Flashpoint

by Ed Gorman

  His candor startled me; I think it startled Sarah, too.

  ‘You’ll notice there are no tears in my eyes. You destroyed at least four political careers that I know of and probably broke the law a couple dozen times, Howard. But I’m willing to help you get protection if you help the feds – feds we can trust – get the bad guys.’

  I couldn’t tell if the moan was from physical pain or from knowing that his career was coming to an end. ‘How long before it’ll be safe again?’

  ‘It could be a long time.’

  ‘How will they protect him?’ Sarah asked.

  ‘I’m not sure. They could relocate him deep cover in Europe. Or they could put him in some witness protection program here. New name, new address, maybe even a little plastic surgery.’

  ‘Plastic surgery? Are you nuts?’

  I couldn’t resist. ‘You don’t want to look like Justin Bieber?’

  Sarah laughed. He sulked and said, ‘Where’s my goddamned food?’ Interesting that only when he was angry did his voice work full volume.

  ‘He’ll tell you everything, Dev. We both will. I promise you.’

  At the knock on the door, I slid over to the table where my Glock lay next to the laptop. Hiding it behind my back, I went to the door.

  The cart was piled high with goodies. ‘Morning,’ said the smiling, uniformed young woman pushing the feast into the room.

  I followed her in. The aromas were seductive. Who wanted sex when actual food was here?

  As she went about plucking various shiny food covers off the dishes and setting them on the table, Howie said, ‘I’m glad they sent a pretty one.’

  When Sarah realized I was watching her, she just shrugged. Combat fatigue, most likely. She’d heard Howie’s moronic man-of-the-world routine so many times it no longer mattered.

  After she was gone, Howie shouted, ‘Can I have some food over here? I’m dying of malnutrition!’

  She had a winsome smile for me. ‘I really do love him. At least, most of the time.’

  ‘I heard that!’

  She turned and looked at him. ‘I wanted you to.’

  She then picked up a plate and started piling goodies on it. I’d been under the impression that she was going to spoon-feed him while he lay in bed. But now he was on his feet and headed with surprising speed and confidence toward the plate she was making for him. He grabbed it from her with his good hand and then dropped into a chair at the table. ‘I need some jelly for the toast. And a fork would come in real handy.’

  ‘Yessir, Lord and Master.’

  ‘Aw, shit, I’m sorry, Sarah. I’m being an asshole.’

  I was closer. I handed him the fork. He ripped it from my fingers and mumbled something. I preferred to think he was expressing his undying gratitude.

  We dined.

  He was a noisy bastard but she was apparently used to it. She sat at the table next to him and didn’t seem to notice the lip-smacking, mouth-full yakking and belching that went on constantly.

  I just kept thinking … This is the guy who’s tormented my party for a decade?

  Fifteen minutes after there was no more food – though the front of Ruskin’s shirt bore traces of the slaughter – jelly-coffee-egg – there was another knock on the door.

  The Glock in my hand, I went there to find Jane standing next to a tall man in a black leather jacket, a blue dress shirt and dark trousers. He was maybe sixty with white hair and cunning blue eyes. The nose suggested he was not unacquainted with trouble.

  ‘May we come in?’ Jane said.

  ‘Be my guest.’

  Jane wore her blue Burberry, beneath which was a navy pencil skirt with a ruffled white blouse. When we got the door closed she made introductions.

  From the table, Ruskin said, ‘No offense, sir, but how old are you?’

  ‘Old enough to do the job.’

  ‘I have a right to ask that question. It’s my ass on the line.’

  ‘I’m sixty-one.’

  Ruskin made a face in Sarah’s direction. To Jane he said, ‘No offense, but is this the youngest guy you could get?’

  Leo Guild waved him off and stalked back to the door. I wondered if Howie noticed how quickly and deftly Guild moved.

  Sarah jumped up and said, ‘No, please wait.’ Then, turning on Ruskin: ‘You don’t know anything about him, Howard. At least, let’s talk to him.’

  ‘Doesn’t matter. Thank you for asking me, Jane. But I’m going to pass on this one.’

  ‘Hey, Gramps, you’re not passing, I’m passing!’

