suit wasn’t getting too trashed. She also hoped that Freddie would get on with the plan quickly. They didn’t have time for grandstanding.
“Let’s play a game,” Freddie said to the delighted crowd. “Whoever can guess the combination of meat in my nonna’s ragù gets a free tiramisu!”
The tourists clustered closer to the window. The ones in front shouted guesses, everything from lamb chops to dog food.
Freddie groaned with the joking suggestions and pretended to ponder the serious one. Finally, he pointed to the back of the crowd.
“The guy in the Hawaiian shirt wins!” He handed a plate of dessert to the tourist. Then he held up his hands to quiet the crowd again.
“You guys are great. I wish I could keep you here wit’ me all day,” Freddie said. “Or, hey, maybe I wish I was on your tour. I know, maybe you could let me have one of those hats? You know, like as a souvenir of our time here together wit’ you all.” He looked down and patted his chest like he was getting emotional. “I’ll tell ya what, I’ll give out a free batch of lasagna and a drink to anyone that’ll give me their hat.”
The tourists crowding the window pressed closer, some holding hats out. It reminded Caroline of the pictures she’d seen of the New York Stock Exchange.
Freddie grabbed the two closest to him and passed them over to Annie and Caroline. With his other hand, he handed the winning tourists plates of lasagna.
Donning the hat, Caroline made a mental note. If she survived the day, she promised to tell Judi that her younger son was, in fact, highly talented. A total rock star, in fact.
Soon, the fun ended, and the tour group departed.
With two new members.
CHAPTER 18
The courthouse doors were only feet away, but they were far out of reach. Tucked in the center of the tour group, Caroline watched in silent terror as the man in green Converse shoes approached from the opposite direction, scanning faces of everyone on the sidewalk.
Caroline turned toward the building, suddenly enthralled by the overwrought pillars. Beside her, Annie pulled her neon-orange baseball hat down low over her forehead.
Holding her breath, Caroline watched in her peripheral vision as Green Converse came parallel with her before continuing past. When he disappeared around the corner, she exhaled and resettled the bag slung over her shoulder. Freddie had conjured the bag from the tour group so she wouldn’t stand out. She’d stuffed her suit jacket inside, but in her dress pants and pumps, she still felt as vulnerable as a roofer in a hurricane.
She chanced another look at the doors. A line of people stretched beyond the threshold out onto the sidewalk. A line attesting to the backup at the security checkpoint. A line standing between Caroline and the safety of the courthouse lobby.
Caroline commanded herself to patience. They’d be inside soon. They’d be surrounded by court staff. They’d be within earshot of marshals.
But if they got caught before they cleared the doors, it would be over.
She and Annie would get only one shot. They needed to get it right.
Still, her stomach knotted with repressed urgency. The hearing had started already. Louis would be wondering where she was. Eddie, too.
She knew Eddie could handle the examination of the first few scientists. He’d helped her to prepare the witness notes, after all. He knew what questions to ask.
But she was supposed to be in there . . . instead of out here, trapped in a gaggle of neon-clad tourists.
Scanning the sidewalk, she looked for some sign of the thugs she knew couldn’t be far away. Even though she didn’t see anyone suspicious, she knew they were near. Somewhere just around the corner. Or across the street. Maybe even watching the tour group.
The guide began walking again, and Caroline followed, vaguely aware of him describing late Empire architecture in painstaking, monotonous detail. Her mind screamed at her to get inside the courthouse. They were running out of time. The questioning of the witnesses wouldn’t go on forever, and she had the only scientist that mattered with her.
When the group pulled abreast of the doors, she saw that the line at the metal detector had all but disappeared.
It was time to go.
“Come on,” Caroline whispered to Annie.
She broke from the crowd and walked toward the doors as quickly as she could without drawing attention.
Up ahead, dimly seen through the doorway, the marshal ushered a teenage boy through the metal detector. They were almost there.
Stepping