“Just one of my many stellar qualities,” Ray said sardonically.
Hedgehog unfolded a large sheet of paper over his lap. It was as Merinda had surmised: a blueprint of the bank that he surely bribed from one of his many connections.
Merinda’s crowbar was at the ready, but they found the door to the G entrance open as David Ross had promised in a telegram he’d sent earlier that day. En route Merinda had a chance to repeat her golden moment deductions to Benny, who listened intently. On one point they were in complete agreement: Jonathan would have to somehow make the explosives faulty.
Once inside, they saw a patriotic splurge of red, white, and blue cascading from the high dome of a ceiling. The building seemed to thrum with energy left over from the thrilling first day of the convention. Even without illumination, the dangling electric lights reflected a sheen of sparkle off the metal chairs and cement floor. Seat sections were marked by bold signs, and Benny and Merinda looked across to imagine the men Ross said he had pressed into service last minute stationed there with Jonathan’s faulty bombs.
Above the main floor was a raised balcony level, jutting out and held by stout pillars. So many aisles, Merinda noticed, so many easy places to flit in and out. Her exploration moved upward to the crisscrossed beams and metal wiring, the half-moon windows snubbing out the full moonlight.
Benny was close beside her. He took the place in stride, hands behind his back, shoulders erect. At this moment, Jemima might have said something along the lines of his cutting a dashing figure.
David Ross was a man obsessed, running his fingers over the dark columns, proudly caressing them. A man whose mind held the circumference of a world imagined. Ross was intoxicated with his ideas and promises for the next day.
It took Merinda a few moments to draw his attention back to the task at hand. She rapped her walking stick on the tile. “David!”
“It’s glorious, isn’t it?” He reached into his breast pocket and handed them each a reporter’s pass. “There are two seats at the front reserved for you. You’ll be directly in my line of sight.” He turned to Merinda, and his eyes sheened. “I want you there at the last moment. You who have done so much to restore my confidence in our plan. A woman willing to cross into a new life. You’re invaluable to me!”
Merinda almost felt sorry for Ross. As Benny measured the length between their marked spots and the door and yelled a few things about compensating for the obvious law enforcement, she stared at David’s profile. His beliefs were misguided. His idea of action more so. But he had confidence in her, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty at the thought that she was going to betray him.
She went through the motions, following Ross and Benny as they handled the explosives, Benny touching each one so gingerly that Ross chuckled. “First time for everything, eh?”
Benny nodded, and they moved to the next target.
“They’ll be moving in soon,” Ross said as the third and final explosive was positioned and their steps echoed in the broad Coliseum while night dragged on outside. He gripped Merinda’s elbow and led her to the exit that would see to their fast escape the next day. “Roosevelt always ends his speeches with something memorable. As soon as the first hint of applause begins, I’ll flick the match. You and Benny will be armed to ensure no police get in our way as we forge a path.”
“It’s rather kind of you to let the fellow finish his speech before you blow him up,” Merinda said dryly.
“Let them have hope,” David said. “It’s a cruel thing. But it can act as a temporary balm.”
Benny saw Merinda to the Palmer. Their walk back from the Coliseum was silent. No playful banter. No flirting.
“People walk through life so complacently.” Merinda finally broke the silence. “They never have the zest or passion that David Ross lives with every single day. I keep thinking… if he could only channel it for good.”
Benny nodded. Merinda echoed everything he’d thought about Jonathan over the past weeks spent tracing and tracking him.
Once she was safely inside the hotel, he splurged on a taxi to his own guesthouse, deciding that a few hours of sleep were needed before he set to finding Jonathan and looping him into the plan.
Ironically, the instant he opened the door, he found Jonathan sitting at the small table.
“You tracked me here?” Benny said with a laugh.
“I always know where you’ve been in the city. And the lock on the door doesn’t work.” Jonathan shrugged.
“A footprint?” Benny asked.
“A footprint beside another footprint. Those other prints always punctuated by a walking stick.”
“Merinda Herringford.”