The Millionaires - Brad Meltzer [144]
“He’s not going to do that,” I answer, turning around to face him.
“How do you know?”
“I could hear it in his voice,” I say. “He wasn’t the type to investigate. And even if he was—he’d have no idea what he was looking at.”
“You sure about that?” he asks.
Still facing Charlie, I feel a sudden, almost microscopic twitch in my eyebrow. He spots it instantly. “See what I’m saying?” he asks. “The Greene & Greene logo would be onscreen. All it’d take is a phone call to the bank… and another to Gallo and DeSanctis…”
As we roll toward the shadow of the toll booth, the sun fades from above. And it fades fast. It’s only then that I turn around and notice our speed. The engine’s revving. We’re about to blow
through the toll booth at thirty miles an hour.
“Gillian…”
“Relax, it’s SunPass,” she says, thumbing over her shoulder and motioning toward the bar code sticker on her left rear window.
Charlie stares out the windshield; I look up to follow. The sign above the toll says SunPass Only.
Damn.
“Don’t go through…!” Charlie shouts.
It’s already too late.
We glide through the toll booth and a digital scanner focuses coldly on the car. Charlie and I simultaneously duck in our seats.
“What’re you doing?” Gillian asks. “It’s not a videocamera…”
Out the back window, the toll booth fades behind us. Charlie shoots up in his seat.
“Dammit!” I shout, pounding the dashboard.
“Wh-What?”
“Do you have any idea how stupid that was?”
“What’s wrong? It’s just SunPass…”
“… which uses the same technology as a supermarket scanner!” I blast. “Don’t you know how easy it is for them to trace this stuff? They know who you are in a heartbeat!”
Now Gillian’s the one who sinks a bit. “I-I didn’t think it was…” Her voice trails off and she tries her best to get my attention. She’s not getting it. I flip down the visor mirror to check on Charlie.
What’d I tell you? he asks with a glance.
“Oliver, I’m sorry,” she adds, reaching out and touching my arm. From the look on Charlie’s face, he expects me to cave. I brush her away.
Finally. Good for you, bro.
“I’m serious—I’m really sorry,” she continues. She touches me again, this time grabbing my hand.
Hold strong, Ollie. Time to claim victory, Charlie motions.
“Just drop it, okay?” I tell her.
“Please, Oliver, I was only trying to help. It was an honest mistake.”
Between the bucket seats, Charlie shakes his head. He doesn’t believe in honest mistakes—at least not when they’re made by her. But even he has to admit, there’s no real harm done. All we did was roll through a toll booth—which is why, as Gillian’s fingers braid between mine, I don’t hold her hand, but I also don’t pull away.
Charlie shoves his knee into the back of my seat.
I flip the mirror closed. He doesn’t understand. “Just next time, please be more careful,” I tell her.
“I promise,” Gillian replies. “You have my word.”
Charlie turns around and stares out the rear window. The toll booth disappears in the distance. He’s still watching our backs.
70
I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful,” Truman said as he escorted Joey back into the main lobby of Neowerks.
“No, you’ve been great,” Joey said, tapping her pocket notepad against the palm of her hand. On the top sheet, she had written Walter Harvey and Sonny Rollins—Oliver’s and Charlie’s fake names. “So after you spoke to your co-workers, you could still only identify one of the photos?”
“Arthur Stoughton,” Truman agreed. “But when I came back to tell Ducky’s daughter, she and the two guys said their thanks and disappeared.” Scratching nervously at his bushy hair, he added, “I only did it because I thought they were Ducky’s friends…”
Joey knew that tone. She could see it in his manic movements—even the way he glanced at the receptionist behind the shiny black desk. “You don’t have to worry, sir—you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No… no, of course. I’m just saying…” His voice faded. “It was