Read Online The Crimes of Jordan Wise by Bill Pronzini - Free Book Online
Authors: Bill Pronzini
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hand.
May.
One of our get-togethers that month was a trip to Las Vegas. Annalise had never been there and wanted to go, and I saw no reason not to oblige her. It would be our only opportunity; once I became a fugitive, I had no intention of ever going within two thousand miles of San Francisco. We were spending a fair amount of money on necessities and incidentals, and we would spend a lot more before the end of September, but I'd factored that into the equation. I could always spread another $10,000 among the final six dummy invoices to cover increased expenditures. Besides, the whole point of the Plan was to live well, travel, see new sights, so why deprive ourselves during the setup year?
We stayed in a motel off the Strip, registering as the Laidlaws and appearing in public in our Laidlaw personas. We ate in four-star restaurants; we saw a musical revue at one of the casinos and Dean Martin at Caesars Palace. Neither of us was much of a gambler, but Annalise played the slot machines and keno and I risked a few bets at the $5 blackjack tables. I won $45 and she had the thrill of hitting a $100 keno ticket.
Good omen. After the Vegas trip, I knew that the Plan was going to work exactly as designed.
Late June.
I'd put in for my annual vacation time well in advance, to ensure that I had the last two weeks of the month. On my first day off I made the rounds of the banks containing the dummy accounts and withdrew $2,000 from each. By then, there was an aggregate of more than $400,000 spread among the six. The next day I drove to the airport and bought a round-trip ticket to Chicago, a trip I was making alone this time. I carried some of the cash in my wallet, some in an envelope in my briefcase; the balance was in a hidden compartment of my checked suitcase. I didn't much like traveling with that much cash or entrusting any of it to TWA's baggage handlers, but it was necessary and there were no problems.
I stayed at the same downtown hotel, transformed myself into Richard Laidlaw the following morning, and was waiting at the Mutual Trust branch when it opened. I deposited $2,000 in the joint checking account and put the rest of the cash in the safe deposit box. From the bank I took a cab to the mail drop. Both passports and both Illinois driver's licenses were waiting.
Another cab delivered me to a downtown travel agency I'd picked out of the phone directory. I booked a round-trip Pan Am flight to Georgetown, Grand Cayman, via San Juan, leaving O'Hare on Sunday morning and returning on Tuesday; I also booked accommodations for two nights at a hotel in Georgetown. I was able to reserve a seat on a Chicago to San Francisco flight Tuesday night, with only a four-hour airport layover. All of this I paid for by check drawn on the Laidlaws' joint account; the price was too steep to fund in cash without the risk of arousing suspicion. The travel agent assured me my tickets would be ready as soon the check cleared, no later than Friday afternoon.
Within walking distance was a car rental agency, where I used Richard Laidlaw's new driver's license to rent a compact for the rest of the week. At the hotel after my arrival I'd combed through the apartments-to-lease ads in the local papers, making a list of several in the metropolitan area. I began canvassing them that afternoon and evening.
I expected the process to take two or three days, possibly longer, but I found what I was looking for on the morning of the second day: a furnished, vacant, one-bedroom apartment in a nondescript building in a lower middle-class South Side neighborhood for $600 a month; and a landlord who was willing to settle for a six-month lease. I gave him a check to cover the first and last months' rent plus a $200 cleaning deposit. He had no objection to letting me have the keys early, "soon as your check clears," or to my arranging for a telephone to be installed right away. I told him my wife and I were moving to
May.
One of our get-togethers that month was a trip to Las Vegas. Annalise had never been there and wanted to go, and I saw no reason not to oblige her. It would be our only opportunity; once I became a fugitive, I had no intention of ever going within two thousand miles of San Francisco. We were spending a fair amount of money on necessities and incidentals, and we would spend a lot more before the end of September, but I'd factored that into the equation. I could always spread another $10,000 among the final six dummy invoices to cover increased expenditures. Besides, the whole point of the Plan was to live well, travel, see new sights, so why deprive ourselves during the setup year?
We stayed in a motel off the Strip, registering as the Laidlaws and appearing in public in our Laidlaw personas. We ate in four-star restaurants; we saw a musical revue at one of the casinos and Dean Martin at Caesars Palace. Neither of us was much of a gambler, but Annalise played the slot machines and keno and I risked a few bets at the $5 blackjack tables. I won $45 and she had the thrill of hitting a $100 keno ticket.
Good omen. After the Vegas trip, I knew that the Plan was going to work exactly as designed.
Late June.
I'd put in for my annual vacation time well in advance, to ensure that I had the last two weeks of the month. On my first day off I made the rounds of the banks containing the dummy accounts and withdrew $2,000 from each. By then, there was an aggregate of more than $400,000 spread among the six. The next day I drove to the airport and bought a round-trip ticket to Chicago, a trip I was making alone this time. I carried some of the cash in my wallet, some in an envelope in my briefcase; the balance was in a hidden compartment of my checked suitcase. I didn't much like traveling with that much cash or entrusting any of it to TWA's baggage handlers, but it was necessary and there were no problems.
I stayed at the same downtown hotel, transformed myself into Richard Laidlaw the following morning, and was waiting at the Mutual Trust branch when it opened. I deposited $2,000 in the joint checking account and put the rest of the cash in the safe deposit box. From the bank I took a cab to the mail drop. Both passports and both Illinois driver's licenses were waiting.
Another cab delivered me to a downtown travel agency I'd picked out of the phone directory. I booked a round-trip Pan Am flight to Georgetown, Grand Cayman, via San Juan, leaving O'Hare on Sunday morning and returning on Tuesday; I also booked accommodations for two nights at a hotel in Georgetown. I was able to reserve a seat on a Chicago to San Francisco flight Tuesday night, with only a four-hour airport layover. All of this I paid for by check drawn on the Laidlaws' joint account; the price was too steep to fund in cash without the risk of arousing suspicion. The travel agent assured me my tickets would be ready as soon the check cleared, no later than Friday afternoon.
Within walking distance was a car rental agency, where I used Richard Laidlaw's new driver's license to rent a compact for the rest of the week. At the hotel after my arrival I'd combed through the apartments-to-lease ads in the local papers, making a list of several in the metropolitan area. I began canvassing them that afternoon and evening.
I expected the process to take two or three days, possibly longer, but I found what I was looking for on the morning of the second day: a furnished, vacant, one-bedroom apartment in a nondescript building in a lower middle-class South Side neighborhood for $600 a month; and a landlord who was willing to settle for a six-month lease. I gave him a check to cover the first and last months' rent plus a $200 cleaning deposit. He had no objection to letting me have the keys early, "soon as your check clears," or to my arranging for a telephone to be installed right away. I told him my wife and I were moving to
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