Promise You Won't Tell? (19 page)

“That’s right.”

I pause a moment, then say, “I’ll deliver the news.”

“You don’t think he’ll go for it, do you?” She says.

“Honestly? No.”

She nods. Then says, “Do you have something to take notes with?”

“I do. Why?”

“I’m going to tell you a little story that will mean something to Gavin.”

She waits for me to get a pen and notebook from my glove compartment, then says, “For years I’ve been doing odd jobs to make extra money. Like babysitting, assisting elderly people with chores, running errands for them, and so forth. A couple of years ago I was cleaning out an elderly lady’s attic.”

She pauses, then says, “Mona Elkins.”

She waits till I write the name. Then says, “Before she retired, Mona used to be Allison Clark’s personal assistant. Allison was Gavin’s first wife, the one he married before the trophy one. I took care of Mona one summer, and over time, we bonded. One of my projects was cleaning out her attic. I did a box or two every day for two months. I meticulously went through every piece of paper, reviewed every item with her before putting it in the throw-away pile. At some point we realized I was attending the same school as her former employer’s son, Ethan.”

She waits for me to catch up. Then says, “Imagine my surprise the day I found two copies of Ethan’s birth certificates among Mona’s possessions.”

I say, “Did you mean to use the plural?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t either, at first. So I asked Mona about it. And you know what she said?”

“What?”

“She said, ‘Promise you won’t tell?’”

Riley winks at me.

“What?”

“I promised I wouldn’t tell.”

I look at her.

She says, “Tell Gavin I’ve kept my promise to Mona. So far.”

I frown. “You’re not going to tell me what Mona said?”

“Not yet.”

“Why?”

“I want you to be able to honestly say you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“But Gavin will?”

“Gavin definitely will.”

I sigh. “I’ll deliver the news.”

“Dani?”

“Yes?”

“He’s paying you, right?”

“No. He offered to, but I declined.”

“Why?”

“I told him I was on your side.”

She smiles. “You’re a good friend, but you should get something out of it.”

“I just want your life to get better.”

“When my charity gets going, I hope you’ll let me hire you to do background screening on the applicants and their families.”

“I’d like that. Thanks.”

I laugh.

She says, “What’s so funny?”

“Yesterday I offered
you
a job. Now you’re offering
me
one.”

“What a difference a day makes, right?”

“Excuse me?” Gavin says. “She said no? She’s turning down a million dollars? What the hell did she say, exactly?”

“She said a million dollars seemed light.”

“
Light
? What the fuck does
that
mean?”

“She wants five million.”

He laughs a full minute. Laughs so hard his body shakes. Laughs so hard he has to dab the tears from his eyes. When he finally stops laughing, he says, “There’s got to be more, and I can’t wait to hear it. What else did she say?”

This time I’m in Gavin’s office. We’re alone.

I say, “She told me a story.”

“What story?”

“I can’t do it justice, but I took notes.”

I remove the notepad from my handbag and say, “She’s been doing odd jobs for years. Mostly caring for the elderly, in their homes. Running errands, cleaning attics, and such. One summer she worked for a lady named Mona Elkins, who…”

Up till now, Gavin was semi-reclining in his chair, showing me an indulgent smile as he waited patiently for me to get to the point. Now his chair’s upright. His smile a memory.

“I know that name,” he says. “Mona Elkins.” He furrows his brow. “How do I know that name?”

“Before retiring, she was your ex-wife’s personal assistant.”

Gavin’s face moves from curious to concerned.

“And how does this happy coincidence affect Riley’s case?”

“I honestly don’t know. But she gave me a message for you, and said you’d understand.”

He frowns deeply and says, “You’re working for her now?”

“No.”

He gives me a hard stare. “You’re sure about that?”

“Quite sure.”

“Do you
never
accept payment?”

“Not for these types of cases.”

He says, “In that case I definitely want you on my payroll.”

“That wouldn’t feel right. I’d rather limit my role to go-between. Consider me the messenger.”

“Suit yourself.” He waves his hand through the air, indicating nothing in particular. “You don’t want to get paid? Fine. Don’t get paid. You’re the messenger. Whatever.” He takes a deep breath and says, “So…what’s the message?”

“Riley was cleaning out Mona’s attic. Said she went through each box meticulously, one piece of paper at a time. Said she found two copies of Ethan’s birth certificates.”

I pause to see what impact my words have on him, but his face remains unchanged. He’s looking at me, waiting for me to continue.

“That’s it,” I say.

“Excuse me?”

“I asked if she meant to use the plural and she said yes, absolutely.”

“Plural of what?”

“Birth certificates.”

Like a long fuse on a bomb, it takes a moment before my words have the impact Riley anticipated.

Gavin jumps to his feet. Ten expletives jump with him and escape his mouth in such a hurry it sounds like he’s speaking in tongues. He shakes his head and mutters and kicks his coffee table like an angry child. He walks to the floor-to-ceiling window and curses the skyline. Crosses the room and punches the wall.

“Riley Freeman’s a fucking shakedown artist!” he yells. “A
blackmailer
! You
know
that now, right?”

I say nothing. Truth is, I like Riley even more than I dislike Gavin and his sleazy kid.
Why is that?
I wonder.
Am I too close to the situation?

Probably.

Yes, Riley is suddenly seeking compensation, but does that make her a blackmailer? Seems to me she’s learning how the system works and has decided to use it to her advantage. I mean, she certainly didn’t
ask
to be molested. And she’s clearly been sitting on this birth certificate thing for years. Whatever information she has, the idea of using it against Gavin never came up until he offered her cash. Had she planned to use it against Ethan all along, she would have told me about it days ago, when we learned he’s the one who molested her.

