Liam’s smile was unexpected, but appreciated. Maybe he wanted to say something else, and a joke was the only way he could express it.
‘I’ll go to any lengths for a good story.’ In half a beat of silence, Flick regained her mind. ‘Can I borrow Siri?’
Liam didn’t second guess her anymore; he took his iPhone from his pocket and slid it across to her. Flick shuffled down and out of the booth before Liam could say another word. There had been too many delays, now Flick had to get the job done.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Getting to where she wanted to go took nearly twenty minutes. An internet search gave Flick all the required details, including directions. One quick call to her target’s assistant gave Flick the last of the information she needed.
Her fear had been that if he was at home, getting there and back in time would be impossible, and Flick didn’t want to isolate herself in his private residence. So when she found out her target was still at his office, it worked out for the best. Focusing on the job distracted her from the knowledge that any hope of Rushe being alive was dwindling by the second.
Ascending in the elevator alone, Flick took advantage of the precious few seconds to fortify herself for what she was about to do. The lift doors clunked open, and she stepped into the fancy reception area with its broad metal reception desk and muted lighting. No doubt it was some attempt at post-modern but Flick just found the environment cold, which didn’t bode well for what was to come.
At this hour of the evening there was no one staffing the reception desk, so Flick went straight past it and began to look around for the office of the man she sought. The office furthest from her current position was the only one that still had its lights on. In the open plan space between her and it there were a few members of staff still working.
The trick to getting to where you needed to go without interference was to act as if you belonged; Rushe had said something to that effect. Her father walked everywhere like he was already late. Rushe didn’t have to walk fast; his stride was long enough to get anywhere quickly. So Flick paid no attention to the employees, fixed her sights on that office, and got there as fast as she could.
A woman at the desk next to the office door stood up, but Flick didn’t wait to announce herself. If she did that then there was a chance she could be ejected, and this step was too vital to take that risk. So ignoring the pleas of the woman, Flick grabbed the office door handle and walked straight in.
The man she was looking for stood at the window, on the phone. Her abrupt entry caused him to turn, and though Flick sensed someone on her heels she maintained her focus on the man cropped in the tall window.
‘I’m sorry, Mr. Davis, she came straight in—‘
‘That’s alright,’ Davis said to the assistant standing behind Flick, and then he spoke into the phone. ‘I’ll call you back.’
Davis disconnected the line, and Flick heard the office door close so she assumed that they were now alone.
‘Do you know who I am?’
‘No,’ Davis said. ‘I should though, shouldn’t I?’
Flick could tell he was mentally trawling in an attempt to place her seemingly familiar face. ‘The Lounge, Galante’s Waterside Casino.’
Davis sighed. ‘One of Joey’s girls?’
‘No,’ Flick said. ‘Actually, you probably know me as Evan Whyte’s girl... former.’
She watched the tremor of comprehension float over Davis. Her statement had an impact, but she couldn’t read exactly what it was. He could be surprised, or maybe he now recalled her. Maybe he knew something about Whyte’s fetish. Maybe he had been on the phone to one of last night’s assailants when she entered his office.
‘Why are you here?’ he asked, strolling back to the desk to replace the phone handset in its cradle.
‘I’m here for answers,’ Flick said, awaking Davis’ interest. ‘Something happened last night. Something that—‘
‘I don’t want to know,’ Davis said, shaking his head.
‘Why not?’ Flick asked; he’d further aroused her curiosity. ‘You know, don’t you? You know what they do.’
‘I do not know anything,’ Davis said, too abruptly for the statement to be true.
‘I had an interesting conversation with your wife the night we met,’ Flick said, straightening Davis’ posture. ‘Eleanor’s a very approachable woman; she’s very easy to talk to. But you know that, you’ve been married for fifteen years...’
‘You leave my wife out of this.’
Flick had never threatened anyone, not without provocation. Rushe had to be watching over her, rooting for her, and inspiring her with this confidence because she sauntered further into the room, admiring her surroundings as she went.