  I wasn’t sure Guild heard that one because it came just as he was closing the door behind him. He’d moved damned fast and I didn’t blame him.

  Jane moved just as fast and it was right to the table and Ruskin. Her face only inches from his, she said, ‘You’re a jerk, you know that? A stupid little-boy jerk. Leo Guild is an experienced security man in every respect. Last month the governor’s security men hired him to help guard the governor; and whenever anybody important comes to town they always check him out on Google and then hire him. And you treated him like dirt!’

  I enjoyed seeing him intimidated. When a man shouts in your face you have the option of shoving him away or even punching him. But when a woman shouts in your face you have to sit there and take it. And it’s especially bad when you know you’ve got it coming.

  The problem with Ruskin – no surprise – was that he didn’t seem to understand he had it coming. ‘Didn’t you see him, Sarah? Did you see how old he was?’

  ‘Did you see how tough he looked, Howard? Did you see how alert he looked? He would have protected us just fine. And you owe him an apology.’

  ‘Apology? What the hell are you—?’

  ‘I’m going to see if he’s still in the hall,’ Jane said.

  ‘Apology,’ Howie said as we waited for Jane to search for Guild. I picked up a piece of toast and jammed it into my mouth. I would have preferred jamming my fist into Howie’s face.

  A few minutes later Jane reappeared. Behind her came Leo Guild. Tensed up the way he was, he looked ready for payback.

  ‘I want you to apologize to Leo,’ Jane snapped at Ruskin.

  ‘For what? I had the right to—’

  Sarah’s words stung with real nastiness. ‘I’m sick of this clown show, Howard. Now apologize.’

  ‘Forget it,’ Guild said, his body angling once again toward the door.

  ‘Please, Mr Guild,’ Sarah said. ‘Please do it for me. I need protection, too. I apologize for both of us. Please stay, for my sake.’

  The waif face, the wounded voice – what’s a man going to say?

  ‘Please, Leo,’ Jane said quietly.

  Guild looked at Jane, then me, then back to Sarah. He did not look at Ruskin.

  ‘Please,’ Sarah said again.

  ‘All right.’ Now he stared right at Ruskin. ‘But if he starts in on me again, I walk. Right out the door. No warning.’ He addressed Jane now. ‘That’s my condition. He mouths off one more time and that’s it.’

  ‘Can you handle him?’ Jane asked Sarah.

  ‘He’s going to handle himself,’ Sarah said. ‘Aren’t you, Howard?’

  ‘I’m wounded.’ He pointed to his sling as if none of us had any idea of what it was. ‘Somebody shot me last night. And now I’m the bad guy?’

  ‘Yeah, you’re the bad guy. Guild here could crush you with one hand and you’re calling him out? Now you apologize to him and start treating him like the professional he is. You told me how afraid you were and how you wanted my help. Well, here’s your help and you’d damned well better appreciate it,’ I said.

  The unthinkable happened. Howie Ruskin blushed. Blushed. Mr Jerk-Off himself knew enough to be embarrassed. And it wasn’t just because of me. It was because of what Sarah and Jane and Guild had said, too. His eyes scanned the table as if a supernatural message only he could see had been scribbled across its surface.

  ‘Shit,’ he said, still not looking at us. ‘I’m sorry.
I guess I can be sort of an ass sometimes.’

  You, Howard? An ass? Aw, c’mon old buddy, that’s impossible.

  I clapped Guild on the arm and said, ‘I can’t say I envy you.’

  He laughed. ‘Yeah? Why’s that?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know.’

  ‘I’ve dealt with worse. I was a cop, remember. Try getting a three-hundred-and-fifty-pound drunk guy who’s also strung out on meth into a car sometime.’

  ‘I think I’ll save that for when I’m reincarnated the next time. Something to look forward to.’

  ‘I need to get to the office.’ Jane drew her Burberry coat tight around her. ‘It’s really cold this morning. Brrr.’

  ‘I’m headed to Robert’s. Now’s a good time. Most of the press’ll be downtown. Ben’s got another news conference.’

  ‘Poor Ben. I don’t know how he gets through those things.’

  ‘I think he secretly likes them. He likes confrontation. Thrives on it.’

