Greenwood of Greenwood Services backed away from the window and put on her coat. She locked the door behind her and pushed the elevator button. She waited. She was about to encounter a man who could easily get her killed.
Mitch entered the lobby and went straight to the elevators.
He noticed no one in particular. A half dozen businessmen were in the process of talking as they came and went.
A woman was whispering into a pay phone.
A security guard loitered near the Union Avenue entrance.
He pushed the elevator button and waited, alone.
As the door opened, a young clean-cut Merrill Lynch type in a black suit and sparkling wing tips stepped into the elevator.
Mitch had hoped for a solitary ride upward.
Mulholland’s office was on the seventh floor.
Mitch pushed the seven button and ignored the kid in the black suit.
As the elevator moved, both men dutifully stared at the blinking numbers above the door.
Mitch eased to the rear of the small elevator and set the heavy briefcase on the floor, next to his right foot.
The door opened on the fourth floor, and Tammy walked nervously in.
The kid glanced at her. Her attire was remarkably conservative.
A simple, short knit dress with no plunging necklines.
No kinky shoes. Her hair was tinted to a soft shade of red.
He glanced again and pushed the CLOSE DOOR button.
Tammy brought aboard a large black briefcase, identical to Mitch’s.
She ignored his eyes, stood next to him, quietly setting it next to his.
On the seventh floor, Mitch grabbed her briefcase and left the elevator.
On the eighth floor, the cute young man in the black suit made his departure, and on the ninth floor Tammy picked up the heavy black briefcase full of files from Bendini, Lambert they could not track.
Mitch thought that was awfully nice of them, just to listen but not follow the movements of the BMW.