The Philanthropist's Danse (16 page)

“We can’t continue until everyone is here. The idea is to share your secrets. Each of you has to reveal your secret to the entire group. All of you, at the same time.”

“But the nurse said Jan should rest-"

Junior interrupted Dennis. “For God’s sake man, go and get her. We don’t have all day, there’s a clock ticking in case you forgot. Go get your wife, or I’ll do it for you.” He finished his sentence with a leer and again Larry wondered about Junior’s state of mind. What was it with him and the housekeeper this morning?

Dennis flushed deep red and went to fetch his wife. As he left, Freddie Hagood also rose and headed for the door. “Where are you going, Freddie?”

Hagood stopped and looked down his nose at William. “I’m going to get the Judge. You did say we’d need everyone.”

The lawyer nodded, but Larry was on his feet. “Wait a minute. We should let Jeremy get the Judge, someone neutral. Who knows what Freddie might say while we’re not in earshot?”

“For God’s sake MacLean, I can say whatever I want to him, whenever and wherever the hell I like. If you want, come with me. See if I care.”

Hagood turned on his heel and left the room. Larry moved to follow him, but then changed his mind. He would stay. He needed to keep an eye on the family more than he was interested the Judge. A long as Larry held his group together, he could control the agenda.

$

Dennis slipped into his suite and waited until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Three narrow shafts of sunlight poked through chinks in the heavy curtains, and dust motes moved lazily through the light. He found Janice still in bed and assumed she was sleeping. He padded across the carpet and her voice startled him. “Dennis, is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. How are you feeling?” He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her. He struggled to understand his feelings as he saw her afraid and vulnerable. He had long fallen out of love with his nit-picking wife, but this fragile version of her reminded him of the affectionate person he’d thought he’d married.

Dennis felt his resentment and anger fade and was surprised to see his own hand reach out and touch her cheek. Janice recoiled, and her voice regained its familiar edge. “What are you doing, Dennis? For Christ’s sake, I don’t need your sweaty hands all over me.”

He sighed as the tender moment faded to dust, and he opened the drapes. The room flooded with bright sunshine and Janice groaned and pulled a blanket over her head, cursing him. Dennis’ temper flared, he’d had enough. He was angry for his moment of weakness, how could he forget what she was and how she treated him? He tugged the blankets off her roughly. When he saw her, he gasped and sat down on the bed, hard. “What the hell? Janice, what happened to you?”

Her back was criss-crossed with angry red scratches and peppered with bruises. She tugged at the sheet to hide her body and buried her head in the pillow. She cried something he didn’t hear. He rolled her over gently. “What happened, Jan? Where did these marks come from?” He could see she was frightened, there were more bruises on her wrists and he let go of her arm, afraid of hurting her. Janice’s eyes squeezed shut, and she hugged herself as tears began to flow. “Talk to me Jan, who did this to you?”

Janice lay on the bed and looked up at her husband and wondered why he could not have been this strong all the time. If he’d been a real man she never would have wanted to leave him, never would have gone to Junior’s room. Last night would never have happened.

Now Dennis was upset, and she could see anger in his eyes, but not at her. Dennis wanted to know who did this to her, and for a brief moment she wanted to tell him and see Junior suffer. She sniffed and wiped her eyes, she could see a better way to use Dennis’s anger and get back at Junior. “If I tell you what happened, you must promise to do what I say, nothing more. I mean it Denny. If you want to help me get the man who did this, you have to do what I say.”

Dennis’s face reflected the rush of emotions that ran through him. Part of him quailed at the return of his carping wife, but a larger part was filled with rage that someone had hurt her. Something bad had happened to her last night, and Dennis suspected the Judge had something to do with it. It would explain why she spit at him.

He balled his fists as anger filled him at the thought of the Judge violating his wife. Dennis would kill him. He’d choke the life out of the prick. “Did that goddamned Judge do this? Is that what happened?”