  ‘I do, too. But I’ve never had to face a mob like the one Ben’s dealing with.’

  As she buttoned her coat, I said, ‘I’ll walk out with you.’

  We said our goodbyes. Sarah thanked us just under thirty-two times, Leo Guild dragged a straight-backed chair over next to the door and sat down and Ruskin said to him, ‘I’m giving you permission right now to kill anybody who comes through that door.’

  Guild took this in good humor. ‘I’ll be sure to have my lawyer mention that to the jury when I’m on trial for first-degree murder. That you gave me that permission thing.’

  Sarah’s laughter was high and girly and delighted and delightful.

  Ruskin sulked.

  TWENTY

  A sparse crowd of reporters. And only one security man at the gate. I drove on up to the house, parked and got out just in time to see Robert coming from somewhere in the back of the house on a racing bicycle. His way of relaxing. He’d gotten me to join him a few times, but two hours of ball-jarring monotony was more than enough for me. Pedaling didn’t resolve my anger issues the way handball did. It’s hard to pretend you’re killing somebody with a Schwinn.

  But his was no Schwinn. He’d told me once that it had cost eight thousand dollars and was aerodynamically designed. It was so lightweight he’d picked it up and turned it back and forth with one hand. Then he’d thrown it at me and when I grabbed it I saw what he was talking about. A few pounds was all. He went into how the materials were lighter than aluminum and then into this ratio and that ratio, but by then my eyes had glazed over.

  He pulled up next to my Jeep just as I was getting out of it. He wore a blue track suit with white piping. He looked ten years older. A soul-sapping, suicide-inspiring ten years.

  The temperature was twenty-seven according to the radio. I could see his tire tracks on the frosted ground. We spoke in smoke signals.

  ‘C’mon in and have some breakfast with me. We can watch Ben try to defend me. The poor bastard. Nobody should have that job.’

  A light sheen of sweat covered his face as he walked along next to me, pushing his bike as he moved. I wondered if he looked at the looming house as I did now. In happier times for both of us there’d been long and lively parties here. My wife had loved Elise and had always said that the only parties she enjoyed were the ones here because she got to spend time with her. As much as I enjoyed the company, too, I liked even more the number of important guests Robert always invited. My firm was able to pick up five or six elite clients because of my contacts here. But now not even the sunshine could make the house seem bright and welcoming; it was as if the turmoil within had sucked some of the color from the exterior.

  ‘I’ve prepared my resignation address,’ he said when we were within ten feet of the front steps. ‘I’d like you to schedule time for me this afternoon with the local radio station of your choice. No TV. I’ll read it from my den.’

  I went through all the points against resigning. He listened, his eyes never leaving me, but when I finished he said, ‘I know Ben sent you out here to talk me out of it. And I know that you both think you’re helping me by trying to stop me. But you’re not. I need to do this for the sake of my family. They didn’t do anything wrong but they’re prisoners now. I want to resign and I want to find a home in the mountains somewhere. Maybe Colorado or Wyoming. I’ll get involved in a few of the family businesses again. I’m rich. I can do that, and I need to do that. I owe it to Elise and Maddy for all that I’ve put them through. For my being so arrogant and stupid. You were right, Dev, about me. How could I not see that I was being set up? The Cabot woman knew how to make me feel young again. I wanted to be a teenager, I guess. And look where it led me.’

  He leaned the eight-thousand-dollar bike against the stone front wall of the house and then faced me. ‘This has been hard enough on them, Dev. I’m especially worried about Elise. How she’ll get through this. I was so selfish. The least I can do is save her from any more turmoil.’

  The house was quiet. While he went to take a shower I sat in the living room where someone had left the large plasma screen on. The face of the man who’d just told me to get some coffee in the kitchen as we’d entered the house was right there on the screen. A photo from ten years ago playing tennis in his whites. Full screen one moment and replaced the next by the smarmiest of TV shrinks, a Southern gentleman who always struck me as being a secret serial killer. A reptilian smile and predatory eyes played off against his marble-mouthed Southern charm – alleged Southern charm. I was glad the sound was off. I had no intention of turning it on.

  It was fifteen minutes before Maddy walked in.

  ‘Hi, Dev. It’s good to see you.’

