The Shut Mouth Society (26 page)

He cycled the shotgun and stood up hoping the assassination team had only four members. Evarts figured the guy in the alley probably had orders to stay put.

Just as he started to swivel around, Evarts felt a gun barrel punched into the back of his neck. “Drop the fucking gun, asshole. Now!”

Chapter 28

“
Don’t shoot! He knows the combination.”

“
What? What combination?” The man holding the gun to his neck seemed startled to hear a voice behind him. Evarts felt the greatest fear of his life when he realized the voice belonged to Baldwin.

“
Why the hell do you think you were sent here?” she screamed.

Evarts felt the slightest release of pressure from the pistol barrel, and then he heard an unbelievably loud roar as a gun went off near his ear. It seemed like an eternity before he realized his skull hadn’t been blown apart, but probably no more than one or two seconds had really gone by before he reached for the SIG in his back waistband. When he turned around, he felt the greatest joy of his life: Patricia Baldwin stood behind him, seemingly in one piece. Despite being unharmed, her appearance startled him. She wore a fierce expression and she held her .45 aimed at about head height. Evarts felt more than saw a body sliding down against the car beside him. She had shot the guy in the head while he held a gun on him. Shit.

Evarts looked around but saw no one, not even an innocent neighbor. Good. He took Baldwin by the elbow and urged her to run. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

She pulled her arm free. “What about your prints on the shotgun?”

He regrabbed her elbow. “We gotta get outta here. Now!” When she started moving he added, “Besides, we left our prints all over the place.”

“
But that’s the murder weapon.”

She trotted beside him now. “My prints are on those shell casings anyway.” They had reached the corner of Charles Street, and he automatically turned them away from the alley behind the apartment. At this hour, nobody clogged the usually busy sidewalk, and he could spot no one awakened by the gunfire. Then he heard what sounded like a woman’s scream about a block behind them. They didn’t have much more time to make a getaway.

“
Where are we going?” Baldwin asked.

“
Away from here.”

“
Is the car safe?”

Evarts thought a moment. He felt sure that they hadn’t found them by tracing the car, because they had separated themselves from it so early. He also doubted that it had been reported stolen already. He had driven well out of the normal route to steal the SUV, and he had parked his own van in a different condominium complex. Even if the Explorer had been reported stolen, it seemed a stretch that the theft would already be connected to him. He kept up their rapid walking pace and said, “The car should still be safe, but we need a taxi to get to it.”

They had reached Beacon Street and she pointed to the park across the street. “That way,” she said.

Once they had entered the quiet park, Evarts asked, “Where are you leading us?”

“
To the Ritz Carlton.” She pointed. “Just on the other side of the Public Gardens. It’s the closest cab stand.”

Evarts gasped for air, while she panted only slightly. He needed to do more aerobics or get back to his jogging routine. He checked his watch. Eleven thirty. Evidently few people wandered the Gardens at this hour, and they found themselves alone as they hustled along on a diagonal path through the park.

“
Thanks,” he said.

“
I almost got you killed,” she said with a quivering voice.

“
No, you saved my life.”

“
I didn’t think … I couldn’t think.”

“
Thinking gets you killed in a situation like that. You did great.”

When they reached the Ritz Carlton, Evarts saw a lone cab at the stand. They jumped in, but before he could say anything, Baldwin leaned toward the opening in the Plexiglas divider and said, “South Station, please.”

Evarts started to ask a question, but she pinched his thigh in a way that told him to keep his mouth shut. After they paid for the short ride, she led him down some stairs to the subway. When they stood on the nearly empty platform waiting for the next car, she said, “This may not have been such a bright idea. We have to take the Red Line two stops, switch to the Green Line, and then switch again at Government Center to the Blue Line.”

“
The Blue Line takes us to the airport?”

“
Yeah. Sorry.” She stood staring straight ahead with an exhausted expression. “Then we’ll need to catch the shuttle to off-site parking.”

“
Perfect.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek and felt pleased she didn’t recoil.

“
I … I thought cops could trace a taxi.” She continued to look straight ahead.

“
They can … and at this hour, they’d probably get a tag on it before we even made it to that long-term parking lot. Smart girl. Smart and brave.”

“
Right now, I just want to get to the car so I can have a nervous breakdown.”

Just as she spoke, a subway car rattled into the station. A transit cop emerged from an office at the end of the platform, but he didn’t look alert. They stepped into the car, and Evarts directed them to a seat on the opposite side so he could keep an eye on the cop. Evarts looked at his watch, startled that only ten minutes had passed since they had sprinted across the Public Gardens.

When the car doors closed with no sign of interest from the cop, Evarts felt himself exhale deeply. In less than three minutes, they were at the second stop. Baldwin grabbed his arm and said, “Hurry. That’s the car we want and they’re few and far between at this hour.”

They raced across platforms and jumped on the Green Line just before a monotone voice announced that the doors were about to close. After they had taken seats, a rough-looking vagrant walked over and grabbed the pole above their heads to steady himself. With a shit-eating grin aimed at Baldwin, he said, “Hey buddy, can you spare ten dollars?”

Evarts immediately went on high alert. A bum asks for a dollar. Only a petty criminal who thought they looked vulnerable would ask for ten dollars. He wanted to hurt the guy. In fact, he badly wanted to hurt the guy badly. Despite his need to release some tension, Evarts didn’t want to draw attention. “We’re cops, asshole, and you’re going to blow our cover. Go find someone else.”

He looked dubious. “You ain’t cops.”

“
Karen, darling, shoot this son of a bitch, please.”

Without missing a beat, Baldwin opened her purse and half extracted her .45. “With pleasure.”