Janice shook her head and knew she had to get her husband under control. “Promise you’ll do what I say, Den. We’ll get revenge and our money. More money than we were promised yesterday. A lot more.” He stared, bewildered at her sudden coolness. She had been beaten yet was talking calmly about money and revenge. All he wanted to do was to kill someone for touching his wife. “I don’t know Jan. Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill whoever hurt you?”

“Don’t be a moron Dennis. Listen to me. I’ll tell you what happened, but you have to understand that taking his money is our best revenge. Better than you going to jail for a few moments of satisfaction. Better than jail for him for what he did to me. Now, are you ready to help me, or do I shut my mouth and let you imagine what happened?”

Dennis sighed, she was implacable, and he couldn’t resist her overwhelming personality. If he had ever possessed the ability to stand up to her, he had surrendered it with a thousand small concessions during their marriage. “Fine. I’ll do what you want. But tell me the truth.”

Janice allowed herself a smile, her first that day. She would get her revenge on Junior. She patted the bed for Dennis to sit with her and started talking. “I took a call last night, after you fell asleep. It was Junior. He wanted to talk about money. He said he had a proposition for me.” She saw her husband’s eyes narrow at the mention of Junior, but he said nothing and she continued. “I went to his room. I don’t know why I did, so don’t ask. I knew better, but I was so happy about us becoming rich, I wasn’t thinking.”

Dennis opened his mouth to speak, but she silenced him with a finger on his lips. “No, just listen, Dennis, please. When I arrived, he said he could arrange to give me more money. I didn’t understand at first, I thought he meant for both of us, that we could get more money than we had been promised. But he didn’t mean that Denny. Not at all.” She took a deep breath to calm herself.

Dennis was completely engaged in her story, he had no suspicion she was making it up as she told it. “He told me he’d give me a larger cut than you, if I would leave you and go with him. Junior promised to give me your share of the money Denny, if I ran away with him. He said he’d wanted me for a long time. I said no, of course, I’d never betray my husband. I tried to leave, but he grabbed me. I fought him. I fought as hard as I could Denny…but… he was too strong and I was so scared and I got so tired. I’m so sorry.”

She cried, and her body shook with deep sobs that wrenched at Dennis’s heart as he tried to make sense of what she said. He was shocked, but it was easy to believe Junior was capable of both the offer of money and the assault. Dennis knew he was going to kill Junior. Janice felt his hand tighten around hers and saw her husband’s jaw stiffen. She had to calm him down, this was going far better than she could have expected.

“Dennis. Dennis, look at me. Remember your promise. We get revenge by taking his money, Den. Not by hurting him, not physically. Beating him will achieve nothing, he’ll recover, and you might go to jail. If we take his money, it will burn him forever. Help me take his money Denny. I know how to do it.” Dennis saw the resolve in his wife that had crushed his spirit. At least this time it was directed at a different target. She made sense, but even so he had no idea how he could not beat Junior to a pulp when he saw him.

He closed his eyes and breathed slowly. Okay, he’d play it her way. If they got more money, he would be able to escape more easily. Dennis felt like a traitor for thinking about deserting her while she was covered in bruises, but one look in her eyes told him that while her body may be beaten, her spirit was as strong as ever. He had to find a way to escape her, but first he and Janice would take every dollar they could from Junior. Dennis had loved the Old Man. He’d been a loyal and true servant and had been deeply saddened to learn of his employer’s death.

But the great man’s family was a different matter. They could rot in hell as far as Dennis Elliot was concerned. He stood and looked down at his wife. “Get dressed Jan, if we don’t get started soon I’m likely to run down there and choke that prick out of existence.” He reached out a hand and helped her out of bed. He took a seat in the living room while she showered and dressed and did everything she could to make herself as attractive as possible.

