He was aware that for-profit work was only a small part of what Haddon Defoe did for a living – Williams had done his homework and was familiar with the doctor’s tireless work helping the city’s addicts and providing basic healthcare services for the homeless. Not to mention his private but extensive donations to African American causes in some of LA’s roughest neighborhoods. On paper at least, the man was a borderline saint. Williams had no reason to begrudge him his fancy Beverly Hills office, or his luxurious house in the Palisades Riviera, or his priceless collection of silent movie memorabilia. But a part of him couldn’t help but chafe at the pretentious opulence of this waiting room, all Diptyque scented candles and silk cushions and piped classical music drifting out from state-of-the-art Bose speakers.
‘Mr Williams?’
Haddon’s beautiful secretary, a coffee-colored goddess with coltish legs and a dazzling smile, gestured to the door behind her desk.
‘Dr Defoe will see you now. If you’d like to go through?’
Unpeeling himself from his seat with an embarrassing squelching sound, Williams lumbered through into Haddon Defoe’s office.
‘Mr Williams, hello! How can I help?’
Defoe’s unexpected warmth put the PI even more on the back foot. Stepping out from behind his desk in rolled-up shirtsleeves, smiling broadly, Haddon offered Williams his outstretched hand. ‘You wanted to talk to me about Doug Roberts?’
‘That’s right.’ Williams pressed his clammy palm against Haddon’s dry one. ‘His wife – his widow, I should say – has received some pretty unpleasant threats. She’s my client,’ he added, by way of explanation. ‘I’m wondering whether the person making them might have had some connection to her late husband.’
‘Someone’s been threatening Nikki?’ Haddon’s expression darkened. ‘She never mentioned that to me.’
‘Would she be likely to?’ Williams asked casually. ‘Are the two of you close?’
‘Well, I …’ The question seemed to catch Haddon off guard. ‘Do the police know about these threats?’ he asked, dodging it.
Williams gave a snort. ‘The police? Oh yes. They know. But let’s just say keeping Dr Roberts safe doesn’t seem to be at the top of their priority list. That’s why she hired me.’ He handed Haddon his card. ‘That and other reasons.’
Haddon examined the card curiously. Taking a seat, he gestured to Williams to do the same.
‘What other reasons?’ He looked at Williams quizzically.
Williams cleared his throat. ‘When Doug Roberts died, I understand he had his mistress with him in the car?’
‘Ah. That.’ Haddon frowned.
‘So it’s true?’
‘Yes. It’s true. So that’s what Nikki’s hired you to investigate? Doug’s affair?’
‘That’s part of it, yes. She told me she knew nothing about this mistress’s existence until the day of the accident. Does that surprise you?’
Haddon groaned and rubbed his temples. ‘No. Not really.’
‘But you knew about her?’ Williams surmised. ‘I mean, you must have, right? You and Doug being such close friends, working together and everything.’
‘We were very close, yes,’ said Haddon, again not directly answering Williams’ question. He sounded irritated now, his earlier warmth rapidly evaporating. ‘I wish Nikki would let this go,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘For her sake and everybody else’s. Doug’s dead. Lenka’s dead.’
‘You told Nikki you’d never met Lenka.’ Williams dropped in the information as if it were a trifling detail.
‘That’s right,’ said Haddon. ‘I never did.’
‘Hmmm.’ Williams looked puzzled. ‘That’s odd.’ Pulling out his phone, he passed it across the desk to Defoe. ‘Because this looks like a picture of the three of you at a fundraiser together two years ago. Action on Addiction’s summer gala, I believe it was. You don’t remember that evening?’
Haddon looked at the image calmly, before handing the phone back. It was a grainy group shot – everybody’s features were blurred – but it plainly showed Doug Roberts with his arm around a woman who was considerably too tall and full-figured to be his wife.
‘I’m afraid not, no. I go to a lot of fundraisers. She’s the brunette, I assume?’
‘She is, yes,’ said Williams. ‘But then I’m guessing you probably knew that already, seeing as you were the one who invited her that night, and introduced her to Doug Roberts in the first place.’
