“So it’ll be dark. I asked, and they said they’d just as soon not have a lot of noticeable people getting together with me. And there was a hint there, you know, that I’d better stay in line. That there’d be a half dozen of them, and they wouldn’t let in anybody but me.”

“All right. Take a good look at whatever they’re carrying the money in. Try to figure out if they’ll leave it in the safe.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll do all that. Marvel called from the capital; she’s all set. She’s talked to the governor’s man, and he’ll see her anytime up to midnight. She’ll go as soon as we call her.”

“You be careful, man.”

“Yeah. You, too.”

At nine o’clock LuEllen went back to the sleeping cabin and clattered around. After a minute she made a low, groaning sound and I stepped back. She was leaning against the cabin way, her eyes closed, her head cocked back.

“Not a fuckin’ word,” she said.

She did two more hits in the next half hour, while we waited. She was flying when John called.

“They had it, and it’s in the safe, just like we figured. The safe was already open a crack. The city clerk was there, Wells, with Ballem and Dessusdelit and Hill.”

“St. Thomas wasn’t there?”

“No. Just those four. I went up the block to the Mobil station to use the telephone, and all four of them came out together, so they’re gone. The money’s in a bank bag, and they weren’t carrying it when they came out.”

“We’ll take it from here then,” I said.

“Good luck.”

LuEllen is a great burglar for a lot of reasons, but the most important reason is her will to act. LuEllen can do outrageous things because she has the will to do them.

“I wouldn’t take you, except I don’t know what I’ll have to go through inside. I might need some muscle to handle a ladder or get up on the roof,” she told me as she selected the tools she’d take along.

“I’d worry,” I said.

“I know.” She pecked me on the cheek, checked her tools one last time, and we went.

The City Hall was effectively two and a half stories tall. The basement had windows at ground level, and the first floor was up a short flight of steps. The main doors were standard steel and glass jobs. LuEllen could open them any number of ways, but she’d be doing it in full view of the street, and illegal entry isn’t always the quietest activity. That was out.