The Set Piece (19 page)

Horowitz stopped scribbling and gave Amy his full attention. “Well, young lady, who’s behind it?”

Rachel arrived with their coffees.

Amy waited for her to leave.

“Are you actually going to tell us something?” Knight butted in before she could speak. “We’re not here for the coffee. This isn’t Starbucks, you know.”

Amy’s heart started thudding in her chest. Without Casey and her ammunition there was absolutely nowhere to go with this. She opened her mouth to stall when the office door whooshed behind her.

Rachel escorted Casey in. She looked crisp and businesslike in a soft, yellow blouse and gray slacks. She managed to look fresh and sharp, despite the hot day and the bad-tempered meeting.

“Finally. Let’s get started. This better be good,” Knight said.

Casey was shown to a chair, and Rachel departed.

Horowitz shrugged back into his jacket and made the meeting official.

“Casey, show them the video of Rob in the den,” Amy said.

“Okay.” Casey picked up her lead and ran with it. “You want good? This is the best.”

Knight stood so close to Casey as the video played that eventually she rolled her eyes, gave him the phone, and moved over to Amy.

“I got you a coffee.”

Casey took the cup Amy offered and fixed her with a look. “What’s with the video?” she asked softly. “We don’t have enough on Rob. I thought we agreed last night you were going to demand to get out of the contract.”

“A lot has happened since then. I’ll tell you later,” Amy said. “You look great by the way.” Having Casey by her side made her feel she could actually pull this off.

Knight slapped the phone against his palm when the screen went dead. “Okay. Who’s going to tell me why we’re watching Diego’s trainer play with some shit on the mantel?”

“If you look closely, Paul,” Amy said, “you’ll see that he isn’t playing with stuff on the mantel. He’s putting back a framed photograph of me and Diego, and I bet an altered version of it has already arrived at this office.” She looked at Horowitz.

He and Knight exchanged glances. Horowitz pushed a button on the phone. “Rachel, can you please bring in that envelope I sent down to…processing.”

“That’s what you call it?” Amy laughed.

Rachel appeared seconds later with a tan padded envelope addressed to Diego Torres by care of the law office. Horowitz slid the picture out and showed it to Amy. “You mean this one?”

The background was exactly the same, perfect snow-capped mountains, but in the foreground Diego had his arm slung lovingly around a handsome man. Amy hated to admit it, but somehow he looked happier in this incarnation.

“Yes.”

“Okay, so Rob’s behind all this. But we need real evidence, because what I see here wouldn’t stand up in court,” Horowitz said calmly.

“I want out of my contract.” Amy cut to the chase.

“What?” Knight said.

“Stop talking, Ms. Kimball.” Horowitz inclined his head to Casey.

“Too late. She already knows.”

“That’s a major breach.” Horowitz stared at her.

“Not if I deliver the evidence. The kind that stands up in court and stops Rob in his tracks. In return, you tear up my contract. Believe me, Diego will want it that way as well. I’m surprised he’s not over here demanding it right now.” She shrugged. “I’ll give you two weeks’ notice. Diego and I can break up any way you want—within reason, of course. I can be the bad guy, take the fall, and Diego can come out smelling like a rose. Maybe his popularity will spike?”

“No way. This isn’t what we bought from you.” Knight took a threatening step forward. Casey bristled, ready to defend Amy if needed.

Amy put a hand on her arm holding her back. “I’ll keep everything I know a secret. Look, I just can’t do it anymore.”

“Why?” Knight asked. “Is this about money? Do you want more?”

Amy looked at Casey and tilted her head in an unspoken question. Casey nodded.

“No, it’s about her.” She slid her hand down until their fingers intertwined. Chances for happiness didn’t come around all that often. “I want her.”

“And she’s already got me. So you better say yes, because you have no leverage,” Casey added, squeezing Amy’s hand tight.

Knight plopped down on a chair, completely deflated, his anger rushed out of him. “For Christ’s sake. You have got to be kidding me.”

“Well, if I am, your joke is my reality. Do we have a deal? The contract in exchange for stopping Rob in his tracks? I can stop the blackmail or whatever he’s up to.”

“We could always do our own investigation, Ms. Kimball.” Horowitz’s tone wasn’t dismissive, though. He looked at Amy with real respect.

