Grace hesitated. “Go on.”
“They said they were debt collectors. ‘Legitimate businessmen,’ that’s how they described themselves. They came to the house and showed me pictures of women being raped and mutilated. They said Maria would be next. Then a month before the Quorum Ball, one of them showed up at the office. He brought a severed finger, wrapped in a kitchen towel.” Andrew closed his eyes at the memory. “I’d paid off what Maria owed by then, but they still came back for more. They wanted interest, hundreds of thousands. It was never going to end. I couldn’t go to the police, in case they found out about the money I’d stolen from Quorum. So I contacted Le Bron. He and his people took care of it.”
Grace tried to take this in. When she’d read the file entry about Andrew’s embezzlement and learned of his contacts with the New York gang, she was sure she’d found her man. It all made sense: the thefts Lenny had discovered were the tip of the iceberg. In reality, Andrew must have been siphoning off billions from Quorum’s coffers, cooking the books to make it look like Lenny was the thief. Then he’d hired a professional hit man to murder Lenny, and stood by and watched while Grace took the blame. But listening to Andrew talk, watching the horror on his face as he remembered the threats made to Maria, she was convinced he was telling her the truth.
Andrew Preston was not Lenny’s killer.
It was a crushing blow.
“Lenny was like a father to me, Grace, and I betrayed him. I’ll carry the guilt of that with me till the day I die. But I never wanted him dead. Not like Jack Warner.”
Grace had read Davey’s file on Jack, too. She knew about the gambling debts and Lenny’s refusal to pay them. But it hardly amounted to a motive for murder. Besides, Jack’s alibi was rock solid. The coast guard had rescued him miles away from where Lenny’s boat was found.
“Jack was mad at Lenny. I know that.”
“Mad?” Andrew looked surprised. “He hated him, Grace. Lenny had Warner over a barrel. He knew all of his dirty little secrets. Everyone in the Senate knew that Jack Warner was Quorum’s puppet, that he voted however Lenny Brookstein told him to vote. Lenny squeezed Jack like a wet rag. The guy couldn’t breathe.”
Grace looked disbelieving. “I’m sure it wasn’t like that. Lenny would never have blackmailed Jack. He would never have blackmailed anyone.”
Andrew Preston smiled. It was a flash of the old Grace. Unquestioning, adoring, convinced that Lenny could do no wrong. Not that he blamed her. Andrew knew better than anyone what it was like to love someone so much you would defend them against all reason.
“Grace,” he said gently, “whatever happened to Lenny, it happened at sea and it happened on the day of the storm. Jack was also out on the water that day, remember?”
Grace remembered. Like Michael Gray, Jack Warner was an expert sailor. Expert enough to somehow board Lenny’s boat and kill him? To dump him overboard and make it look like an accident? It was possible.
“Try to find a lady called Jasmine,” said Andrew. “That’s the best advice I can give you. She might make you see things in a different light.”
MITCH HAD GONE TO THE PRESTONS’ apartment on impulse. He’d hoped to quiz Andrew about his alleged embezzlement from Quorum, but was met instead by a hysterical Maria. It was almost midnight, and Andrew hadn’t called. No one had seen him since he left the office at five. She’d called the police but no one took her seriously. Mitch did. “Let me pour you a brandy, Mrs. Preston.”
Had Grace taken the law into her own hands? By now, she would know that Andrew had been stealing from Lenny. What if she’d abducted him? Or worse? If Grace got it into her head that Andrew was behind Lenny’s death, there was no telling what she might be capable of.
When the apartment door opened and Andrew Preston walked in, Mitch was at least as relieved as Maria. Andrew’s shirt was bloodied and his nose badly bruised, but he seemed calm. Unlike his wife, who flung herself melodramatically into his arms.
“Oh, Andy, Andy! What happened? I’ve been out of my mind. Where have you been?”
“At the hospital. I’m fine, Maria. I had a slight accident, that’s all.”
“What sort of accident?”
“Ridiculous really. I slipped and fell in the rain and landed flat on my face on the sidewalk. I would have called, but I was stuck in the ER for hours. You know what those places are like. I didn’t want to worry you, darling.”
