Chapter 23
Jane hurried out of the airport baggage area to the next cab in the line and said, “The Rittenhouse Hotel, please.” Jane had found over the years that choosing a very good hotel was not a bad idea.
They tended to cater mostly to wealthy people, and they protected their guests’ privacy and safety better than bigger and cheaper ones.
When she’d called Carey and he’d told her where he had checked in, she had approved.
She had stayed at the Rittenhouse twice, the last time over five years ago.
Her first worry was that some hotels had employees who stayed for decades, and she didn’t want one of them remembering her under another name.
When the cab driver pulled up to the entrance and took out her suitcase, she waved off the bellman, took it herself, and walked inside and straight across the lobby to the elevators, pressed the up button, and stepped inside.
“This is part two,” he said. “They both slept a few hours on the drive, and then we checked in here, and they were still groggy. We all had a snack and got them settled, and they lay down again about a half hour ago.”
Jane looked around her. “Beautiful suite.” She pointed at another door. “Is that one ours?”
He nodded and then followed her as she wheeled her suitcase into the other room.
When they were inside, she put the suitcase into the closet, turned around, and gave Carey a much stronger, longer hug. “Did everything go smoothly?”
“The drive was okay, because I didn’t have to do much except drive.
I asked the phone for the best hotels, and it gave me a list of five.
This was the most familiar name. When they saw me come in carrying May, and with Katie, people appeared.
They asked me if I would like this, that, and something else.
I said yes. There were bellhops to take the luggage, a guy who brought the crib in, and so on.
So here we are. Now comes the part where you tell me about your trip? ”
“I know you thought I would be right behind you, but I had to go back to my old house to pick something up. I’m sorry it took so long.”
“You went back to that house when you knew the people who had tried to kill you once were there? That guy told you they were there already.”
“He didn’t tell me. He called Karen Alvarez, and she called me.”
“So what did you pick up?”
“Him. The runner.”
“You’re not kidding, are you?”
“I couldn’t leave him there. They would have tortured him to find out more about me, about us, and when they realized he didn’t know anything but that address, they would have sold him to the man who’s been trying to kill him, or killed him themselves.”
“Where is he now?”
“There’s a couple who live in a small town near the south end of the Finger Lakes.
For a few years now, whenever I’ve needed to get IDs and papers for anyone, I’ve brought them to this couple.
I did that for Katie. Even some of our newer identification came from them—yours and mine.
What they’ll have to do for this runner is going to take time, because it’s complicated. ”
Carey stared at Jane, then stood up. “I think this is the point when we’ve got to ask for help from the police, the FBI, or somebody.”
“If we go to any law enforcement agency, they’ll have to be told that the reason the gangsters want me is that I’ve spent half my life making potential murder victims disappear.
Everything I’ve done to accomplish that is a felony.
A couple of those agencies were founded just to make what I do not happen.
And right now, you and I have become the de facto foster parents of a young girl who is wanted for murder.
Do you imagine there’s a police force anywhere that wouldn’t be curious enough about who she is to find out? ”
Carey sighed. “Everything is getting worse and more precarious. I think getting in trouble might be better than being dead. I don’t know much about getting into trouble. I know a whole lot about being dead.”
Jane said, “This is one of those times when I want to say ‘Trust me.’ But you have trusted me, and here we are, up to our ears in it. You’re angry and you have a right to be.
So let me just say, I’m sorry. I love you, and if I could, I would do just what you’re saying.
But I can’t. I’ll do everything I can to get us through this, but I can’t give up voluntarily or turn Katie in. ”
“So what do you suggest we do now?”
“You and I need to sleep too. I’ll leave this door open so we’ll hear May if she cries.”
Two hours later Carey heard May start to make little noises.
He got up and changed her. He had put the remaining bottles of milk in the small refrigerator in the room.
He took one of them out and put it in the plug-in bottle warmer from the baby bag, and held May while it warmed up.
In a few minutes he was sitting in the big armchair and feeding her.
He could tell that he’d had more sleep than Jane, and he was also sure that whatever she’d had to do to rescue the man who had been sent to her house had been more strenuous than his night of driving two sleeping girls on a trip on the New York State Thruway.