Her first strike against Junior would be to show him that he had not broken her. He nearly had, but that was before she figured out a way to get back at him. That she had diverted her husband’s anger with a fabricated story was no problem. Dennis would do as he was told, he always did. She’d leave him and start over to forget this whole sordid business. Janice thought about the beaches of Southern California, that’s where she’d go. Where it was warm and no-one knew her. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror, a happy smile that was accompanied by eyes as hard as flint. If Junior had seen her at that moment, his heart would have quailed.

$

Freddie knocked on the Judge’s door and was surprised when it opened immediately. The Judge was dressed in a new tailored suit that Freddie admired at once, it was not easy for big men to wear formal clothes, but the Judge had it nailed. “It’s time to rejoin the rat race, Judge. I thought I’d come and collect you and take a moment to talk.”

Freeman leaned on the doorway. His head almost touched the top of the doorframe and Freddie took a half step back, his neck hurt to look up at the big man at close quarters. “Judge, you delivered us another chance at some money. I can’t say I’m impressed by your methods, but I can’t say I blame you either.” Freeman said nothing, he just listened. “We need to do the secrets thing, but then the scramble for the fortune is back on. I think we need each other again Judge, don’t you?”

Freeman grunted. “I don’t see why I should align myself with anyone. It did me no good last time around.”

“That was unlucky. I should have seen it coming. Freeman, before they threw you out yesterday you voted against the family. They won’t forget that, or forgive it. And that was before your clumsy blackmail threat voided their agreement. Unless you see a way to protect yourself, I’m afraid you’re options are limited. Very limited.”

Freeman knew he was correct, even though he hated to throw his lot in with Freddie again. “Very well, Mr. Hagood, I agree, we will be allies once more. I expect you to do better for our cause this time, do not let me down.” Freddie bristled at the dig at his effectiveness, but let it pass. The Judge was pointing out the truth as he saw it. He could not know how much his blackmail cost Freddie. Only William knew the Judge’s blackmail had derailed a small fortune.

Freddie had an idea that he might be able to do even better than the large settlement he had been gifted and since lost. He needed one more person to secure them against a repeat of the first day. Freddie hoped as people revealed their secrets he would gain candidates for his alliance. He offered his hand, and they shook on their new deal. As they headed to the conference room, the Judge smiled for the first time since his earlier humiliation. The others may hate him, but he was back in with a chance at gaining a fortune. His plan had taken an unexpected twist, but he was back at the table and that was all that mattered.

$

There was silence in the conference room as the group waited for the others to return. Philip and Betty engaged in soft conversation that was inaudible except for an occasional tinkling laugh that Betty was unable to suppress. She seemed unburdened by the weight of the task to come and Bethany hated her for being so relaxed while she was sick from fear.

Bethany did not want to share her secret. She was shocked that her father might have discovered it. She had known his views and his Foundation actively reflected his personal beliefs. If her secret was ever revealed it would have caused her father a lot of problems, but that wasn’t the worst of it. Bethany knew in her heart that her secret was the reason her father never called for her as he lay dying.

$

Janice stepped from the bathroom, fully dressed and with perfect make-up. She stood tall and proud, and Dennis felt an old feeling stir in his chest as he looked at her. She was still a fine looking woman. “You look great, Jan. Really good.” She accepted the compliment with a smile even as her heart fluttered with nerves at what was to come.

She joined her husband, who offered his arm in a chivalrous gesture. “Thank you Dennis. Now let’s go and nail that bastard to the wall.” Dennis smiled, he couldn’t help it. His wife had suffered God knows what at the hands of Junior Thurwell, yet her focus was on Junior’s fortune and how much she could hurt him back.

W
illiam turned in his seat to see Freddie return to the conference room with Judge Freeman. Freeman did not look left or right, but quietly took his seat and folded his hands in front of him and stared into space.

Freddie was nonchalant and took his place between Camille and Bethany, effectively ending their conversation. He smiled at those that looked at him and noticed Dennis and his wife had yet to make it back. He was annoyed at having to wait, he was used to being the person everyone else waited for.

