Corbin found the new guy sitting in Beckett’s chair when he arrived for work the following morning. It didn’t take Corbin long to develop a strong dislike for his new officemate, the same dislike shared by most everyone else in the office. Molly particularly disliked him.
Molly leaned against Corbin’s desk. This was a new spot for her, and she was still getting used to it. In the past, she typically stood in the doorway or near the edge of Beckett’s desk. That allowed her to see the entire office at once and it gave her room to move around, which she liked doing because she animated her stories with motion. But she was determined to ignore the new guy, so she now placed herself on the edge of Corbin’s desk, with her back to the new guy. This was normally Theresa’s spot.
“He just walked out without talking to Kak? That’s rich!” she said, meaning Beckett. She laughed.
“Yep.”
“Kak must be furious!”
“No doubt.”
Molly’s lips curled into a sly smile. “Change of topic: you do realize I’m still going to figure out what you and Beckett were doing, right?”
“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t,” Corbin said with a laugh.
“You can’t hide forever.”
“Yes, we can.”
“One of us is going to be disappointed.”
“Time will tell.”
“Eventually, the tide will go out, and we’ll see who’s been swimming naked.”
Corbin smirked. “Where did you come up with that? That’s the silliest line I’ve ever heard.”
“Business channel.”
Corbin raised one eyebrow. “I find that incredibly disturbing.”
“What? That I watch the business channel or that they would say something like that?”
“Both.”
Corbin’s phone rang. It was Kak. “Small conference.”
Molly sighed. “Speaking of the disturbed. Fun’s over.” Molly moved toward the door. As she did, Corbin’s officemate raised his hand to get her attention. “Don’t talk to me new guy,” she said, as she left the room.
Corbin downed his coffee and went to Kak’s office. Kak was in a bitter mood.
The following day Corbin and Alvarez cruised up I-95, opening the rest of the bank accounts. Unlike the relationship between Alvarez and Beckett, Corbin and Alvarez got along well. This made the day go smoothly and neither found themselves the slightest bit nervous. Still, the real test wouldn’t come until they returned to collect the money.
The next morning, Corbin called dozens of banks to get the credit cards they would need. He would have preferred making these calls from his couch, but he didn’t know if cell phone calls could be traced to particular locations. Thus, he made the calls from the scenic overlook on the GW Parkway overlooking Georgetown. It was raining and somewhat foggy, though he could see the row of restaurants that lined the river on the other side. Two folders and a duffle bag sat on the seat next to him. The first folder contained personal and account information for each of the identities they had stolen. Corbin had meticulously summarized this information on a series of forms and charts. The second folder included information on hundreds of credit card companies and the cards they offered. That information too was summarized, with individual cell phone numbers matched up to individual names and specific credit card companies so that Corbin wouldn’t use the same cell phone or identification twice with any company. The duffle bag contained each of the cell phones they had acquired.
Corbin hated creating so much documentation, but he had no choice. He intended to destroy everything as soon as he could. In the meantime, he began dialing.
“You seem a lot happier lately,” Blue proclaimed, as he poured Corbin a beer.
“Do I?”
“For a couple weeks now. You finally quit your job?”
“No, but I’ve been working on a new project I’m enjoying. It gives me a lot of energy to finally put my mind to work again.”
“And here I thought it might be your lady friend?”
Corbin’s “lady friend” came regularly to hear him play. He first noticed her because she brought a single pink rose with her and set it on the table, something she’d done every night since. Despite his fascination with her, they’d only spoken briefly, so briefly in fact, he didn’t even know her name. Tonight, she sat at one of the well-lit tables under a cone of yellow light, which gave her silver mini-dress a fiery appearance. As usual, a single pink rose lay on the table.
“Know what, Blue? Tonight’s gonna be special.”
Blue smiled. “A’right, if you gonna talk to that young lady, then you gots to do something special tonight. Not nex’ week, tonight. You ready to show me what cha got?”
For weeks, Blue had been pushing Corbin to expand his musical horizons. Corbin resisted on the grounds he didn’t want to bore the audience with music they didn’t know, to which Blue always responded: “they gonna know it if you make ’em feel it.”
“I don’t have anything new prepared,” Corbin demurred.
“That’s a good start. Get your ass on stage and just do it. Trust yourself.”
Corbin looked across the room at the stage. He set down his beer. “All right Blue, it’s time for something new.”
A few minutes later, Corbin sat down with his guitar before the microphone. He’d spoken to the band on his way to his seat. Being Friday, Blue had assembled a larger band than the one which normally played during the week. This gave Corbin considerable freedom to experiment. Corbin looked out at the audience sitting just beyond the silver stage lights. The audience grew each week. Blue attributed this to Corbin, but Corbin never gave it much thought. Tonight’s audience numbered about two dozen, plus the woman with the pink rose.
“Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages, tonight we’re gonna try something new. Mind the exits. . just in case.”
The audience laughed.
“Before we start, let me give you a preview of where we’re headed.” Behind Corbin, the drummer quietly brushed his snare drum. “You might recognize the baseline as ‘Take Five.’ When everything feels right, we’re gonna lay a little ‘Terminal Frost’ from Pink Floyd right over ‘Take Five.’ I always wanted to see what would happen if we did that.”
Blue smiled. Corbin picked a challenging combination, as these two songs didn’t naturally merge. Blue closed his eyes and waited to hear if Corbin could pull it off.