By keeping both bedroom doors closed while he played quietly with May, Carey was able to keep Jane and Katie asleep for another hour and a half.
When Jane appeared in the doorway, May was suddenly excited, reaching out with hands, feet, and voice for her.
Jane scooped her up from Carey, took her around the living room to look out the windows at the city and the cars driving past the building on the street far below, and then took her into the parents’ room.
“Katie is up too,” he said. “Would it be a mistake to order room service?”
“It would be a mistake not to,” Jane said. “Just be sure to use the same name that’s on the credit card you used to check in here.”
“Good point,” he said. “I had figured that out. We’re the Buckleys. Here’s the menu. Decide what you want and I’ll call down the order.”
“Are they still serving breakfast?”
“No.” He pointed. “This page from here on is lunch.”
“Good enough. Caesar salad, small steak, medium. Fresh fruit for dessert. And coffee. Make sure Katie knows she can order whatever she wants, including snacks for later.”
“I’ll do that.” He went out to the living room, and in another few minutes she heard him talking in his professional telephone voice.
Jane ran water in the bathtub in the grown-up part of the suite, got into the water with May, and gave May a bath.
She dried her and wrapped her in a big fluffy white hotel towel and called Carey in.
“My turn for a bath. You hold her, and then I’ll take her and it’ll be your turn.
” A few minutes later she dressed and took May into the living room with her.
Katie was sitting in a big overstuffed chair along the wall under a big painting with splashes of bold color, reading one of her textbooks, her head down and her black hair hanging straight. She looked up. “Good morning,” she said. Her voice sweetened. “Hi, May.”
“Good morning,” Jane said. “I stopped on the way last night and picked up your new identification. I can bring it out and we’ll sort it after lunch. Now that we’ve got the ID, it’s getting to be time to start calling you Katie in every situation. Are you ready for that?”
“I have to be, and I’m already starting to get used to the idea,” Katie said. “I picked the name, and we did it to help me, so I can’t complain.”
Jane stepped closer and touched her arm. “I’ve been thinking about that too. You never complain. But I want you to remember that complaining is sometimes necessary. I’d love to know what’s on your mind when you’re happy. But I’ve absolutely got to know it if you’re unhappy, or scared, or worried.”
There was a loud knock on the door. Katie set her book on the chair as she stood up. Jane handed May to her and said, “Take her into the bedroom and close the door.”
Jane went to the door, looked out the peephole, and opened the door.
A smiling waiter said, “Room service,” and wheeled a cart into the room.
He started converting a nearby table with a folding top to a dining table, put a white tablecloth over it, and set three places.
“Should I leave the plates covered to stay warm?”
Jane said, “Please do.” She picked up the folder with the bill and signed it “Marie-Louise Buckley.” She added a large tip to the total.
The big tip was always a problem of proportion.
The Buckleys would want be liked, but if their tips were too big, the risk was that the Buckleys might also be remembered.
The waiter seemed pleased, but not overwhelmed.
He said, “Thank you,” and left, and Jane immediately reset the locks, went into the adult bathroom, and said to Carey, “Our food is here.”
He came out and he and Jane set out the plates and removed the silvery plate covers. Jane held May while Carey and Katie ate. Then Carey took May while Jane ate. The conversation was soft and for the moment, concentrated on the hotel and the food and the long drive.
Jane checked the camera recordings in the McKinnon house.
She had gotten her family away, and there was no indication that the Russians had known anything about the connection between the house where she was raised and the McKinnon house, where she had lived since her marriage.
If they had known about it, they would have gone there. As of this morning, they hadn’t.
She still had some hope that they would not find the McKinnon house.
The house had been in Carey’s family since before the Revolutionary War.
Jane had never let Carey add her name to the deed.
He had been the sole owner from the time his mother had died while he had been in New York City working as a resident in surgery.
For a group of strangers to find out about the McKinnon house, it would probably require them to talk to random people, find the right one, and ask the right questions without appearing to be too nosy or threatening.
Jane estimated that she and her family would have three more safe nights in this hotel before it was time to make a decision about their next refuge.