Philip returned to his conversation with Betty and ignored a disapproving look from his sister. Philip didn’t care that Bethany disliked Betty. She was unable to accept her father had been sexually active and blamed Betty, which Philip thought a ridiculous argument. Philip took his father’s virility as a good sign that he had good genes for a long sexual career.

He was asking what Betty might do when all this was over. He didn’t dwell on what they had to endure before sharing the fortune was discussed again. He would worry about that when it was his turn to tell his secret.

He was about to whisper something funny about his new French sister when the Elliots returned. He fell silent, interested to see what drama might unfold at the housekeeper’s return.

Janice appeared to be an entirely different woman to the one Dennis had carried out of the room. She was dressed in a fashionable suit, and her hair and make-up were immaculate. She possessed the air of a confident businesswoman, not the simple housekeeper he used to see in his father’s home.

Junior had waited eagerly for Janice’s return. His thoughts had been on nothing else since she’d spit on the Judge. He wanted, no, he
needed
her to look at him and acknowledge his power over her. When she appeared on Dennis’s arm and looked directly at him, anyone studying Junior’s face would have seen it transform from triumph to disappointment and, finally, deep anger.

His complexion turned the dark red hue that signaled danger to those that knew him well. Janice had met his eyes, just as he needed, but instead of submission and shame, he saw contempt. The slut even dared to look down her nose at him.

He wanted to slap her but then he noticed Dennis glaring at him. He felt a deep chill run down his spine. Dennis knew. There was hate in his eyes, and Junior had no doubt Dennis now knew all about last night. Junior’s anger bled away and left him with a sick feeling deep in his stomach. He was suddenly terribly afraid.

No woman had dared to tell a soul what happened after they had been alone with Junior. Sometimes their silence cost money, but most times shame and his veiled threats were enough. Now Dennis knew about him. Dennis was a slow thinker, but he was a big man. Junior could not allow Dennis to corner him. He’d need to stay around other people for safety. Junior was sweating and could not hold Janice’s gaze. He dropped his eyes in defeat as fear and rage battled for dominance in his heart.

Winnie Tremethick saw a flicker of fear in Janice’s eyes as she sat next to her. She was afraid of something or someone, but was putting on a decent show of being confident. Winnie reached out and patted Janice’s arm and offered a little smile made warmer by her kind eyes. Janice returned the smile, it was natural, but Winnie saw the effort required to make it. The old lady wondered what had so upset her, but now was not a suitable time for questions. She heard the lawyer call them to attention and turned to listen.

$

William was relieved that everyone was present, if not entirely happy or comfortable. “Since you are all here, it’s time to continue. Larry, I’ll run things until the sharing of secrets is complete, at which point you may Chair the group again. Let me be clear, there is no debate about what you must tell each other. I have a list from Mr. Thurwell that describes information each of you would prefer to remain secret, but that you must share.

“If you provide an accurate description of your secret, you may remain to negotiate your share in the fortune. If you obfuscate or try to misdirect the group, I will give you one final chance to correct the record. Failure to share the truth or refusal to participate is your choice but will cost you the opportunity to win Mr. Thurwell’s money.”

The lawyer looked in turn at each person until they acknowledged him. The heavy silence was punctuated only by an occasional pop from the fire that still burned robustly across the room. William was satisfied they all understood. “Is there anyone who prefers not to participate? If so, now is the time to leave. Once we begin, there will be no backing out.”

No one volunteered to leave. “Very well, then we can begin.” He looked up as he sensed a hand was raised, it belonged to Camille Jolivet. “Monsieur Bird. How do we decide who goes first?”

“The order will be random. I’ll write your names on pieces of paper and pick them out one at a time. If your name is called, you talk.” Camille gave a grimace, a one in twelve chance of going first wasn’t too bad. She hoped that she would not be the first to talk.