‘Your wife thinks your friends are animals, doesn’t she?’ Flick knew it from the way Eleanor snubbed them. ‘She’s very perceptive.’
‘I love my wife very much, and if you think—‘
‘Does she know about Jeri?’ The word, the name, made Davis blanch.
‘I had nothing to do with that.’
‘Really?’ Flick asked. ‘Because you just said that you didn’t know anything. Yet, you immediately know what I’m referring to.’
‘Jeri worked at the Rich Room before she moved to the X-Lounge, she was a valued employee. I read in the newspaper about what happened to her... it was very tragic. A lot of young people these days are involved in dangerous social behaviours.’
‘Were you intimate with her? I saw Jeri come into the Lounge to talk to you. How would Eleanor feel about that?’
‘I have always been faithful,’ Davis said.
Considering present circumstances, Davis had got himself riled in a hurry. He should have the advantage here on his home turf. Flick was a tiny little thing, so she was no immediate physical threat. But sweat broke out on Davis’ brow, and though he still met Flick’s eye, she sensed a cornered animal.
‘You know what they do to women, don’t you? Are you a part of it?’ she asked. ‘How many women have you seduced, only to watch them die?’
‘I have never seduced anyone! I will not be a part of it. I love my wife!’
This was a man afraid. He was powerful, rich, and intimidating in himself. He was happy to socialise with Whyte and with Galante, and he’d flirted with Flick as well. When she had entered here he hadn’t been uneasy, but Flick saw it now. His reaction to her allusion was visceral.
‘How long has it been going on?’ Flick asked. ‘When did it start, Mr. Davis, may I call you Richard?’ He didn’t speak. ‘Does your business partner, Johnson, know? I’ve never met him, but I know your two families have worked together for generations. Why are you in financial trouble now? Why did Evan Whyte have to bail you out?’
‘He did not.’
‘Why did he give you money? To silence you, perhaps?’
‘What is it you want?’
‘I want to know what they did last night,’ Flick said.
‘I was not in Evan Whyte’s company last night,’ Davis said.
‘Tell me when it started... I know Whyte gave you money, he told me he did. No doubt he believed he could give out that sort of information, any information, to a woman he believed would be dead soon... Should I get in touch with Johnson and ask him about the money?’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘I do,’ Flick said. ‘I know what they do to women. I know about Galante and about Joey having sex with Evan Whyte’s women. I know he likes to watch them do it. I know the women are oblivious, the first time at least. It’s sordid, and as far as I know you’re a key player in it; you’re compliant if nothing else. What would headlines about this do to your clubs? What would they do to your marriage?’
‘You threaten me with no regard for your own safety,’ Davis said. ‘If they find out you’re asking—‘
‘Answer my questions, or I’ll make sure Eleanor, and Johnson, know all about your role in this depravity.’
�
�This is nothing to do with me; I’m no part of it. Rosa makes the rules for them, Galante and Joey, Whyte too; they’re all bound to her.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s none of your business.’
‘You should worry less about protecting the honour of murderers, and more about the safety of your precious wife. Do you think I’m working alone?’ Flick said with ferocious, if unfounded, sincerity. ‘Would you like Eleanor to hear the sickening truth of how Jeri died? Tell me why Rosa controls them, how she controls them. You give me the details, and I’ll leave you both alone.’
‘The relationship between them all goes back more than a decade. They’re like family, but... Rosa was abused by her own father, and since the breakdown of her relationship with Joey... That girl didn’t have a chance to make a decent life for herself.’
‘We’re supposed to feel sorry for her?’
‘No,’ Davis sighed, and sank down into his chair. ‘She is out of hand, but it’s been coming for years, ever since the three of them went to school together, Rosa, Evan and Joey. She and Joey were high school sweethearts. But she was caught with another man – they were alone in his parents’ house. They were only found out because the police were called, and...’
‘Whyte was caught watching them,’ Flick said, settling herself in the guest seat at his desk.
