The Hunt Gets Closer
The taxi stopped in the middle of Nashville and Mitch got out. He entered the Southeastern Bank Building and asked to see Mr Laycook. He had learned a lot over the last few weeks. He knew all the right dates and numbers to pass the bank's tests. They let him wire ten million dollars out of the Royal Bank of Montreal in Grand Cayman into their bank. As soon as it arrived he moved a million to his mother's bank, a million to Abby's parents' bank and a million for Tammy. The other seven million joined what was left of the FBI money in his bank in Zurich.
On the top floor of the Royal Bank of Montreal in Grand Cayman, Randolph Osgood was informed, as was proper, of the movement of a large amount of money. He picked up the phone and called Memphis. A receptionist told him that Mr Tolleson was not available. Then Nathan Locke? he asked. Mr Locke is out of town. Victor Milligan? Mr Milligan is away too.
Osgood decided to try again tomorrow.
***
Next day the hunt got closer. The police were looking for a man who had attacked a woman in the Perdido Beach Hilton. When Ray McDeere's picture appeared in the papers as an escaped murderer, the hotel clerk connected him with the attack and told the police that he was with a woman called Rachel James. The victim of the attack, Karen Adair, supported by her boyfriend Aaron Rimmer, agreed that the criminal was Ray McDeere. Then the clerk remembered that Rachel James was driving a white Cutlass. The police began to search for the car.
***
It took seventeen trips from the apartment to the van with all the boxes. Then Mitch sat in the apartment and wrote down instructions for Tammy. He also told her that there was a million dollars waiting for her in her bank.
He spoke to Abby at the Holiday Hotel in Panama City Beach. She told him about the police hunt for Ray, which was in all the newspapers.
'Where's Ray now?'
'On the beach, trying to brown his face. I've told him everything. He's also had a haircut.'
'Good idea. Abby, you must cut your hair and color it blonde. But first you must get out of there. Just walk out. Make it look as if you're going for a walk on the beach. But a mile east along the beach is a small hotel called the Blue Tide. Sign in there as Jackie Nagel. I'll be there soon. Don't worry; there are so many hotels and buildings along the beach there that it'll take them a year to search them all.'
Twelve hours later the three of them were together.
by John Grisham