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“Half a million,” Laverne said.
“You’re insane. I don’t have that much money.”
“Bullshit,” Drew said. “You just parked a million dollars in the bank. I saw it with my own two eyes. I helped McEwen with the paperwork.”
“Sure,” Alex said. “And you want me to take half of it out to pay you two dimwits? As if that won’t sound any alarms.”
“They gave you twenty million,” Laverne said. “All for crying on the witness stand and pretending you weren’t the one who pulled the trigger. Half a million is nothing.”
The amount of Alex’s settlement had been greatly exaggerated in the press. Some got the number right—eight million. Most got it wrong, or purposely inflated it. The shadier the outlet, the more ludicrous the number. One tabloid had claimed that Alex had disappeared with a hundred million dollars. Who knew what these two psychopaths thought they could take her for. The answer was zero, but Alex hadn’t told them yet.
“You either get us the money or we go straight to the press. We’ll tell the world that Empty Eyes herself is enrolled at the University of Cambridge,” Laverne said. “We’ll dox you. We’ll post your address everywhere. The press, the websites, social media. We’ll do a goddamn publicity tour with what we know.”
“You’re not listening to me,” Alex said. “I can’t just withdraw half a million dollars from a bank a couple of days after I deposited it there.”
“Leave the money you put into my bank alone,” Drew said. “Take it from somewhere else. From wherever the rest of it is.”
“And you think, what? I can get it to you tonight? You think it’s under my mattress? You two are stupider than you look.”
“No, not tonight,” Drew said. “Tomorrow. By five o’clock or we go public with your identity.”
“For someone who works in finance, you don’t have much of a grasp on how banking works. I can’t produce half a million dollars in twenty-four hours. And all in cash? You idiots have been watching too many caper movies.”
“Oh, you’re going to do it,” Laverne said. “Trust me, mate. You don’t want us to get mad.”
Alex took a deep breath as if she were working out the possibilities. “To get my hands on that much money I need a week, at least.”
Laverne and Drew glanced at each other and exchanged another barrage of German.
“We’ll give you until Monday,” Laverne said.
“It’s Friday night, genius,” Alex said. “I won’t even be able to get in touch with anyone until Monday morning. I need a week if you want me to do this the right way.”
“What’s that mean?” Drew asked. “The right way.”
“It means in a way that neither you nor I get caught. You want half a million dollars and think it’s as easy as going to an ATM. It’s not. And the last thing I need is you two getting stopped with a suitcase full of cash on your way back to Switzerland. Figuring out a way for you to commit the perfect crime is actually in my best interest. I need a week, and I’m not giving you half a million dollars. I’ll give you two-fifty.”
“Five hundred thousand,” Drew said.
“Two-fifty or you can call anyone you want and post my picture everywhere. I don’t really give a shit.”
“Yeah you do,” Laverne said, a snaggletooth protruding from her upper lip. “Or you wouldn’t be negotiating. Four.”
“Three,” Alex countered.
“Three-fifty.”
Alex paused. “Fine. But I need a week.”
“We don’t have a week,” Laverne said. “We spent everything we had tracking you here. We need money now.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “How about this. I’ll give you some cash tonight to hold you over, and you give me a full week to get the rest.”
“How much?”
“I’ve got about a thousand pounds in my bedroom. I could go to the ATM and get a little more. That should tide you over. I’ll do my thing next week, and have the three-fifty by Friday.”
Another glance and more short remarks in German.