Larry MacLean interrupted. “Bill, how do we know it’ll be random? You could have a pre-arranged order and manipulate it, why don’t you let one of us draw the names?”

“Would that make you feel better, Larry? Is that what you are really worried about right now?” Bird snapped.

MacLean looked away, feeling foolish. He had felt he should say something to retain his authority with the group, but his question had been meaningless and Bird had made him look petty. He wished he’d kept his mouth shut. He mumbled an apology and tried to look like he hadn’t just acted like an ass.

Bird stared at Larry for a few long seconds to make a point about who was in charge, then opened his notebook and tore out twelve strips of paper. He took his time, knowing all his guests watched his every move. He wrote a name in neat print on each piece of paper, taking the time to look directly at the person whose name he wrote, then folded the paper twice and dropped it into an empty water pitcher. He dropped the last name into the glass and saw each person trying to guess who might be unlucky enough to go first. William shook the glass pitcher to mix up the names and placed it in front of him. Twelve people simultaneously stopped breathing as Bird reached into the glass and picked one out. “Freddie Hagood. Freddie, you go first.”

Hagood shrugged. His face was expressionless, and his voice even. “So be it, I get to go first.” He sipped his water, refilled the glass and set it down again, giving it a quarter turn. He liked to be the center of attention and knew these moments would be his last as Johnston Thurwell’s legendary business rival. Freddie scanned the others’ faces. Some of them had worse things to share than him. One he knew about already. It was time to end many years of secrecy.

“You all know me. I own the largest network of business information sources in the world. If you have a business making more than a few million dollars a year, I know about it, and I will sell what I know to the highest bidder. It’s good business. It was so good that Johnston Thurwell and I competed hard to control it. We banged heads for a lot of years. I won some contracts, and he won others. But over time he won more as I lost more. By 1987, our firms had a lock on the market. Over 75% of all commercial business information came from one or other of us.”

Freddie took another sip of water. He had everyone’s complete attention. “At the end of the eighties, Johnston and I met in secret. We met in these woods, in fact. He’d bought this land, but the mansion hadn’t been built yet, there was just an old lodge that was barely standing. We came here, and we made a deal. He gave me a staggering sum of money and I gave him my business.

“We knew we’d never get regulatory approval, we controlled too much of the market. So we pretended to operate separately. We fixed prices and bullied customers into each other’s arms. At the end of each year, I took ten percent of HBN’s profit and stuffed it into an offshore account for Johnston. I put five percent into my own account, and we carried on, until now. I’m far wealthier than you know, and Johnston took twice what I did every year, for twenty years. And he had the rest of his empire making him money too.”

Freddie saw shock on the faces looking at him as they quickly re-evaluated their estimates of Thurwell’s fortune. Others were aghast at the deception of the two magnates. William, when he had read the secrets in the yellow envelope, had at last understood why he had never been invited to the Old Man’s private meetings with Freddie.

Junior turned deathly pale, he had trouble comprehending what he’d just heard. He realized with horror that the secret he would need to reveal was far worse than the one he’d thought he would be telling. It would be a mess when the family heard it.

Larry MacLean was the first person to recover his wits. “Do you mean to tell us that, for twenty years, you and Johnston colluded to manipulate the market? How? I mean, how did you pull it off?” Freddie grinned. He felt no pressure now his secret was out. He’d spend the rest of his days in jail if the news left this room, but that would mean someone else risking a secret being revealed. It was mutually assured destruction. “Larry, you’ve know Johnston most of your life. How come you never suspected your oldest friend was in cahoots with me?”

“You hate each other, everybody knows that.” MacLean’s reply was out of his mouth before he thought about it. Their bitter rivalry was no secret. Then, understanding came. “Oh my God. You two kept up the pretence of rivalry, of despising each other. None of it was real?” Freddie grinned as he enjoyed the disbelief on their faces. It underlined the success of the grand deception he and his dead friend maintained for decades.

