A Fine Mess

Chapter 45

Gil and Jarlayne conferred with Mike outside the security office where Arnold Chang was being held. They told him about the attempt to retrieve the luggage, which got Chang in trouble, and how the woman at the counter had seen Miriam Spenser-Forbin accompany her boss upstairs to his office. Mike grabbed two of the guards along with the manager and they took off up the escalator to the office of Arthur Evers.

"Just about over, Gil." Jarlayne took a deep breath.

"It's been a ride, eh? Arnold Chang, Jesus what a tangled web." She smiled and he winced, shaking his head. "Can we get a coffee or something around here? I don't want to leave until I see Miriam in—!"

"What?"

Gil pointed across the concourse and Jarlayne followed his finger to the unhurried passage of a tall, elegantly clad woman heading for the exit. "It's her!" He started running. "Call Mike!"

"My phone doesn't work in here," she said passing him with long driving strides, her high heels clacking noisily on the terrazzo floor.

"Hey!"

"You find Mike." She hollered over shoulder and he skidded to a stop and watched her along with the parting crowds as she gained on Miriam.

The noisy commotion caused Miriam to turn and she emitted a small gasp as she saw the figure of the black woman striding toward her. It took a second to register then she realized that it was the Brighton woman and that she was in immediate danger. Miriam quick stepped to the revolving door and pushed her way through, searching up and down the taxi rank for a free cab.

She continued down the sidewalk and then darted back inside and onto an escalator heading down to the arrivals. Jarlayne burst out of the revolving door and jerked to a halt as she scanned the sidewalk and the roadway for Miriam. An elderly baggage handler pushed a cart carefully toward her, his eyebrows rising as he realized she was coming toward him, smiling.

"Woman about forty- forty-five. Tall, slim. Wearing a pale blue skirt and a cream blouse." Her statement demanded his attention and he nodded, pointing to the door he'd just exited.

"Ran through there and toward the escalator, I think."

"Thanks, Sweetie." She patted his cheek and took off at a run.

Miriam exited the escalator and pushed her way through the crowd of waiting friends and relatives milling around the arrival gates. She spotted a washroom sign and hurriedly squeezed past a family of Asians blowing up balloons and readying signs for whomever they were expecting. She walked calmly through the powder room and casually checked the stalls. Satisfied that she was alone, she removed the gun from her purse and checked the chamber then moved the only chair to a corner beside the door and sat down and waited.

She wondered if perhaps shooting Peter had been an error; Arnold had fallen apart in a manner she had never expected and now her whole plan, all the hard work, the scheming, even the planned death of her own husband, all seemed for naught. She focused on the door as a small girl came in with something sticky all over her fingers. The girl looked at Miriam and showed her hands before going to the sink and stretching to turn on the tap and squeeze some soap onto her fingers.

A moment later a woman burst in and Miriam sat straight, her finger tightening on the trigger but it turned out to be the girl's mother and they carried on at the sink with scoldings and apologies until the goo was removed and the girl was suitably dried and tidied up enough to depart the washroom.

Jarlayne scowled at the throng of people, knowing she would never pick Miriam out in that crowd. She tried to find a secluded corner to use her cell phone, getting a lot of static for her trouble both from the phone and the crowd she shoved her way through. A woman ushered a small girl into the same corner and with a sternly pointed finger, told the girl to stay put and not move while she checked the arrivals screen. Jarlayne looked down at her and grinned.