“Well, you did worry me. The police are here.”
Maria gestured toward Mitch. Andrew Preston recognized him from the TV reports as the guy who was looking for Grace. He did his best to sound nonchalant. “My goodness. Does one errant husband warrant a search party these days? I’m sorry if I’ve caused any trouble, Detective.”
“Not at all, Mr. Preston. I actually came to talk with you about another matter, but it can wait. I’m glad to see you home safe. Look, this is probably going to sound like a ridiculous question. But I don’t suppose Grace Brookstein has tried to contact you by any chance. In the last forty-eight hours?”
Andrew looked puzzled. “Grace? Contact me? No. Why on earth would she do that?”
“No reason,” said Mitch. “I’ll see myself out.”
LATER, IN BED, ANDREW WATCHED HIS wife sleep. I love you so much, my angel. He’d been touched by Maria’s concern when he got home. Perhaps things were going to be all right between them after all?
He’d considered telling Detective Connors the truth about Grace and what had happened that afternoon. But only for a moment. Grace had spared his life and forgiven him his sins. The least he could do was return the favor.
If Lenny really had been murdered, Andrew wished Grace luck in finding his killer. Whatever the world might think, Lenny Brookstein had been a good man. Reaching across the bed for Maria, Andrew pulled her close, inhaling the heady scent of her body. The faint whiff of aftershave he detected as well brought tears to his eyes.
Andrew Preston never wore aftershave.
TWENTY-THREE
JASMINE DELEVIGNE ADMIRED HER NAKED BODY in the mirror. She was twenty-four years old, with smooth café au lait skin, long, slender legs and a new set of perfect silicone breasts, a birthday present from a powerful client. Cupping them lovingly in her hands, Jasmine thought, No. He’s more than a client. He’s my lover. I adore him.
It was unlike Jasmine to get attached to the men who paid to share her bed. The daughter of a French businessman and a Persian princess, Jasmine Delevigne didn’t need the money she earned as a hooker. She did it for the thrill. Just knowing that rich, powerful men, men with beautiful wives and even more beautiful mistresses, found her irresistible, so intoxicating that they would pay for the privilege of bedding her, gave Jasmine an incredible high. It was years since she’d dipped into her trust fund. Her Fifth Avenue apartment, her vintage MG convertible, her wardrobe full of couture dresses and thousand-dollar-a-pair shoes; Jasmine’s perfect body had paid for them all. Other people might call her a whore. People like her father, who lavished all his attention on Jasmine’s mother and never noticed his daughter’s efforts to please him. But Jasmine didn’t care what they thought.
I’m a feminist. I fuck who I like, when I like, because I like. I answer to no one.
She wandered into her dressing room and picked out some underwear. Chocolate-brown, silk La Perla panties and a matching camisole. Classy and feminine. Just how he likes it. It had been weeks since Jasmine had seen him and she was excited. There were others, of course. All her clients were good-looking, successful men, and all of them were good in bed. Jasmine Delevigne was the best, and she only worked with the best. But none of the other men had gotten to her the way that he did.
The buzzer rang.
He’s early. He wants this as much as I do.
Jasmine opened the door coolly, like the princess that she was.
“Hello, darling.”
He grabbed her by the throat. “Take your fucking clothes off. Now.”
Jasmine’s pupils dilated wit
h excitement. I’ve missed you so much.
“PLEASE! NO!”
Gavin Williams tightened the knots around Grace Brookstein’s wrists. Then he lifted the cane and brought it down hard across the backs of her legs. Two livid red welts joined the others. Gavin Williams smiled.
“I’ll ask you again, Grace. Where is the money?”
She was crying. Begging. Lenny Brookstein’s wife, his most treasured possession, was begging him, Gavin Williams, for mercy. But Gavin Williams would show no mercy.
Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more.
He felt himself getting hard. He lifted the cane again.
“Excuse me, sir? Are you okay?”
Gavin Williams’s fantasy evaporated. He was back at his desk at the SIBL, the Science, Industry and Business Library on Madison Avenue. The librarian was standing over him. Stupid, meddlesome bitch. Why couldn’t she mind her own business?
