“Are most locks electronic now?”
“About half. For personal use, probably a lot less than half.”
“A week would be fine. Including the weekend.”
“Whatever you’d like. My consulting fee is three thousand a day. For seven days it will be twenty-one thousand dollars. Plus five thousand to replace all the safes when we’re done. So the total will be twenty-six thousand. Are you still interested?”
“More than ever. I’ll pay cash.”
* * *
It turned out that Carter didn’t have seven days of uninterrupted time until the beginning of November, which was a month away. After they agreed on a start date, Carter said, “I assume you’re not local.” And Gershwin said, “No. I’m calling from New York.” And Carter said, “Can I have your name?” And Gershwin said, “William.” New York and William were the firs
