Jayne Barringer left her Connecticut home that morning, so distracted, that she never thought of setting the alarm, not even for a second. Lourdes Rayas, her housekeeper had Tuesdays off. This fact had also not occurred to Jayne.  Her house was empty.  Jayne's mind was filled with editorial deadlines and  dinner plans.  Jayne Barringer did not handle stress well.  She was in survival mode, juggling a dozen things of various degrees of importance.  She did not see the rusted Ford Thunderbird that she cut off in traffic.  She was late, and she was never late.  She glided her sleek Jaguar through the traffic with what she considered the utmost of care.

It was in this manner that Jayne Barringer’s life came to intersect with the lives of Corinthian Brown and Rico Crymes.  The two young men had only met that morning.  They had both spent the night in lock-up at Riker’s Island and had the same overworked, inexperienced public defender. Each had a very long, but undistinguished juvenile record, long since sealed.  It was Rico’s idea to heist the old Ford.  Corinthian’s contribution was to pay for breakfast.  The all night diner they chose was right around the corner from Jayne Barringer’s office. 

Jayne’s normal routine was to have the company car drive her in from Connecticut.  She did not like to drive.  The company car with its competent driver allowed her to multi-task; taking care of business with her Blackberry before even arriving at the office.  This was her idea of how to start the day; that and Starbuck’s.  But, nothing was normal about this day.

Jayne was named after the late actress Jayne Mansfield.  Her grandmother had known Mansfield as a neighbor and a friend.  Her family joked about the “Mansfield curse,” after Jayne’s early attempts at driving had led to numerous accidents, and near-accidents.  ‘People don’t drive in New York,’ they had reasoned, not wanting to see “their Jayne” meet the same fate as her famous namesake.  To pacify them, Jayne took the company car in each day to work and returned in like manner to the comfort of her Connecticut home, far from the evils of the city.

But again, nothing was normal about this day….