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? You look very flushed. Would you like me to open a window or something?”
“No,” Gavin snapped. The old woman got the point and returned to her seat.
It was ridiculous, being forced to work in a public library. After Harry Bain had summarily dismissed him from the Quorum task force, Gavin’s bureau chief had insisted that he take a paid leave of absence.
“You’re stressed out, Agent Williams. You need some time off. Happens to all of us.”
It happens to weak idiots like you, you mean. Not to me.
“I’m fine. I’m ready for service.”
“Take the vacation, Gavin, okay? We’ll call you in a couple of months.”
A couple of months? Gavin knew what was going on. John Merrivale had been conspiring against him. Poisoning the well. They all think I’m crazy. Obsessive. But I’ll show them. When Grace Brookstein leads me to that money, they’ll be eating their words. I’m close. I can feel it.
Gavin Williams pulled an antiseptic wipe out of his briefcase and started cleaning the spot where the librarian’s fingers had touched his desk. Then he closed his eyes and tried to recapture his fantasy: Grace Brookstein, at his mercy, tied up like an animal.
It was no use. She was gone.
“SIR, TAKE A LOOK AT THIS.”
Mitch leaned over the younger detective’s computer screen.
“You asked me to do some digging on Senator Warner. This e-mail just came in from vice squad.”
Mitch read the e-mail.
“No one ever followed this up?”
“It appears not, sir. Senator Warner’s a big supporter of NYPD causes.”
I’ll bet he is.
“This is all off-the-record. My buddy in vice was doing me a favor. I told him we’d handle it sensitively.”
“Do you have an address for the girl?”
“Yes, sir. It’s a pretty swanky address, too.” The detective clicked to another window. “Do you think maybe we should send a female officer out there first? We don’t want to spook her.”
JACK WARNER SAT IN THE BACK of his limousine, feeling the adrenaline course through his veins. Being with Jasmine again, touching her, fucking her, gorging himself on her body…it was the best feeling in the world. Knowing that the whole of America idolized him as a Christian conservative, a walking embodiment of righteous ness and family values, only added to the thrill. Jack remembered Fred Farrell’s advice to him, about his gambling.
“I get it. It’s a turn-on. All this risk. But is it as much of a turn-on as being the next president of the United States? That’s what you have to ask yourself, Jack. You could lose everything.”
Ah, yes. But that was the thrill, wasn’t it? Knowing you could lose everything. Fred Farrell knew about the gambling and the extramarital flings. But he didn’t know about Jasmine. Only one person had ever known about Jasmine.
And that person was a rotting, worm-eaten corpse by the name of Lenny Brookstein.
JASMINE DELEVIGNE POURED TEA FROM A silver pot into two porcelain cups. She handed one of them to the policewoman.
The officer, a nerdy, pale young woman with short black hair and thick plastic-framed glasses, looked around the sumptuous apartment and thought, I’m in the wrong business.
“Sugar?”
“Oh. No, thank you. You have a beautiful place.”
“Thanks. I’ve worked hard for it.” Jasmine leaned back on the Ralph Lauren suede couch and crossed her long legs demurely. “So. You want to know about Senator Warner?”
When the female cop had showed up unannounced, asking questions about Jack and his relationship to Leonard Brookstein, Jasmine’s first reaction was panic. Her second was loyalty. Jasmine loved Jack. She couldn’t betray him. But it was her third reaction, self-interest, that eventually won the day. This could be her chance to pry Jack away from his wife at last. He only stayed with Honor because she was necessary to his political ambitions. It stood to reason that if those political ambitions were to die, then so would his marriage.
“How long have the two of you known each other?”
Jasmine took a sip of tea. “Socially, about five years. We’ve been lovers for three. Cookie?”
This girl’s a piece of work.
“No, thank you. You say ‘lovers.’”
“You’re right. I should probably clarify. Senator Warner is a client of mine. He pays for my services.” She spoke without a hint of shame. “Nevertheless, I would characterize our relationship as a love match. We adore each other.”
“I see. So Senator Warner confides in you?”
“Absolutely.”
“I wonder, did he ever talk to you about Lenny Brookstein?”