Bethany was rocked to her core. She was the face of public relations for her father’s empire. She had issued vicious press releases about Hagood, even started rumor campaigns to cost him market share. She recalled leaving her father’s office with him raging in the background about the charlatan Freddie Hagood. But none of it had been real. The war between the two business giants had no losers except their unsuspecting customers. She was shocked. Her father had never once hinted at such a deal and had used her like a pawn. She had a hard time believing her father could be so cold toward her.

Then she remembered her own secret. She didn’t know how he had found out, but she had no doubt about the cause of the chill in their relationship in the last year and a half. Her head dropped, and she concentrated on breathing, she had to stay calm.

Hagood smiled. “So, William, did I forget anything?”

“No, Freddie, you laid it all out. You’ve met the requirement and may continue.” Freddie leaned back in his chair. He felt light-headed with the thrill of telling the secret he and his friend shared. That the world thought of them as bitter enemies had been a great source of amusement to them. They had joked together as they made up stories about each other to escalate their rivalry in the press.

When they met in public, they enjoyed a thrill at the crowds that gathered while they pretended to be barely polite to each other. That they became fabulously wealthy while they had so much fun was a bonus. Freddie never minded collecting only half of what Johnston did. The fortune Thurwell privately paid him for HBN was more than he could spend in a hundred luxurious lifetimes.

$

William mixed the eleven papers in the pitcher as his eleven guests held their breath. The lawyer carefully unfolded a slip of paper as people prayed it would not be their turn.

“Ms. Freah. It’s your turn. Betty, please share your secret.”

Betty Freah sighed. This was a chore, but nothing to be feared. She took a quick look at the faces focused on her, skipping quickly past Bethany’s. “I already shared my secret, sort of, in our introductions. But I understand why I have to do it again. The simple fact is Johnston paid me to have sex with him. He was my only client for over ten years. I also run a small operation with some girls of my own. I like the term escort, but if you prefer whore or prostitute, I can live with it. I stopped worrying about other people’s labels a long time ago.

“That’s all there is. It’s no real secret. I had sex with a rich man who paid me well in return. I refuse to share intimate details, and I hope you won’t try to make me.” She looked pleadingly at the lawyer who shook his head. “That won’t be necessary, Betty. You can proceed to the next session, thank you.”

Betty sat with her hands folded in her lap as she endured everyone’s scrutiny. No one spoke to her, some of the men looked at Betty with interest, but she was used to that. The women looked down their noses at her, with the exception of Winnie, but Betty was used to that. There were no questions so William dipped his hand into the glass and stirred the papers before he picked out the third name.

$

“Larry. Larry MacLean, it’s your turn.”

MacLean was relaxed. The people he might have wanted to keep his secret from already knew it and the others did not matter. He drew a deep breath. “I’m broke. My family is flat broke. Johnston has been supporting me for several years. My brother, who we trusted to manage the family trust, went rogue and stole or lost all our wealth. I turned to my oldest friend for help. I’m not sure how that might be used against him, or me, but there it is. Larry MacLean is heir to no fortune and needed his best friend’s charity to sustain his lifestyle.”

He leaned back in his seat and watched the reactions. The family showed no surprise, they already knew about his family trouble. Freddie chuckled quietly which made Larry angry, but no one else cared. Most of the people were too consumed with dread for when their own time in the spotlight came to worry about Larry’s minor revelation.

He looked at the lawyer. “Did I miss anything, Bill?”

William looked at MacLean and shook his head. “Actually Larry, while that was an interesting story, it is not the secret Mr. Thurwell required you to share.”

The color drained from MacLean’s face. “What do you mean, not the right secret? There are no other secrets.” Larry’s mind reeled. He did have another secret, but he never suspected his friend knew about it. Surely, he could not have found out? Larry’s heart raced and fear gripped his stomach as he tried to think of another secret, any secret, that was not the awful truth.