Haddon Defoe smiled thinly. ‘You’ve done your homework. I see Nikki chose well when she hired you, Mr Williams.’
He’s a cool customer, thought Williams, although he noticed the small muscle twitching involuntarily at the top of the doctor’s jaw.
‘But maybe not so well choosing her husband. Or her friends.’ Williams smiled back.
‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that,’ said Haddon, refusing to take the bait. ‘Doug and Nikki had a solid marriage. And while I consider myself a friend of Nikki’s, I was a closer friend to Doug. I wouldn’t feel right betraying his secrets, especially now that he’s gone. We all make mistakes, Mr Williams. Whatever wrongs Doug Roberts may have done, to his wife or anyone else, hasn’t he more than paid for them? He’s dead after all. Cut off in his prime.’
‘He’s paid for them, yes,’ Williams agreed. ‘But have you, Dr Defoe?’
Haddon’s eyes narrowed. ‘What do you mean by that?’
Williams leaned back in his chair. ‘Here’s what I’m thinking: You were jealous of Doug Roberts. Your so-called “friend” beat you at everything. He scored higher on his medical exams. Got a more prestigious internship. He founded your addiction clinics and got all the glory for them, all the PR, while you played second fiddle.’
Haddon laughed loudly. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, man! It’s a charity, not a competition.’
‘He married a beautiful girl,’ Williams went on, ignoring him. ‘A girl you’d always lusted after yourself. And, like you said, it was a strong marriage – unlike your own, that collapsed after what? A year?’
‘Eighteen months,’ Haddon muttered, through gritted teeth. Not even he could smile through the mention of his ex-wife, Christie, and the humiliation of being so publicly abandoned.
‘But most of all you hated Doug for landing the top position at the Addiction Recovery Clinic at Cedars. You both applied for it, and you’d been led to believe that the job was yours, hadn’t you? But then your dear friend, Mr Charisma himself, snatches that out from under you …’
‘Oh, don’t stop there, Mr Williams,’ Haddon drawled, regaining his composure as Williams paused for breath. ‘I’m a fan of good fiction. I want to know how this story ends.’
‘It ends with you introducing Doug Roberts to a woman named Lenka Gordievski. Setting up a honeytrap to destroy his happy marriage.’
Haddon shook his head. ‘Look,’ he said, putting his palms up on the table. ‘You might be right about some of this, OK? Maybe I was jealous of Doug. It was hard not to be, Mr Williams. He was an amazing, amazing man. One of a kind. But I was also his friend. And yes, I introduced him to Lenka. Nikki doesn’t know that, and I’d rather it stays that way.’
‘I’ll bet you would,’ said Williams, but Haddon cut him off impatiently.
‘It wasn’t what you think,’ he insisted. ‘I’d met her in New York, at another charity thing. She was a sweet girl, she had money, she cared about the issues Doug and I cared about. But it wasn’t a honeytrap. It was a casual introduction. I never intended him to have an affair with her! Why would I?’
For a moment Derek Williams hesitated. He didn’t like Haddon Defoe, didn’t trust his goody-two-shoes image as far as he could throw it. Yet something about this last speech was oddly convincing.
‘What do you know about Lenka’s background? Her life back in Russia?’ Williams asked him.
‘Nothing,’ said Haddon. ‘Like I say, she was an acquaintance.’
Williams shook his head. ‘I’m not buying that, Dr Defoe. You see, I�
��ve been doing my own research on Ms Gordievski this week. And the funny thing is, there’s nothing to find.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Haddon.
‘Nor do I!’ Williams agreed. ‘It’s the darnedest thing. But there’s no record of her having left Russia, or entered the US, although she obviously did both. No addresses on file before she arrived in LA, no credit report. You say she had money, but I can’t find any record of bank accounts. Only a landlord here in LA, who gave me her surname incidentally, but said she always paid in cash. It’s almost as if she was a spy or something!’ Williams laughed coldly. ‘Or someone living under an assumed identity. Witness protection, perhaps?’
‘I told you, I barely knew her,’ Haddon insisted.
‘She was your best friend’s lover for a year!’ Williams scoffed. ‘You must have met her multiple times. But you lied to Nikki about that, like you’re lying to me now. Who was she, Dr Defoe?’