“You could. And probably do it better than I can. But can you do it in five minutes? Rob’s on his way, and I have direct evidence.” The phrase jumped easily to her lips; the one pre-law class in college wasn’t a total waste after all.

“She’s got us by the short hairs,” Knight said sorrowfully to Horowitz.

“Yes. She always was a little too smart for this game, and we need to put those pictures to bed more than we need to put Diego in bed with her,” Horowitz said.

“Agreed. But I don’t like her running the show.” They talked over the heads of Amy and Casey as if they weren’t there.

“Let’s see what she’s got,” Horowitz disagreed. “But we’re not going to tear up the contract until we have a full confession.” Horowitz expression turned steely as he pinned his gaze on Casey. “There’s my leverage, young lady.”

“Okay. That’s fine,” Amy said, hoping that she sounded surer than she felt. The rest of the plan was decidedly less solid than what had just transpired.

As they waited for Rob to arrive, Rachel fetched the contract in question which Horowitz ceremoniously placed in the center of his blotter. He then picked up the phone and spoke in quiet tones to someone giving explicit and lengthy directions. Knight sat sulking on his cell phone, leaving Amy and Casey to their own devices. They drifted over to the huge glass window that overlooked the entire Valley.

“Can you really stop the blackmail?” Casey leaned in close. “Did you get something else?”

“No, I lied, and I’m going to have to keep on lying if this is going to work.” Their heads touched like a couple of schoolgirls whispering during a class lecture.

“Isn’t that exactly what we’re trying to get out of doing?”

“I know. You’re right. But at this moment a lie to be able to live the truth seems like a fair trade,” Amy said, though her thoughts rolled the opposite direction. She knew that lies had a way of exploding right in the liar’s face.

“Does it?” Casey asked. “Are you sure that’s a trade you want to make?”

“I don’t know. But this whole thing has always been so messed up. And now Diego’s MIA. That’s why we have to get out. Can you think of a better way?”

Casey shook her head in reply.

The door flew open.

“I’m suing Diego Torres for assault!” Rob’s entrance was aggressive. He banged the glass door so violently it jammed open. The unflappable Rachel trailed after him.

“Mr. O’Brien,” she announced as if Rob had just entered a ballroom, “and Mr. Wallace.”

A greasy, little man trailed after Rob. He wore a cheap polyester suit and a bad comb-over.

Rob pointed to a purple bruise that was just starting to form around his eye. “Look what he did to me. You think he’s going to be able to ignore me now?”

“Please join us, Mr. O’Brien. And Mr. Wallace, you are?” Horowitz came out in front of the desk offering Wallace his hand.

“I’m representing my cousin. I mean Mr. O’Brien. I’m his attorney.” They shook, and Wallace puffed out his chest. “I’m afraid we have a very sticky situation on our hands.” He was getting off playing with the big boys.

“And it’s about to get even stickier.” Horowitz leaned against the desk, giving Amy the floor. “Your show, Ms. Kimball.”

“Hello, Rob.” Amy began haltingly. The antagonism on Rob’s face threw her.

“Why are you here?” he snapped. “Haven’t you done enough damage?”

Oh, we’re just getting started.
She slid the doctored picture of Diego out of the envelope and held it up. It shook in her hand. Rob was going to have to take them the last few yards himself.

“I’ve never seen that picture before in my life.” He crossed his arms.

Amy let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding. Rob had shown all his cards with his choice of words. He had exposed his jugular, and now she had to go for it.

“I think you have. I think you stole the original, created this, and then sent it to these gentlemen here.”

“Where’s your proof?” He was belligerent, unware of the trap closing in around him

“Casey?” Casey had the video clip set up and cued. She played it for Rob and Wallace. Amy didn’t watch the screen like everyone else. Her gaze was riveted to Rob’s face. She observed him flinch, and when he saw himself pull the framed photograph out of his bag, he paled. When the video clip ended Amy let the reality of the situation settle on him for a moment.

“You’re lying when you say you haven’t seen that photograph before.”

“I haven’t seen that photograph before.” He persisted in digging himself in further by pointing to the picture in her hand. “All you got is that I look at Diego’s stuff and sometimes carry it around with me in my bag when I’m at his house. You can’t prove I take anything off the premises.” He shrugged. “Okay, so it’s weird. Last time I checked, being weird wasn’t illegal.” He glanced over at his cousin who had the audacity to wink back.

