The October List

any good news for her.’
    ‘You told her that?’ Gabriela whispered.
    ‘Now, what do you think? Would it be in my interest to make your daughter feel any more panicky? Honestly, I can’t even joke with you. You need to relax a bit. Okay, the money?’ he asked, his tone suddenly blasé.
    ‘I’ve got the list .’
    ‘Heard that part. But saying that tells me you don’t have the money. And since you dodged the question about describing the list, I’m a little skeptical of that too.’
    ‘No, no! I swear!’
    ‘Ever notice,’ Joseph offered, ‘when people say things like “I swear” and “you’ve got to believe me,” they are invariably lying?’
    ‘I’m not lying! I have it. It’s in a place for safekeeping. I didn’t want to walk around with it.’
    ‘Not much need for that. Proportionately there’re less muggings in New York than Portland, Maine. So, fine. You’ve found the list. Wunderbar! Let’s get back to money.’
    ‘I’ve been running around town all day trying to do what you asked,’ she cried. ‘Please, just a little more time. It’s taken longer than I thought. I’m sorry!’
    ‘Racked with guilt, are you?’
    Daniel stiffened with anger. His face grew dark. But he remained silent.
    She leaned close to the phone. ‘Please, it’s been a nightmare. The police are everywhere! I can’t just sneak into the garden behind Charles’s town house and start digging for treasure, can I?’ Her voice caught. Then she muttered angrily, ‘Tell me right now! How is my daughter?’
    ‘She’s alive.’
    ‘ Alive? But is she okay?’
    ‘Pretty much.’
    ‘She must be terrified.’
    ‘And I’m afraid of heights. Snakes aren’t my favorite either. But we cope. Now, money makes the world go ’round. That was the deal we made.’ He seemed again to be pouting. ‘You’ve breached it. You’ve broken our agreement.’
    ‘I’ll get your money,’ she snapped. ‘I just need more time! I’m doing everything I can.’
    ‘More time, more time.’ His voice was taunting.
    ‘Just a little.’
    ‘Could be, you know, that you’ve found the money and you’re stalling, trying to figure out a way to keep it and get your daughter back.’
    ‘No! Why would I do that?’
    ‘Because you’re out of a job, remember?’
    She began to tremble. Daniel put his arm around her.
    Joseph said, ‘You were Charles Prescott’s office manager.’
    ‘Yes,’ she whispered.
    ‘So you know something about business?’
    She hesitated. ‘What?’
    ‘You know about business?’ he repeated petulantly.
    ‘I … I know some things. What are you asking?’
    ‘You familiar with the concept of penalties?’ Joseph’s voice was completely flat. The smarmy tone was gone. ‘Like you don’t pay your taxes on time, there’s a penalty? Well, you didn’t pay me on time. You missed the deadline.’
    ‘I tried .’
    ‘“Try” is a non-word. Either you do something or you don’t. It’s impossible to try to do something. So. New deadline. Six p.m. tomorrow—’
    ‘Thank you! I—’
    ‘I’m not through. Six p.m. tomorrow – you deliver the October List. And, now, five hundred thousand.’
    ‘No! You can’t do that.’
    ‘Is that what you say to the IRS? “I’m so sorry. I can’t pay what you want. No penalty for me!” Look at me as the Excuse Nazi.’ Giddy once more. His laugh was nearly a giggle.
    ‘Why not just a fucking million?’ she raged. ‘Or ten million?’ Daniel squeezed her arm. She said to Joseph, ‘I’m doing the best I can.’
    ‘Ah, just like “trying.” There’s no “best” or “worst.” There’s keeping up your half of our agreement or not.’
    ‘We don’t have an agreement! You’re extorting me, you kidnap—’
    ‘Hello! Didn’t we have a conversation about movie dialogue? Now, consequences, I was saying: First, the penalty, the extra hundred K. Then, second, you have to go on a scavenger hunt.’
    ‘A what?’
    ‘A scavenger hunt.’
    ‘I don’t understand,’ Gabriela said, her voice choked.
    ‘What’s not to understand? It’ll be easy. I’ll bet it won’t take you more than thirty minutes to find the prize.’
    ‘You’re insane!’
    ‘Well, now, that’s all relative, isn’t it? Go to Times Square. Behind a Dumpster in the alley at Forty-Eighth and Seventh. West side of the intersection.’
    ‘What’s there?’ she asked in a high, shaky voice.
    But Joseph’s response was to disconnect.
     
    They didn’t need a cab.
    The prize Joseph