Rosa’s name was the one in the police report of Whyte’s arrest. She had been stepping out on Joey when Whyte broke in to watch. The boy Rosa was fooling around with was panicked by the intruder, and so he called the cops. After that, the truth of Rosa’s infidelity would have been revealed, and the truth of Whyte’s vice, too.
‘Whyte’s father put him in a rehabilitation facility for a while, but I suppose it didn’t stick. Joey went off the rails after her betrayal; he got involved in drugs and sex.’
Rosa had accused Joey of cheating first, but it seemed now that wasn’t the case. ‘When did she start sleeping with Galante Senior?’
‘She too has unsavoury sexual tastes. Joey’s wild behaviour unsettled her. Galante stepped in as a father figure, to silence her about Whyte’s arrest because he was already showing promise and a drive for business; Whyte was already making money, but not enough to take care of the Rosa problem alone, and his family is not particularly wealthy. The boy had been easily paid off, and he didn’t know who Whyte was anyway. Eventually Rosa agreed to keep quiet for Galante, she got paid... and she got sex too.’
‘From Galante? To punish Joey?’
‘That was when the relationship commenced,’ Davis said. ‘That is all I know.’
‘But he wouldn’t commit to her, that’s what Rosa wanted.’
‘No, no, no,’ Davis said, dropping into his chair. ‘You’ve got it backwards, she ensorcelled him from the start, her untamed ways beguiled him. Rosa wouldn’t commit to Galante. He’s a man in love; he’s asked her to marry him dozens of times.’
‘She refused, why?’
‘Joey got clean, the two of them...’
‘They started sleeping together again?’ Flick said. ‘Both of the Galante men love Rosa, so that’s why they keep quiet about this. But Whyte...?’
‘He couldn’t let her reveal what she knew. Through the years as his fortunes have increased, so have Rosa’s. If he tried to cut her off, she made damn sure he knew she’d damage his prosperity too. A large part of his success is predicated on his credibility,’ Davis said. ‘He’s known for his generosity, and for his clean living. He’s seen as reliable and altruistic. Whyte the man is as much a part of the brand he sells as any of his hotels. To have the truth come out, his reputation would be ruined; he would be a joke.’
‘So Rosa got anything she wanted as long as she kept quiet,’ Flick said.
‘She’s the reason he built the Waterside Hotel, with the casino for Galante.’
‘All this time she’s been blackmailing him,’ Flick murmured and sat again. ‘But if she had all the money she wanted, why run the racquet out of the Lounge? Why drug and rob men?’
‘Oh, that’s a silly game,’ Davis barked. ‘The girl has no sense. She enjoys making fools of those idiots. Getting them into such positions and taking advantage is entertainment.’
If Rosa had been abused and had spent her life having promiscuous sex, it stood to reason that she enjoyed taking advantage of men, who may have at one time taken advantage of her.
‘It started to get her into trouble. She wasn’t going to get away with it forever.’
‘No,’ Davis said. ‘Whyte threatened to inform the police; I think he saw it as his chance to get rid of Rosa.’
‘Galante and Joey wouldn’t let that happen.’
‘No, this was when they began to...’
‘To what?’
‘Whyte tried to get his kicks with prostitutes, but their knowledge of his observation lessened his gratification.’
‘So to keep Whyte quiet about Rosa’s criminality, they began seducing Whyte’s girlfriends and allowing him to watch, without the women’s knowledge?’
Davis answered with a single nod and closed his eyes. ‘It went on for years. The blackmail and the sex was one thing, making fools of those men for sport was another, an escalation.’
‘To murder?’
‘I will not comment on that ridiculous fantasy.’
‘Will the police see it that way?’
‘If you had something worthy of police attention, you would be there,’ Davis said.
‘I know that Jeri was found dead. I know that my former co-worker Nancy is missing. I know that Lisa Lewis is dead. It seems to me that all women connected with that Lounge end up dead... like Susan did.’