Amy dropped the photograph back onto Horowitz’s desk. The moment was here. All she had to do now was tell one simple lie to trap Rob. The problem was that regardless of whether it worked or not, just by telling it, she joined the ranks of Knight and Horowitz. Liars by trade and choice. Her lie was for a good cause, but the second she said it out loud she’d be no better than they were.

The real truth, which had been circling around her for weeks, landed hard in her thoughts. There was no easy way out for any of them. Parents died, knees tore apart, the men you loved didn’t love you back. Casey was right: everyone had a hard luck story. She needed to grow up and realize that as difficult as the next couple of minutes would be for her and Rob, this was the only way out. For all of them.

Amy looked over at Horowitz, who watched her with real encouragement. She threw a quick glance at Casey who nodded back. Finally, she turned to Rob who was shaking his head back and forth, firm in his denial.

“You don’t have anything on me. And, frankly, Diego’s the one in the hot seat and he’s going to pay.” He touched the bruise on his face.

“Come on, get over yourself, Rob. You know I saw you both in the gym today.”

Fear flooded his eyes.

“Yeah, and guess what?” Amy pushed on before she could back out. “We had a camera down there as well. So if anyone’s going to sue anyone, it’s Diego, suing you for sexual assault!”

Rob recoiled as if he’d been punched in the face for the second time that day.

“Is this true, Rob?” Wallace shrank about an inch as his chest caved in. “You didn’t tell me any of this. What’d you do?”

“He kissed him. And grabbed at him in places that no man should ever grab another man. We have the video.”

“Yeah, so what! I didn’t do anything that he didn’t want!” The muscles in his legs tensed.

“Shut up. Don’t say another word.” Wallace issued the command.

Amy pulled out the other glossy photo, the one she’d found in the gym. “And we have this. You showed him this to freak him out. You wanted to blackmail him, Rob, didn’t you? It sure looks like it.”

“No! It wasn’t like that at all.” Rob went beet red and started shouting. “It’s all your fault!” He rushed at Amy with both fists raised. Amy shrank back, her heart pounding.

“Stop!” Wallace cried.

Horowitz leapt to defend her, but Casey got there first. She simply stuck out her foot and Rob sprawled to the ground face-first.

“You okay?” Casey asked her.

“Yeah.” She looked down at Rob on the floor.

The anger that had come on so quick had left him. He sat up, more than a little shaken. “All I wanted was Diego.” His voice was broken.

“You never even had a chance, Rob,” Amy said. He was all sorts of crazy, and Amy almost felt sorry for him. She was about to get her happy ever after; he wasn’t.

“We’ll drop the assault case,” Wallace weighed in quickly. “But I assume that you want to make another kind of deal about the pictures?”

“Play your cards right and work with Mr. Horowitz. He’ll make you a decent deal, Rob. That’s what they do here,” Amy said.

“We’ll get to that. Believe me, it will be worth your while to cooperate. But first tell us the whole story.” Horowitz’s voice was gentle. The man had some guile.

Rob said nothing.

Wallace pulled him off the ground and back into a chair. “Don’t ruin this, man. You still owe me for that thing with your mother.”

“Fine.” Rob cupped a palm over his other eye. He was going to have matching shiners. “At first, I doctored the pictures only for myself. It was fun. Sort of fantasy stuff. No one was ever going to get hurt. But the longer it went on, the more obvious it became that Diego was in denial, and that got me mad.” He looked up, anxiety filled his face. “Not mad enough to harm him. I’d never do that,” he said. “I thought if I sent the pictures here, it might force him to accept who he really is. He’s not for you, Mizz. Thing,” he spat the words out with real venom. “No matter what he tells you at night up in your little room. He likes men. I know we would’ve been happy together, but I never got the chance.” He looked over at the photo lying on the desk. “All I wanted was to make him look at himself. Really look. I was never going to do anything else with the pictures.”

“We can make sure of that.” Horowitz pushed the speaker on his phone. “Rachel, could you take Mr. Wallace and Mr. O’Brien to the conference room while we draw up the paperwork?”

Rachel ushered them out, and suddenly it was over.

Then why am I still shaking?
Casey was by her side in a heartbeat. “Get the contract,” she said.

“My turn,” Amy said, pointing at her own folder sitting out on the desk.