‘I don’t know!’ Haddon yelled in frustration. ‘Good God, man, what’s wrong with you? You’re right that I lied to Nikki about never having met Lenka. But wouldn’t you, in my shoes? Doug loved Nikki,’ he went on. ‘The affair was a mistake, an infatuation. It would have ended eventually.’
‘It did end eventually,’ said Williams. ‘In a ball of flames on the freeway, that conveniently left you running the entire charity operation, as well as creating the very opening you’d hoped for at Cedars. You’ve applied for Doug Roberts’ old job, haven’t you, Dr Defoe?’
Haddon scowled, no longer trying to rein in his anger.
‘Yes, I applied for it. Because I’m a highly qualified candidate, and why wouldn’t I? Doug would have wanted me to apply. He would have encouraged me – something you’d know if you knew anything at all about the man who Doug was. How dare you come into my office making accusations and insinuations?’
‘I’m not making accusations.’
‘Oh, I think you are.’ Haddon’s voice was rising again. ‘You’re accusing me of wanting Doug dead! That’s what you think. Well, you’re wrong. He was my best friend. So I’m sorry if that didn’t show up in your research, Mr Williams. But that is the truth. That is a FACT.’
Williams opened his mouth to speak, but Haddon cut him off.
‘Enough!’ he barked, shaking with rage. ‘Get the hell out of my office.’
Outside, standing in the sunshine on Bedford Drive, Derek Williams wondered whether he’d gone too far, and how the aftermath of his interview with Defoe would play out. Would Haddon call Nikki and complain about him? Tell her that her attack dog was on the wrong track about Lenka? Convince her to dump Williams and let the police handle everything?
On the whole, Williams doubted it. Haddon Defoe had lied to Nikki about Doug’s mistress. That was a can of worms he had no wish to re-open. Nor would Haddon want to get into the murky details of his and Doug’s professional rivalry, something else Williams would lay good money that Nikki knew nothing about. It was amazing how often people were willing to act against their own best interests through a desire not to the rock the boat. Derek Williams saw it happen every day.
Thankfully, Derek’s own boat was empty and full of holes. He had nothing left to lose, no matter how hard people rocked it.
Standing at his office window. Haddon Defoe watched Nikki’s squat toad of a PI loitering on the sidewalk, lost in thought, before finally disappearing into the parking structure across the street.
Haddon’s face betrayed no emotion. But in the pit of his stomach, a painful knot tightened.
He picked up the phone and dialed the number of a private calling service. Moments later, his call no longer traceable, he was put through.
‘The PI was just here,’ Haddon said. ‘The guy Nikki hired. Williams.’
‘And?’
‘He’s a problem,’ Haddon said simply. ‘Something needs to be done.’
‘So I have a dilemma.’
Anne Bateman looked over at Nikki, biting down anxiously on her lower lip. It was the first therapy session Anne had come to since their row at the concert, and both women wanted it to go well.
‘It’s about my husband. My ex-husband,’ she blurted. ‘But I need you to hear me out. Don’t jump to conclusions.’
‘OK,’ Nikki said soothingly, as much to calm her own fears as to combat Anne’s. She was encouraged by Anne’s use of the term ‘ex-husband.’ That was new, and Nikki hoped it might mean that divorce proceedings were actually underway. But after everything Derek Williams had told her about Anne’s ex, she still wasn’t sure how best to handle things with Anne. Should she tell Anne what she knew? Warn her that her ex might not be who she thought he was at all? It would risk whatever shreds were left of their friendship, the intimacy between them that had come to mean so much to Nikki. On the other hand, if she didn’t say anything, and Williams was right about Luis Rodriguez’s secret life as a drug lord, and – God forbid – something were to happen to Anne … The whole thing was a mess.
‘What about your ex?’
Anne took a deep breath. ‘He’s here,’ she told Nikki. ‘In Los Angeles. I’ve seen him.’
‘I see,’ said Nikki, with a calmness she was far from feeling. Luis Rodriguez was here? What did that mean for the case, and for her own safety? Did Williams know? Did the police?