‘You have done your homework,’ Davis said. ‘But I fail to see what this has to do with me, or what it has to do with you. You’re sitting here perfectly healthy, though you’re somewhat tattered and worn around the edges, if you’ll excuse my saying so.’
Davis was enigmatic, and Flick wondered if she’d jumped to conclusions in her assumption that he’d be a sleaze. If he claimed to be faithful to Eleanor, Flick had no evidence to refute that. Jeri might have spoken to Davis in the Lounge, but Flick couldn’t testify to what their conversation had been about.
His apology to her for his comment reminded Flick of her own father, Charles Hughes, the epitome of perfect breeding yet somehow, lacking.
‘I had a bad night; I woke up in a hospital.’
‘That is a bad night.’
‘It was worse for the man I love,’ Flick said. ‘They murdered him.’
Flick’s aim was to commit every detail of Davis’ reaction to memory. It might have been his intention to conceal how he felt about it, but Flick was used to reading the nuance of Rushe’s subtle expressions. Davis was shocked but concerned, she would guess more for his own wellbeing than hers.
‘That’s unfortunate.’
‘Who reacts to the news of a murder like that?’ Flick said. ‘I’m accusing your friends of murder. They were all there, Joseph Galante Senior and Joseph Galante Junior, Evan Whyte was there, and Rosa Vallario, the Lounge hostess.’
‘I’m not sure what you want me to say, do you wish me to be shocked, or outraged? I am outraged at your accusation, but I don’t see a shred of proof.’
‘You don’t want to know how they did it? Or what their motive was?’ Flick asked. ‘I think that tells me all I need to know.’
‘Good.’
‘I had hoped that you would be a decent enough person to want to help. To want these senseless deaths to end.’ She stood and began to head for the door. ‘We’ll see what the police think.’
‘No!’
Flick stopped, and when she turned back she saw Davis on his feet with a hand on the desk to support him as he leaned toward her, and that sweat on his brow had returned. She sauntered back toward him. ‘Why are you worried? Do you think they’ll turn on you?’
‘The police will never believe you. Whyte has many of them in his pocket, those he doesn’t, he can easily extort
. But the King Club...’
‘I don’t have anything left to lose Mr Davis. I’m interested in knowing the truth, where it started, what everyone’s link is.’ Depositing her hands on the desk, on either side of Davis’, Flick leaned in close. ‘I’m looking for a soft spot to squeeze, and if that soft spot turns out to be you... I hope your wife can handle the pressure.’
‘Eleanor is—’
The office door opened, she and Davis turned to see the assistant from the outer desk. The tall brunette with the small oval glasses took a few seconds to say anything.
‘Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt but we’ve had a call and...’
‘What is it?’ Davis demanded. ‘Is it Eleanor?’
Flick had made Davis paranoid already, which was all the better for her cause. ‘No,’ the brunette said. ‘Evan Whyte and Joseph Galante are missing.’
‘Missing?’
‘Carjacked,’ the assistant said. ‘The driver was shot on site, there were reports of other gunshots, but... whoever did it got in the car and took off with the two men still in the vehicle.’
Flick’s smile spread as she slowly looked back to Davis. ‘Feeling squeezed yet, Richard?’
‘Leave us!’ Davis demanded, and the assistant scurried away. Panic was beginning to build in Davis, pushing him toward his breaking point. ‘Where are they?’
‘You expect me to give you information when you’ve given me none?’ Flick had no idea what had happened with the carjacking, and she had no idea where Galante or Whyte were. But the timing of the incident, and its announcement to Davis here, couldn’t have worked out more in her favour.
‘What do you want from me?’
‘Tell me how it started,’ she demanded. ‘Why do they do it? How did it start? Tell me!’
Flick raised her voice, and the increase in volume did have an effect on him, but she knew she had to be careful of outside ears listening in. Davis may be the only link she had to finding out Rushe’s fate, so rousing security wouldn’t serve her interest.
‘The first death was accidental,’ he said. ‘They have parties, sex parties, I don’t know what you’d call them, partner swapping and group... activities.’
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