Santa Fe Edge

49

Barbara was watching Morning Joe on MSNBC, as Joe Scarborough, in a generous mood, was saying something nice about Barack Obama.

“Pinko!” she shouted at the screen as her cell phone rang. Barbara found it under a pile of clothes and picked it up. “Yes?”

“Barbara, this is Ralph Waters, in Palo Alto.”

“Yes, Ralph.”

“I’ve made some real progress here,” the lawyer said. “I’ve located Margie, the secretary, and she’s given me copies of the two pages that were changed in Walter’s will, along with copies of the two replacement pages. I’ve taken it to a judge, and he’s going to schedule a hearing as soon as he can appoint a new executor to represent the estate.”

“Why does he have to do that?”

“Because Joe Wilen was the executor, and Ms. Hight was the backup, and they’re both dead.”

“Oh. How long is this going to take?”

“I can’t say. I’ve pushed the judge as hard as I can to move this along, and I’ll call his clerk tomorrow to remind him.”

“Once the hearing date is set, how long will the process take?”

“If everything goes smoothly everything could be decided at the hearing, and I’ll ask the judge for expedited probate.”

“All right, Ralph. Call me the minute you know something.”

“Do you want to come to the hearing?”

“Not unless I have to.”

“No, you don’t. I can represent you.”

“Thank you, Ralph, and please continue to keep this quiet.”

“I’ll do the best I can.”

They both hung up.

She tried not to hope, lest she be disappointed. She watched television for another two hours and was about to get into a shower when her cell phone rang again.

“Yes?”

“Barbara, it’s Ralph Waters.”

“Hello again, Ralph.”

“I’ve got something incredible to tell you: The judge has appointed a new executor. He’s an underemployed crony of the judge, who will do whatever he’s told. We’ve got a hearing tomorrow, and Margie is going to be there with the original pages of the will!”

“That’s fantastic, Ralph! I don’t know how you got this done so quickly!”

“It was a matter of knowing which judge to take this to,” Waters said.

“What about the other heirs?”

“There’ll be no dispute there. They’ll inherit as per the will, so they’ll have no beef. The only entity that will lose on this is Walter’s personal charitable foundation, and Walter’s old secretary is the head of that. What sort of relationship did you have with her?”

“I met her only once, and we got along very well. After that, I spoke to her when I was calling Walter, or he was calling me, and that’s all.”

“Then I hope she won’t be a problem,” Waters said. “One thing:

The judge wants you at the hearing, and I think your testimony will be valuable.”

“I’ll be there. If the hearing goes our way, do you think you can get the new executor to release Walter’s airplane for my use?”

“I’ll try, Barbara.”

“You call me the minute that hearing is over, Ralph. What time is it set for?”

“Eleven A.M. The judge is a late sleeper.”

“I’ll look forward to hearing from you,” Barbara said, then hung up and fell to her knees. “Dear God,” she prayed, “I’m sorry I’ve been such a bad person, but if you’ll let me have this money, I’ll never kill anybody again, not even Ed Eagle!”

IN TRES CRUCES, Pedro Alvarez was sitting at his desk, speaking to his bookie about a soccer game in Mexico City that weekend, when there was a knock on his door.

“Come in!” Alvarez shouted, and went on with his conversation. The door opened, but he paid no attention. “One hundred pesos on Mexico City,” he was saying.

“Capitán,” the female guard said.

Alvarez turned and looked at her, and there were two men in suits and a federal police officer standing next to her. “I’ll call you back,” he said to the bookie, and hung up.

“Capitán Alvarez,” the taller of the two civilians said. “I represent the minister of justice.”

Alvarez’s mouth dropped open. This did not sound good, and the presence of the policeman was even worse. He got to his feet and saluted. “Good morning, señor,” he said. “How may I be of service?”

The man handed him a document. “This is an order, signed by the minister of justice,” he said. “It demands that you produce your prisoner Barbara Eagle forthwith.”

Alvarez’s mouth went dry, his head began to spin and he fainted. He woke up when someone threw a glass of water in his face. He raised a hand to wipe away the water and discovered that it was handcuffed to his other hand.

ED EAGLE ANSWERED his ringing phone. “Hello?”

“Ed, it’s Bob Abbott, in Washington.”

“Hello, Bob. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”

“I spoke to my friend in the Mexican foreign ministry after you called, and he spoke to his contact in the Ministry of Justice. Apparently, there was a Justice official in Acapulco for a conference, and yesterday morning he and an associate visited the women’s prison in Tres Cruces and confronted the warden, a Captain Alvarez.”

“That’s good news, Bob. What was the outcome?”

“They demanded that he produce Barbara Eagle, and he passed out on the floor.”

Eagle laughed. “That must have been a rude shock for the man.”

“Apparently so. When they revived him he confessed that he had not reported her escape because he was embarrassed.”

“I expect he was.”

“In any case, the official called Mexico City, the minister of justice signed an arrest warrant for Barbara Eagle on a charge of escape from prison, and he faxed the warrant to me. I have it in my hand.”

“That’s wonderful news, Bob. What’s the next step?”

“I have to messenger this over to the attorney general, who will issue an order to the director of the FBI, directing him that the U.S. government has acquiesced to extradition. The director will then instruct the agent in charge of the Santa Fe office to see a federal judge and apply for an extradition warrant. Once that’s signed by the judge, then agents will go to the address in Los Alamos and arrest her. There’ll be an extradition hearing soon after that.”

“I don’t see how she can beat extradition,” Eagle said.

“Neither do I. It’s going to take several days to penetrate all these layers, but I’ll move it along as well as I can.”

“Thank you, Bob,” Eagle said. “I owe you a very nice vacation as my guest in Santa Fe, just as soon as this is over.”

“I’ll take you up on that, Ed.”

Eagle thanked him again and hung up. “Susannah!” he shouted. “Good news!”