Don’t say anything, she told herself. Let Anne talk. Let her come to you.
‘He told me he’s here on business, but I don’t know if I believe him,’ said Anne. ‘I think he came for me. To convince me to go back to him.’
‘I see.’ Nikki struggled to hide her shock. ‘So how did you end up meeting with him?’
‘It wasn’t by choice!’ Anne gabbled defensively. ‘He ambushed me on the street. Right here actually, outside your office. The other day when I came for therapy.’
Nikki felt the hairs on her forearms stand on end. Rodriguez had been here? At her office? That was too close for comfort.
‘I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want …’ Anne wrung her fingers together miserably. ‘I knew how you felt about him already. And I didn’t want to make it worse. With us.’
Nikki reached across to the couch and took her hand. ‘I’m so sorry I made you feel that way. I’ll always be here for you, Anne. I hope you know that.’
‘I do, now.’ Anne sniffed.
‘I’d like to know more about him,’ said Nikki, seeing her chance to get Anne to open up.
Anne looked surprised. ‘Really? Like what?’
‘Anything, really,’ Nikki smiled. ‘I don’t know if you realize but you’ve never even told me his name.’
‘His name is Luis,’ said Anne. ‘Luis Rodriguez.’
‘You never took his surname?’ Nikki asked.
‘I wouldn’t go psychoanalyzing that,’ Anne laughed, delighted that the conversation seemed to be going smoothly for once. ‘I’ve always performed as Bateman so it made no sense to change.’
‘Fair enough,’ said Nikki. ‘And you mentioned his business is in real estate?’
Anne nodded. ‘That’s right.’
‘Is that his only business?’
The question was thrown out so casually, Anne barely seemed to notice it.
‘As far as I know,’ she replied. ‘That’s partly why I don’t believe he’s here on business. All his real estate deals are in Mexico City, so why would he come here, if not to see me?’
Her bafflement seemed genuine to Nikki. If Williams was right about Rodriguez’s criminal empire, then his wife knew nothing about it. She’d stake her professional reputation on that. What was left of it.
‘The truth is, he scared me that day outside your office. He was so forceful, so insistent that I agree to see him again. Not violent,’ she added hastily. ‘It’s more that he, sort of, overwhelms me. Luis is a very strong-willed man, very determined. When he wants something, he simply doesn’t stop until he gets it.’
‘And he wants you,’ Nikki said quietly.
Anne’s voice was almost a whisper
. ‘Yes. He does. He wants me.’
Nikki allowed the silence to hold for a good twenty seconds before she spoke again.
‘And what about you, Anne? What do you want?’
‘I want to be free,’ Anne said firmly, and with much more certainty than Nikki had expected. ‘Part of me will always love him. That’s the simple truth. But I want to live my life, Nikki. I want to stop looking over my shoulder day and night.’
‘You’re ready to let go.’ Nikki smiled approvingly, sweet relief flooding her own body. She too wanted Anne to be free. One day, she hoped, she might be free herself. Once all this nightmare with the murders was over, and Derek Williams had found out the truth about Lenka and Doug’s affair and everything that happened last year. Once the killing could stop.
‘Yes,’ said Anne. ‘I am ready. But that’s the dilemma I told you about before. I need Luis to let go as well. I need him to go home, not because I tell him to, but because he realizes it’s over between us. I need his men to stop following me. But I don’t think that can happen unless we, Luis and I, have some sort of closure. We need to agree to be friends, somehow. To reset our relationship.’
‘I see,’ said Nikki, still trying to adjust to this new, stronger Anne.
‘That’s what I wanted to ask you about,’ said Anne, emboldened by Nikki’s supportive responses. ‘He’s asked me to join his table at the End Addiction Ball at the Four Seasons tomorrow night. I think I should do it.’
A pained look swept over Nikki’s features. She and Doug used to go to the End Addiction gala every year. The ball was one of their favorite nights, a rare chance for Nikki to dress up and for the two of them to go on a real ‘date’ together. Bittersweet memories from those times mingled with a genuine concern for Anne’s welfare.
Sidney Sheldon's the Silent Widow Page 25