  ‘Good to see you.’

  ‘Mom finally got some sleep last night and she didn’t even take that killer pill the doctor gave her.’

  Yellow sweater, short black skirt, black tights and black flats. A very pretty suburban grade-school teacher sort of look. All the little boys would have these almost painful crushes on her. They’d daydream that she was – in some bizzaro world, in some bizzaro way – their girlfriend.

  She gave me a quick peck on the cheek. ‘Let’s go to the kitchen so we can sit in the nook and watch the birds.’ Then she paused and leaned her head back as if she were considering me the way a doctor would. ‘Are you all right, Dev?’

  ‘A lot of things on my mind, I guess.’

  ‘If you mean my father, absolutely. He can dig his heels in sometimes and it infuriates my mom. And me, too.’

  ‘He’s holding something back from both Ben and me. Not telling us something.’

  Now it was my turn to lean back and study her the way a doctor would. The lovely cheeks were faintly red now and the glistening brown gaze averted mine for a moment.

  But she was good at recovering. She slid her arm through mine and steered me toward the kitchen. ‘We can sit in the nook and look out the window. It’s my favorite spot in the world. And I know I sound like a seven-year-old when I say that, but I mean it. I love how the backyard sweeps up into the woods and all the birds and the other animals that I can see back there.’

  Mrs Weiderman fussed over us as if we were the children she hadn’t seen for thirty years. There was an antique and heavily scrolled breakfast nook that overlooked the backyard. It was apparently Salute to Bunnies day because there were a lot of them, in all sizes, hopping around the browning grass in industrious innocence. Mrs Weiderman brought us mugs of steaming coffee and pastries I was pretty sure she’d made herself.

  While I had the pleasure of disappearing my cherry tart and agreeing to a second cup of coffee, Mrs Weiderman went through a list of well-wishers who’d called to support Robert. She went all swoony when she mentioned the name of a Hollywood hunk. She likely would have cut some of her breaking news short or at least shorter but Maddy, ever the clever one, kept asking questions and making comments. Her blushing was still on my mind. Did she know what her father was hiding? She apparently didn’t want me to pursue her for the answe
r.

  By then Robert strode into the kitchen, blue V-neck, white T-shirt, Levi’s and Reeboks with no socks. He slid in next to his daughter. He was favored with coffee and a cinnamon roll within forty-five seconds of joining us.

  Partly because I needed her help and partly because I was irritated with both of them, I decided to make them unhappy. ‘I take it you know your father is going to resign.’

  ‘What’re you talking about, Dev? Resign? Who told you that?’

  ‘He did. The man you’re sitting next to.’

  ‘Damn you, Dev.’

  Maybe we’d reached our end; maybe he would fire me now.

  ‘Well, you won’t listen to Ben and you won’t listen to me, so I thought maybe you’d listen to your daughter.’

  ‘You can’t resign, Dad. Do you know how that would look to everybody?’

  ‘That’s what we’ve been telling him, Maddy. But he won’t listen.’

  ‘You and Ben are so damned clever, aren’t you?’ Glowering. ‘Dragging my poor daughter into it.’

  ‘There you go again. “My poor daughter.” Dad, I’m a grown woman. And there’s no way you can resign now.’

  ‘What about your mother? How much more can she take, Maddy? She’s my wife and I owe her—’

  But Maddy was shaking her head and interrupted him. ‘You were stupid about the Cabot woman. Very stupid and very selfish. Don’t be the same way all over again about this. You know damned well that Mother and I will support you. What we want is for you to be proved innocent and to finish the race. Even if you lose. Do it the right way, Dad. For all our sakes, including your own.’

  I was glad I’d brought her into it. Her words had a visible effect on Robert. The anger at me faded from his eyes, the tension in his jaw line relaxed and the voice was softer now. He even smiled. ‘You always could talk me into anything.’

  ‘Not “anything.” You wouldn’t buy me a car until I was eighteen.’

  ‘Oh, that’s right. You had to ride a burro back and forth to school. I forgot.’

  She joined in the fun. ‘Other kids had cars at sixteen. But then . . .’ And she struck a dramatic pose. ‘That was when I learned all about suffering.’ That smile had doubtless broken several young hearts.