On the Run

MANHUNT HEATS UP FOR EMBEZZLER

CHICAGO: The Federal Bureau of Investigation has intensified its search for Derek Buxton, the Chicago accountant who allegedly absconded from Eon Company with almost $600,000 last week. Buxton, 22, was last seen fleeing the office of Eon Chief Executive Officer Ronald Atwater after his elaborate scheme to pilfer funds from the mammoth insurance company’s overnight deposit accounts was uncovered. He is described as 5’8” tall, with blue eyes, long brown hair and a slim build. A reward of $50,000 has been posted by Eon in return for information leading to his arrest.

I returned the day-old issue of the Chicago Tribune to its place in the newspaper rack at Border’s and tugged my Diamondbacks baseball cap lower over my face. The photograph which accompanied the article didn’t do me justice, but it was close enough to convince me that the time had come to emerge from my cocoon as Victoria Ross. Otherwise, it was only a matter of time before a sharp-eyed policeman or newshound picked me out of a crowd.

For the past week, I laid low at a cheap motel on the outskirts of Phoenix, paying in advance in cash and eating as little as possible while I plotted out my next moves. My weight was down almost 10 pounds, and my fingernails had grown out nicely, both necessary precursors to my transition. The previous afternoon was spent scouting out strip malls for the essentials I would need, riding buses only when absolutely necessary. The Arizona sun was a perfect excuse for the dark sunglasses and cap that concealed my features as I walked into my first objective, a large Walgreen’s drug store.

My total cash reserves were down to $200, so there was no margin for error. When my girlfriend made my over for Halloween, she had dressed me in a bulky sweater, a long skirt and dark opaque tights, which masked my body hair and boyish physique. There was no way I would be getting away with that this time. In a few hours, I would be nose to nose with a bank officer, opening an account in the name of Victoria Ross. I would have to look, and act, like a normal American girl. The alternative was ten to twenty years of being raped by enormous convicts in a federal prison.