“That still doesn’t explain why her EpiPen wasn’t used to save her.”
“Martin says he couldn’t find it.” Gwen’s close to pleading at this point, not wanting this tragedy to derail any of their plans, personal or professional.
“No, that doesn’t add up. Martin is one of the smartest men I’ve ever met, but the police say they found the EpiPen in her purse almost immediately.”
“Well, sweetie, that sounds like something you’ll have to talk to Martin about.”
Gwen agrees wholeheartedly with Adam’s assessment of Martin’s intelligence. Hopefully, if Adam brings these conspiracy theories up to him, he can help Gwen talk Adam into moving on.
“He’ll be at my birthday party next week, of course,” says Adam. “But maybe I’ll try to reach out to him before then.”
“That’s a good idea, sweetie.” Gwen doesn’t say anything more, hoping the silence will help Adam’s mind wander to a new subject. She lets the roar of the engine fill the car as the McLaren accelerates onto the highway.
The rain is slowing down traffic but Adam has no patience for it. He learned to drive in the rain, so this is when he’s most comfortable behind the wheel. He weaves in and out of traffic, trying to use the daring driving to distract himself from his mother. It isn’t working.
After a few minutes, Gwen brushes her auburn hair over her shoulder and begins to nudge him in a new direction. “My parents are going to Fiji for Thanksgiving. It could be fun if we travel somewhere too.”
Gwen’s parents met at Stanford thirty years ago as undergraduates in Stanford’s famous computer science program. Her dad and his roommate had come up with a new way to code online stores and convinced her mom to drop out with them. Together, they founded one of the pioneers of the first internet tech boom. Their code is responsible for many of the websites that introduced people to online shopping, yet few have ever heard of them or their company.
Gwen’s parents were smart, selling before the bubble burst and living their life in wealthy anonymity. Her dad now spends his days acting like a venture capitalist, although his ventures are few and far between. Philanthropy takes up all her mom’s attention. Despite growing up in the Bay area, Gwen now sees her parents more often in New York, Europe, or on a beach in the South Pacific.
“Fiji is boring.” Adam knows this makes him sound spoiled and arrogant; most of the things he says out loud give off that impression.
“Well, do you have a better idea for Thanksgiving?” Gwen grew up around arrogance and is unbothered by Adam’s attitude, and she herself is exceptionally spoiled.
“Might just spend Thanksgiving alone with my dad. It’ll be the first major holiday without Mom and I bet it will be hard on both of us. But don’t let our pity party hold you back from vacationing with your family.”
Adam’s able to say this right to her face without feeling the least bit of guilt about lying.
He rarely spends holidays with his father. Mr. Pender’s usually working, and if by some miracle he isn’t, there are many activities he considers more enjoyable than spending time at home with his son.
Adam’s best friend, Landry, has watched this play out many times over the years and has already made plans to cheer Adam up over Thanksgiving weekend. They’ll be in Dallas on Thanksgiving Thursday, thanks to a private box from Landry’s hedge fund. After the football game, they’ll be jetting off to Miami for the weekend, hopefully coming back to work on the Monday with a tan and fun memories.
“Well, we should go somewhere before New Year’s,” Gwen says. “I don’t want this depressing rain to be all you see.”
Pulling off the highway, Gwen can barely see the car in front of them through the rain and fog. She’s comfortable with Adam behind the wheel; she never wants to drive in these conditions.
“Don’t worry, we’ll think of something.”
Adam lets the clicking turn signal act as an excuse for not saying more as they turn down his driveway. Turning to check his blind spot unnecessarily, Gwen can’t see the irritation in Adam’s eyes. When she looks back over, she assumes his constipated expression is due to trying to see the house through the weather.
She’s about to start speaking again when the sight of the Pender home catches them both off guard.
Caterers.
Adam turns the windshield wipers up to their highest speed, hoping they can wash away the image before them.
“I thought your dad was hosting a reception at the church?” Gwen asks.
“He is, that’s why we left.” Adam finds it irksome when people ask questions despite knowing he has no more information than they do on the subject.
“So, who’s he having over?” Gwen assumes Adam’s just upset about his mother, not imagining she could be making it worse.
“We’re about to find out.”
Adam puts the car in park but waits a moment to get out, taking a deep breath and gathering up the courage to face more people on this terrible day.
He leads Gwen into the house, frowning at the waitstaff plating hors d’oeuvres and spreading clean white linens around the room. He just wants to be alone, why can’t his father understand this?
Adam takes Gwen upstairs to his room, walking right past the unwelcome intruders without saying a word.
After changing out of their funeral attire, they return downstairs to find the home far more crowded. It appears the Pender residence is now occupied by every family member in attendance at the funeral and many of the people who spoke with Mr. Pender at the reception.
Adam will complain to his father about this later. For now, he claims a spot at the edge of the open bar, content with occupying it for the duration of the day. After ordering a martini, Gwen begins mingling and working the room, letting her boyfriend stew on his own in the corner.