“He did. Lenny knew about us. He was the only one who knew.”
“Jack told him?”
“No! God, no. He found out somehow. Lenny Brookstein was blackmailing Jack. He was a vicious, bullying man and he made Jack’s life hell. When I heard he’d killed himself, I was pleased. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”
The policewoman sat up, startled by the girl’s bluntness. Jasmine noticed the reaction.
“I’m sorry.” She shrugged. “I could lie about it, but I don’t see the point. I hated Lenny Brookstein. Jack and I both did. He was a manipulator and a fake.”
“Ms. Delevigne, in your opinion, did Senator Warner hate Lenny Brookstein enough to want to have him killed? Or to kill him himself?”
Jasmine smiled. The policewoman thought, Even her teeth are perfect.
“Did he hate him enough? Absolutely. Lenny was threatening to destroy everything Jack had ever worked for. He would force Jack to swing votes in Quorum’s favor, back when they were rewriting all that hedge fund legislation, you remember?” The policewoman nodded. “Every time Lenny would tell Jack, ‘This is it, one more vote and you’re off the hook.’ But every time he would come back for more, squeezing and squeezing.” Jasmine shook her head angrily. “Jack hated Lenny Brookstein with good reason. But he didn’t kill him.”
“You sound sure of that.”
“I am sure. Jack was supposed to be out sailing that day, you see. The day of the storm, when Lenny Brookstein went missing.”
The policewoman looked at her notes. “That’s right. He did go sailing. The Nantucket coast guard rescued him, six miles off Sankaty Head. He returned to the Brookstein estate at around…six o’clock that night.”
“The coast guard didn’t rescue Jack. At least, not in the way you mean.”
“I’m sorry?” The policewoman frowned. “I don’t follow.”
“Jack never took the boat out. He was with me all day, in a beachside cottage in Siasconset. The coast guard covered for him.”
“You mean the coast guard helped Senator Warner to give a false alibi? They lied?”
Jasmine laughed, a low, sensual vibration that brought her whole body to life. “Don’t look so shocked. It happens all the time. Senator Warner’s a powerful man. People scratch Jack’s back so that he’ll scratch theirs. I’d ha
ve thought, in your profession, you’d be used to that sort of thing. I certainly am in mine.”
Jasmine politely showed the officer to the door. As she left, Jasmine asked her, “So the police think Lenny Brookstein might have been murdered? I’ve been following the case but I hadn’t heard anything about murder.”
“It’s a possibility we’re considering.”
“Do you think that means things will come out now? About me and Jack?” Jasmine cocked her head to one side, hopefully. The policewoman thought, So that’s it. She wants people to know. She’s hoping to force the senator’s hand so he’ll leave his wife.
“I don’t know, Ms. Delevigne. That’s not for me to say.”
Jasmine leaned forward conspiratorially. “My money’s on his mistress. That woman is as hard as nails.”
The policewoman smiled. “I think you must be mistaken. Mr. Brookstein didn’t have a mistress.”
“Sure he did. Connie Gray, his sister-in-law. They were lovers till Lenny abandoned her and went crawling back to his wife. Didn’t you know?”
TWENTY-FOUR
POLICE! OPEN THE DOOR, MS. DELEVIGNE.”
Jasmine sighed. Again? What do they want this time?
She opened the door.
“Hey, I know you, don’t I?”
DOWNSTAIRS IN THE LOBBY, GRACE LOCKED the door of the ladies’ room. Removing her black wig and eyeglasses, she stepped out of her police uniform, folded it neatly and placed it in the toilet cistern. Only after she’d replaced the lid of the cistern and straightened her own clothes did she collapse onto the floor and cry.
No. Not Lenny. Not my Lenny.
With my own sister?
He couldn’t.
She cast her mind back. Lenny and Connie had always gotten along. They were kindred spirits in a way, both tough, both ambitious. The opposite of me. She remembered the pair of them dancing at the Quorum Ball, deep in conversation. Connie arguing with Lenny on the beach in Nantucket, then storming off in tears. I thought he was comforting her, because of Michael. Because of all the money they’d lost. How could I have been so blind?
Sidney Sheldon's After the Darkness Page 23