The perpetrator jumped back and went to the furthest seat away from them. In a few minutes they were at Government Station. This time their luck wasn’t as good. They had to wait on the platform for nearly ten minutes for a Blue Line car. The ride to the airport seemed to take forever, but his watch said it took only a little over eight minutes. When they found the shuttle area outside the terminal, Evarts smiled as he saw a minibus painted with the long-term parking logo. His relief evaporated, however, after they boarded the van, and the driver showed no inclination to leave the terminal.

“
When do we leave?” Evarts asked.

“
Few minutes. You’re the first to arrive.”

“
First? What are you talking about?”

He caught Evarts’s eye in the rearview mirror. “Didn’t you just arrive on flight 617?”

Evarts first impulse was to offer him twenty dollars to go now, but he realized that would make him memorable. “Yeah. First class, no luggage, so we made it out quick. I guess you need to wait for the rest.”

“
Yup. Only bus at this hour.” He turned and gave them a questioning look. “Why no luggage?”

Evidently flight 617 didn’t just fly in from New York or some other short commuter route. “Lost at an international connection. Pissed me off, but what can you do?” Evarts put on a tired face. It wasn’t hard. “This was our last leg. We had three connections, and we’ve been traveling for almost twenty-four hours. Now we just want to get home.”

The driver’s eyes in the rearview mirror showed that he had absolutely no interest in listening to another traveler’s tale of woe. Evarts felt relief when he saw people exit the terminal. “Here they come.” He closed his eyes. “Wake us at the lot.”

“
Sure thing, bud.” Evarts heard him leap out of the bus to help people with their baggage. Good. That conversation had gone deeper than he wanted.

It took almost a half hour to load people, drive over to the lot, start the Explorer, and pay the parking fee.

As they pulled out of the lot, Baldwin asked, “Where are we going?”

“
I’m still on the ‘away from here’ agenda.”

“
Then follow the signs to the Ted Williams Tunnel, and we’ll get on the Mass Pike.”

“
Is there any other way out of town? It’s been over an hour since the shooting, and the cops should be on full alert.”

“
Let me think. Yeah. When we get through the tunnel, I’ll tell you how to get to old Route 9.”

“
Surface street?”

“
Yes, but it should be pretty quick at this hour.”

“
Sounds perfect. Your feint to South Station will put a lot of attention on the trains. Next priority will be the airport and turnpikes. If we can get outside Boston city limits in the next thirty minutes, we should be clear. I can’t think of a reason for state troopers to pull over a generic Explorer with Colorado plates.”

“
Because it contains a couple killers on the lam.” Her voice didn’t sound as light as her words.

Evarts threw her a look. She had been exceptionally capable in as tough a situation as he could imagine. Perhaps he should make up a list of questions about her. After a few moments of silence, he tried to mimic an airline attendant’s announcement voice. “You’re now free to mope about the cabin.”

“
What?”

“
Bad joke. Sorry. You said you couldn’t wait to get to the car so you could have a nervous breakdown.”

“
I’m thinking,” she said distractedly. Evarts decided to leave her to her thoughts. After a few moments, she said, “Greg, I owe you an enormous apology. I never should’ve doubted you. Can you forgive me?”

“
Of course.”

“
I ah—” She started crying. “You can’t know how scared and miserable I’ve been since my parents were killed.”

“”
It’s alright. I can imagine how I’d feel if it had been my parents.”

She started crying harder, and it took a few minutes for her to get enough control to continue. “I’ve been miserable thinking bad thoughts about you.” She pulled a tissue and dried her leaking eyes. “I fell for you and it hurt because I was afraid I had made another huge mistake. Men have had a way of disappointing me.”

“
I may disappoint you, but I promise, not in the way you suspected.”

After he had driven several miles, she asked quietly, “Greg, is it possible for our relationship to go back to the way it was?”

Evarts grinned to show that he was kidding. “That can only be healed with time and events.”

“
Hell.” She smiled weakly. “I sure don’t want to repeat an event like that.”

“
Me either, so we’ll have to rely on time.” He looked at his watch for a few beats. “Wow, they’re right. Time does heal all.” He gave her a tug on the shoulder, and she leaned over the console and hugged his arm.

They stayed in that position for several hours. With the break of dawn and more traffic on the road, Evarts began to feel comfortable that that they had escaped. After he had driven away from Boston on the surface street, they had caught the Massachusetts Turnpike heading west. When Baldwin moved in a way that told Evarts she wasn’t asleep, he said, “We need to figure out where we’re going.”

“
Omaha,” she said.

“
Trish, we don’t know for sure that the Greenes actually went to Omaha.”

“
Maybe we do.” She sat up straight in her own seat. “Last Thanksgiving, my father downloaded onto my laptop all the trusts and financial records for the family. That’s what I didn’t want you to see when I was being an idiot.”

“
Are you telling me there’s a safe house in Omaha?”

“
I think so. At least there’s an asset entry that looks suspiciously similar to the Boston apartment.”

“
Meaning no address?”

“
I’m afraid so. Only an asset number.” She gave him a genuine smile. “But, Commander, I’m sure you can find it.”

This time Evarts liked the way she said “commander.”

“
Thanks for the vote of confidence, but Omaha might be a blind alley, and it’ll take two days of hard driving just to get there.”

“
Yes, but we can stop at Hoyt Sherman Place on the way.”

Evarts looked at her. “What’s Hoyt Sherman Place?”

“
Lincoln appointed Major Hoyt Sherman paymaster for the Union army. After the war, he left Washington and moved to Des Moines, where he founded Equitable of Iowa, among other businesses. Hoyt Sherman Place, his former home, now serves as a cultural center for Des Moines.”