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“Correct.”
“I studied the route yesterday, but I’m going to need help when we get to the Wall Street area. Streets and avenues are in a grid all through Midtown, but they make no sense in lower Manhattan.”
“No problem. I can find my way.”
Thirty-five minutes later Riley drove up to the massive Federal Reserve building. It occupied an entire block on Liberty Street, and it looked to her like a limestone fortress, a positive citadel of finance.
“We need to find a parking place on this block,” Emerson said.
Riley scanned the street. “There aren’t any.”
“Then we’ll have to wait for one.”
Riley circled the block four times, and on the fifth pass found a vacant space in front of Blane-Grunwald’s New York office.
“Perfect,” Emerson said, opening the glove box and pulling out what looked like a remote control timer for a camera. He set the timer and returned it to the glove box.
“What was that all about?” Riley asked.
“It’s part of my plan.”
“You aren’t going to blow something up, are you?”
“I thought you weren’t asking questions.”
“Right. I don’t want to know, but it would be bad if you blew something up. And it wouldn’t be good for your karma.”
“I’m touched that you care. Rest assured, my karma will stay
intact.”
“Okay then. Have a nice day. Adios. Goodbye. Arrivederci.”
“The ‘arrivederci’ is premature. We’re not parting yet.”
“The deal was that I drive you to the Federal Reserve building, and then I get to drive home.”
“Not exactly,” Emerson said. “The Silver Shadow stays here.”
“How am I going to go home?”
Emerson got out of the car. “I’ve made arrangements. Follow me.”
Riley grabbed the key out of the ignition and scrambled to keep up with Emerson. “Where are we going?”
“That’s a question again,” Emerson said, crossing Nassau Street.
“I’m not going to just blindly follow you around.”
“Of course not. You’re going to keep your eyes open. And if you must know, we’re going to the subway stop on Broadway.”
Okay, that might be promising, Riley thought. The subway could lead to Penn Station. “Are we heading toward Amtrak?” she asked him. “If I get an early train, I might be able to check in at the office before everyone leaves for the weekend.”
“Unlikely,” Emerson said. “We aren’t taking the subway. It was a point of reference. Once we get to the subway stop, we need to walk two blocks on Cedar Street to meet our ride.”
“Why are we meeting our ride on Cedar Street? Why didn’t he just pick us up on Liberty Street?”
Emerson walked past the subway stop and turned onto Cedar. “We’re meeting them on Cedar Street because they always stop at a little shop on Cedar for coffee when they’re in the neighborhood. It seemed like the convenient thing to do. A pickup on Liberty might raise red flags.”