Hardly any time passes before Gavin comes over to the bar. Glancing at Adam’s nearly empty glass, he has the bartender bring them two new whiskey neats.
“Been doing a shot every time someone says ‘sorry for your loss’?” Gavin asks, grinning and hoping his sarcasm can make Adam smile too. Adam does appreciate the comment but sipping the whiskey’s more important to him than showing Gavin his approval at this moment. “I’m surprised you guys wanted everyone moping around in your house, throwing their little pity parties despite barely knowing her.”
“Trust me, this was not my idea,” Adam mutters, coming up from the whiskey glass for a breath before diving right back in.
“Ah, I can see why Gwen is giving you so much space. Real cheerful to be around.” Gavin hopes needling his friend will get more of a reaction than complaining. Considering the circumstances, he has nothing to complain about compared to Adam. “Careful not to let her have too much space, otherwise someone else may take a run at her.”
“What happened to Ashley?” Finally, something draws Adam’s attention away from his whiskey; he doesn’t like the predatory look in Gavin’s eyes. “I heard you guys were going good.”
“She’s doing great. Unfortunately, she’s with a New York Yankee now, not me.” Gavin downs his drink after the change in subject, ready to catch up with Adam.
“Damn, that’s hard to compete against.”
“Take it from me, bro, never try the whole long-distance thing. There are just too many people in between.” Gavin takes the whiskey glass the bartender’s handing over to Adam, feeling he needs it more.
“Gwen and I made it work while I was studying at Harvard.” Adam looks to the bartender, making sure another drink’s on the way.
“Studying? You mean partying, bro. And with the money you guys have, she was up there practically every weekend. No one’s spent more time at Logan than her. You two could donate your frequent flyer miles and an entire Boston orphanage would visit the Bahamas.”
“Don’t be cruel, Gavin. Those poor kids would just burn in the Caribbean sun and spend their time covered in Aloe watching hotel room movies.”
Adam gets along so well with Gavin b
ecause they share the same dark sense of humor. They also met at Stanford when they were eighteen, a semester before Adam met Gwen. Gavin doesn’t come from the same class of wealth or social circles as them, but as a natural extrovert, he found no trouble working his way into their sphere. Networking comes naturally to him. Hardly a Silicon Valley party is thrown now without counting Gavin in attendance. He’s become something of a power broker over the past few years, helping introduce those with money to anyone with a good idea in search of financing. The Penders, Landry, and Gwen’s dad all have lucrative investments courtesy of Gavin.
“I’ll forget about Ashley soon. I’m dating a Laker girl now.” Gavin’s proud of his latest conquest, not one to shy away from boasting.
Adam bursts out laughing. “No one’s more likely to cheat on you with an athlete than a Laker girl. Learn a lesson, buddy.”
“Wait until you see this girl. She’s worth the risk.”
Adam’s thinking of new ways to call his friend an idiot when Martin catches his attention from across the room. Ordering another whiskey, Adam stands and excuses himself, beginning to work his way across the room in Martin’s direction.
Adam can remember Martin being in his life ever since he was a young boy. Originally, he’d been the headmaster of the small boarding school his father shipped Adam off to as soon as he was old enough; the same boarding school where Adam met his best friend, Landry.
Over the summers, the Penders compensated Martin quite generously to tutor Adam, something his father had hoped would give him a leg up academically. After graduating from the boarding school, Adam encountered Martin again as a professor at his next prep school. It turned out the Penders had taken quite a liking to Martin, paying him handsomely to leave the boarding school and take on a new position. After this display of loyalty to the Penders, Martin was awarded an advisory job at Pender Industries, while also continuing the private tutoring relationship with Adam.
By the time he reached Stanford, Adam regarded Martin as a greater father figure than his own dad had ever been. Martin even followed him to the Bay Area, taking an advisory position with Sahara and a few smaller start-ups. When Adam attended Harvard Business School, Martin joined a venture fund in Boston.
Where Adam goes, Martin follows. His continued loyalty did not go unnoticed by Adam’s parents, or unrewarded. Adam’s father eventually gave Martin a seat on the Pender Industries board; he’d been looking to give it to someone he trusted completely.
Their relationship has grown increasingly important to both Adam and Martin over the years. Adam values no advice greater than Martin’s, trusting his opinion fully.
“How are you holding up?” Moving across the room to meet Adam in his path, Martin catches him off guard.
“A bit confused, honestly. I still have so many questions about my mom.”
“Don’t we all.”
“Yeah, I’m hoping you could answer a few questions that have been nagging at me.” Adam can feel his nerves tense as Martin's face calmly smiles back at him.
“Of course, son. Anything I can do to help put your mind at ease,” Martin says as he gives Adam a pat on the shoulder, a comforting gesture to help settle the nerves and disarm him.
“That morning,” Adam speaks slowly and cautiously, not wanting to offend his mentor, “why were you having breakfast with my mother again?”
Martin sighs, taking a moment before answering. “Well, I suppose you know this now, but we were planning what was at the time your surprise birthday party. We figured you only turn 25 once and we wanted to put our heads together to give you a special celebration.”