But she didn’t.

So I’m not comfortable calling her a blackmailer or shakedown artist. Is she shaking him down right now?

Yes. No doubt about it.

But it’s an after-the-fact shakedown. Like the way she described Parker’s situation. Ethan approached Parker first, then Gavin approached her. Is it possible
Gavin’s
the one who concocted the story? Could he have told Ethan to spoon-feed the story to Parker, so he could get her to “confess” in a secret recording? And if so, why would Parker go along with it?

The easy answer’s the photos.

Did Ethan send her nude photos of Riley? In his version, it would make sense that he did. In Parker’s version, there would be no point.

It’s pretty confusing.

Much as I hate to admit it, I believe Parker’s lying. I think she was deeply involved in what happened to Riley. Not that I believe a hundred percent of Ethan’s story, either. And now that I think about it, I have no way of knowing which parts of Ethan’s story Parker “admitted” to, when confessing to Gavin.

My gut tells me this is what happened: Parker went searching for Riley and found her passed out in Kelli’s room. She didn’t strip her, or put a sticker on her private area, but I believe she went to the basement, got Ethan’s attention, and took him and Ronnie upstairs. I believe she was semi-drunk, and goofing off, though I doubt she pulled up Riley’s shirt to get the boys all “hot and bothered.” But even if she did, I expect that’s as far as she ever expected it to go, because at that point, her mom arrived. In Ethan’s account, Parker said, “Have fun with Sleeping Beauty” just before leaving. I buy that. The phrase has a ring of truth to it.

To me.

But if she said it, I expect she was just kidding. I seriously doubt she dared them to strip Riley and take photos. I expect she left, assuming the boys would go back to the basement. If they sent her photos, I expect it was because they were drunk, and full of themselves. But I don’t believe she posted them to the internet. More likely she forwarded them to someone, and that person posted them.

I briefly wonder if Riley herself might have posted them, to build the case.

Wouldn’t that be something?

It would, except there’s no way she would ever post nude photos of herself on a porn site. And if you think I’m wrong, consider how intelligent she is. Riley certainly knows how easy it would be for the police to find that type of evidence on her computer or cell phone.

There’s a lot of “he said, she said” to this case, but the one point everyone agrees on is Riley was passed out and inappropriate things happened to her. And personally I’m convinced that Ethan and Ronnie went way beyond what they’re willing to admit. Though I haven’t said anything about it to Riley, I believe they took turns guarding the door.

Which means they took turns being alone with Riley.

Which might mean lots of things.

Was there penetration? If so, what type? Was there sufficient penetration to satisfy the legal definition of rape?

The police might be able to answer that question after running tests on the bedspread.

All these thoughts are going through my head while sitting in Gavin’s office.

What’s he doing in the meantime? Stomping back and forth from one side of his office to the other, with red-faced rage. He’s muttering about his ex-wife, Allison, and her private secretary, Mona, and a dozen other things I can’t make out.

He’s in the midst of a full-blown temper tantrum.

“This is bullshit, Dani!
Bullshit
! I won’t stand for it! That bitch has no clue who she’s dealing with. No clue, whatsoever. I’ll
fry
her ass! I can’t
wait
to see her in court! Turn down a million
dollars
? From
me
? For
this
piece of shit case? Who the fuck does she think she is?”

It goes on like this for another five minutes. He’s got himself so worked up I fear he’ll suffer a stroke. Finally, he takes a seat at his desk and closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath and says, “I’m sorry, Dani. Sorry you had to see that. If this were simply a case of her going after me, things would be different. But she’s going after my son, threatening to ruin his life.”

Though I say nothing, I find it amazing he’s able to reframe these events as Riley going after his son, trying to ruin his life. Did Riley invite Ethan to the party? No. Did she let him in the house? No. Did she flirt with him? Tease him? Lead him on in any way? No. Did she threaten anyone with this birth certificate thing or demand a cent before any of this happened? No. Gavin wants me to believe Ethan’s the victim?

Unbelievable!

Ethan stripped an unconscious, underage girl. Molested her. Sexually abused her. Might have raped her.

But
he’s
the victim?

I look at my handbag, on the floor, by my feet. This is a perfect example of why I shouldn’t be allowed to carry a gun. Because if all this had happened to me, and I heard him talking this way, I’d blow this motherfucker away, right here, right now.

He says, “Do you have children?”

I shake my head, no.

“Well, someday, if you ever
do
have kids, you’ll understand. You’ll do what you can to protect them. This case is bullshit. She knows it, I know it.”

He looks at me. “Even
you
know it.”

What’s that, asshole? Even I know it? Is that what you said?

What a condescending prick he is! I kick my handbag further away from my feet, so I’m not tempted to grab my gun.

He says, “She’s got my ass in a sling and she knows it. She’s going after my son. That’s my weakness, and she knows it.”

I’m steaming from all his comments, but like Riley’s duck example, I’m trying not to show it. I’m keeping my true feelings underwater. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to enjoy twisting the knife a bit. Check this out.

“Riley says you’ve got twenty-four hours to write the check.”

He looks at me with the eyes and fury of a boiled owl. When he speaks, his words are measured, precise, and seething with anger.

“You know what she is, Dani? A cunt.”

What? What the fuck did he just call her?

I lean over, grab my handbag, start reaching inside for my gun. But before I get a good grip on it, he says, “Two million.”

I stop what I’m doing and cock my head.

“Yeah, you heard me right. Tell the bitch I’ll give her two million. But she’s got to prove she’s got the evidence to blackmail my son, and she’s got to turn it over to me. And the payment is contingent on securing a maximum charge of voyeurism. Nothing more.”