“Why just the two of you? Gwen’s planning started the day after my last birthday, and she threw me a great party last year.”
“Well, you know your mother and Gwen didn’t maintain the best relationship.” Now it’s Martin’s turn to proceed cautiously. “Your mother had certain ideas she felt could clash with Gwen’s. She wanted to mark you turning 25 with a mature and respectable evening.”
Adam decides not to dwell on Martin’s thinly veiled references to his mother hating his girlfriend.
“When did you realize what was happening? With her going into shock?”
“After her second bite, she began wheezing and motioning at her throat. It was a horrible scene and one that I would rather not relive. if that’s alright with you.”
Martin seems ready to turn and walk away, forcing Adam to the point.
“Why didn’t you save my mom with her EpiPen?” Adam hopes the question doesn’t sound accusatory to Martin.
“We’ve been over this. She pointed at her purse and I went through all of it. I couldn’t find her EpiPen. I looked through every pouch and zipper, I would have been more productive calling an ambulance and shouting for a doctor the second I realized what was happening. Instead, I became flustered and lost in her bag.”
“But the police found it instantly. They told us it was right near the top of her purse.”
“Perhaps I dislodged it when I was searching through each pocket. I’m not sure, Adam. I just know I couldn’t find it and it certainly wasn’t on top when I started looking. I will never forget that morning. I just want the scene to stop playing in my head each time I close my eyes.”
“But it was right on top,” Adam persists, ignoring Martin’s clear signs of wishing to move on.
“Not when I looked through it. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
“The truth! This doesn’t add up.” Adam knows he sounds accusatory but is beyond the point of caring. He needs answers.
Martin looks around the room before responding. Adam’s outburst has drawn more attention their way than either is comfortable with.
“Adam, I’ve never lied to you. I have nothing to hide.”
Gwen emerges from the crowd gathering around them and takes Adam’s arm. Martin uses this split second to begin moving away. Adam again wants to be alone, so he lets him go, hoping other guests will follow Martin out the door.
“This is hard on everyone, sweetie. We just need some patience and time,” Gwen says.
Adam finally realizes she’s pleading with him to move on. He swallows his emotions and leaves the party, leaning on the mahogany banister for support as he descends the staircase down to the garage.
Speeding away from the Pender estate, Adam doesn’t think about where he’ll go, he lets the muscle memory take over. Before long, he recognizes he’s taking the back roads toward Snohomish. Adam only has one reason to ever go near Snohomish. He’s paying Boris a visit.
Now, knocking on the door, Adam realizes he probably should have called first. He has no idea if Boris is home but keeps knocking nonetheless. If he’s home, there’s no way Adam can be ignored.
As former Russian intelligence, the Penders trust Boris to do all of their dirty work. The details of Boris’s life are fuzzy to Adam. Anything he knows is second-hand information, mostly whispers and gossip.
Rumour is, Boris immigrated to Washington State from Russia several decades earlier. He’d spent his entire adult life up to that point working for Russian intelligence, primarily in Asia and the Middle East, meaning he had no marketable skills or relevant job experience when he arrived in America. Somehow, Boris and his broken English had managed to snag a job working in one of the Pender lumber mills, mostly doing odd jobs and maintenance other workers considered beneath them.
Boris’s fortunes picked up when the American workers at the lumber mill started talking about unionizing. Thankful to have the job, and detesting everything related to socialism and the communist wasteland he’d left behind, Boris snitched on his fellow workers and helped bust the union. This led Adam’s father to trust Boris and begin offering him more lucrative, confidential work.
Boris began operating all across the Pender empire. Something unethical that needs to be done discreetly? Boris is the man to call. One semester when he was off at boarding school, Adam had even used Boris to blackmail a teacher into passing him
.
What Boris might lack in morals, he more than makes up for in his ability to gather information and weave in and out of situations undetected. Therefore, within minutes of the doctors pronouncing Mrs. Pender dead from an allergic reaction, Adam begged his dad to have Boris investigate. His dad resisted, trusting the local authorities to do a thorough investigation.
Even after they had concluded no foul play and closed the case, Mr. Pender continued to refuse to involve Boris. Now, Adam sees no choice but to take matters into his own hands.
Eventually, he stops banging on Boris’s door, accepting that he isn’t home. Adam takes his cell phone out, deciding to do what he should have done in the first place.
Boris doesn’t answer.
Retreating to his car, Adam looks around the property for any sign of Boris. The lawn’s well maintained and there’s no mail or newspaper on the front step, confirming Boris isn’t on assignment anywhere far.
He tries calling again from inside the McLaren, achieving the same result. Contemplating his options for a moment, Adam ultimately settles on sending Boris an email explaining everything that’s happened with his mother, what he knows for certain, and what he’s hoping Boris can find out. He makes a recommendation on where to start but trusts Boris’s expertise to ignore his advice. Adam hits send and backs out of the driveway, heading back to the highway, his music blasting from the McLaren loud enough for the occupants of the cars around him to sing along.
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Robbie's Scheme Page 26
